Kristin Reviews Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks is a Disney movie. When I say that, I don’t just mean it was produced by Walt Disney Studios, or that it’s about the 1964 Disney feature Mary Poppins, or even that it features Walt Disney as a character. Saving Mr. Banks is a quintessential Disney movie, from its saturated color scheme to its built-in musical numbers to its almost-forced emotional core followed by the paint-by-numbers heart-tugging resolution. Although the film is based upon real people and true events, it is not necessarily based upon reality. Nothing in real life works the way life in a Disney movie works.

Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that. I’ve enjoyed many Disney movies since my childhood, and I’ve always accepted them as colorful bundles of fun delivered via celluloid (or, today, zeros and ones). Expecting such goodtime frolics from Saving Mr. Banks should serve most moviegoers well, although I overheard one woman complaining to her friend afterwards that she didn’t like the movie at first because she found the character of P.L. Travers (author of the novel, Mary Poppins) too unlikable.

It’s a good thing Disney made the movie and not some other, less cheerful, studio, or that woman on whom I accidentally eavesdropped in the bathroom may have been disappointed with the entire film. With extremely likable stars in the lead roles (Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks), and a script designed to send moviegoers home happy, both fantasy-Travers and fantasy-Walt are kinder gentler versions of the ones who actually faced off during pre-production of the Mary Poppins adaptation.

I can’t help wondering if I have just become overly critical after seeing and evaluating so many movies, but I wanted a little more from the film. Flashbacks from Travers’ childhood serve to provide some insight into her motivations as an adult, but even this storyline feels carefully constructed to give audience members satisfying “a-ha!” moments rather than depth. It’s not that I didn’t find the movie entertaining, but the Disnification of the story didn’t sit right with me. I’ve read enough to know that Disney (Walt) wasn’t warm and cuddly like Tom Hanks. And as much as I wanted to be swept away by the magic, I couldn’t help feeling like I was being served solely a shiny facade by storytellers who excel at such manipulation.

If Tom Hanks is nominated for anything this year, it will be for Captain Phillips. Emma Thompson was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role, although she did not win, and honestly I believe that was the right call on the part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. She’s wonderful, of course, but playing an obstinate, disagreeable British woman melted by the magic of Disney (I’m not giving anything away here - if Travers had remained as prickly as she is at the beginning, Mary Poppins never would have been made) is hardly a stretch for someone of her talent. Because the film hands out warm fuzzies, I won’t be surprised if it’s nominated for Best Picture, although I don’t think it would be if the race were still limited to five features.

-Kristin
1.14.2014