I agree with the ones saying it was so-so. The movie has its charms and good bits here and there, but to me it was too much talk and not so much action. It felt like reading a biography. Which I do like, but it was not what I expected. However it was interesting to learn the scenes behind the success of Mary Poppins.
Still I'm not convinced how to judge this movie... Or maybe it was ruined because of my expectations!?
★★★
Plot
In London in 1961, financially struggling author Pamela "P. L." Travers reluctantly agrees to travel to Los Angeles to meet with Walt Disney at the urging of her agent Diarmuid Russell. Disney has been courting Travers for 20 years, seeking to acquire the film rights to her Mary Poppins stories, on account of his daughters' request to make a film based on the character. Travers, however, has been extremely hesitant toward letting Disney bring her creation to the screen because he is known primarily as a producer of animated films, which Travers openly disdains.
Her youth in Allora, Queensland in 1906 is depicted through flashbacks, and is shown to be the inspiration for much of Mary Poppins. Travers was very close to her handsome and charismatic father Travers Robert Goff, who fought a losing battle against alcoholism.
Upon her arrival in Los Angeles, Travers is disgusted by what she feels is the city’s unreality, as well as by the naïve optimism and intrusive friendliness of its inhabitants, personified by her assigned limo driver, Ralph.
At the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Travers begins collaborating with the creative team assigned to develop Mary Poppins for the screen, screenwriter Don DaGradi, and music composers Richard and Robert Sherman.
Travers’ working relationship with the creative team is difficult from the outset, with her insistence that Mary Poppins is the enemy of sentiment and whimsy. Disney and his associates are puzzled by Travers’ disdain for fantasy, given the fantastical nature of the Mary Poppins story, as well as Travers’ own richly imaginative childhood existence. Travers has particular trouble with the team’s depiction of George Banks, head of the household in which Mary Poppins is employed as nanny. Travers describes Banks’ characterization as completely off-base and leaves the room distraught. The team begins to grasp how deeply personal the Mary Poppins stories are to Travers, and how many of the work’s characters are directly inspired by Travers’ own past...
Cast
Emma Thompson as Pamela "P. L." Travers, author of Mary Poppins
Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, filmmaker and producer of the film
Colin Farrell as Travers Robert Goff
Ruth Wilson as Margaret Goff, Pamela's mother
Paul Giamatti as Ralph, Pamela's chauffeur
Bradley Whitford as Don DaGradi
B. J. Novak as Robert B. Sherman
Jason Schwartzman as Richard M. Sherman
Kathy Baker as Tommie, Walt Disney's executive secretary
Melanie Paxson as Dolly, Disney's secretary
Rachel Griffiths as Aunt Ellie, the sister of Pamela's mother
Ronan Vibert as Diarmuid Russell, Pamela's agent
Info @ Wiki
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