The 505th film I have seen in theaters…
I’m Mary Poppins Y’all!
It is 1935, 25 years after the original, and Mary Poppins returns to the Banks family. Michael and Jane are now adults and the family home is being taken by the bank. As Michael tries to save his home, Mary and the children have magical adventures and try to find a way to save the family.
Emily Blunt steals the show as Mary Poppins. I can’t imagine what it was like stepping into that role, but she pulled it off.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man of the hour, plays Jack the lamplighter, filling the Dick Van Dyke role in the story. He’s good.
Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer play Michael and Jane Banks. Both great actors, I felt that Jane got the short end of the stick in the story. Whishaw had some powerful scenes.
Nathanael Saleh, Pixie Davies, and Joel Dawson are the kids and they all are fine.
Julie Walters is Ellen, the sole remaining housekeeper from the original film. She is also well cast.
Ah, Colin Firth is the shitbag banker villain of the film. He also voices an evil cartoon fox.
Meryl Streep is “Topsy”, Mary’s cousin. Her scene could have easily been cut. It added little to the story and kind of brought the film to a halt.
Angela Lansbury plays an elderly balloon seller in the finale. This was obviously written for Julie Andrews.
It’s a crime that I couldn’t find a photo, but one of my favorite actors, David Warner, plays Admiral Boom, now quite elderly. I was beyond happy to see him.
Dick Van Dyke returns, this time as Mr Dawes Jr, head of the bank. He was delightful.
It’s not the original, it never could be. Despite this, it was a great movie. The songs were good, the acting terrific. A good movie.
The Skinny from the Fatty 
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