Movie Review - Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks ***½ (PG-13) According to this film, it took Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) 20 years and an incredible amount of hassle to convince P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to sell him the rights to turn her stories about Mary Poppins into a feature film. As played, Ms. Travers was quite the curmudgeon, looking down her proper English nose at everything whimsical and populist Disney stood for, and may have planned for her beloved literary nanny. Only dire financial hardship caused her to relent enough to fly from England to L. A. to try to hash out an acceptable adaptation with Walt and his writers.

The movie alternates between Travers’ absurd priggishness about every major and minor detail, and flashbacks to her childhood in Australia. We see pieces of her backstory that variably account for much of what she wound up writing, and her current emotional issues. Her father (Colin Farrell) was a lovable drunk with a charming and active imagination. Yet nothing Walt or his creative team (Bradley Whitford, Jason Schwartman, B.J. Novak) cracks her shell for what may be a bit too much running time, since we’ve all seen the resulting movie, and know she eventually caved. Even so, when the moment happens, patient viewers are rewarded with a touching return on investment. That befits the author’s financial and other benefits from the hugely successful film that’s charmed generations of us throughout the ensuing 40 years. Thompson, Farrell and Paul Giamatti (her limo driver while in L.A. - almost definable as a Hoke for Miss Crazy) deliver the film’s best performances. Fully appreciating the reason for the title is another plus. (12/20/13)