Many years have passed since Mary Poppins has left the Banks family. Michael and Jane are now adults. Michael is widowed and has three children: John, Annabel, and Georgie. Jane hangs out in the house too.
Michael is at risk of losing his house. While his kids are in the park, Mary Poppins flies down to them. She often denies anything magical, as usual. Nevertheless, she takes them on adventures, such as making the bath like an ocean, or going inside the children’s latest mother’s bowl to a musical hall performance.
Meanwhile, the bank is giving Michael a hard time about his home. His kids are just as worried. If not, more.
I saw this film in the theaters, and after seeing it a second time, I picked up some new elements. For instance, the format of this movie is very similar to that of the first Mary Poppins movie in 1964. The scenes mirror those in the first installment, as well—but with differences, of course.
I was surprised how Jack shared similarities Burt. Not just by his personality, but also having those other guys in the “Trip a Little Light Fantastic,” similar to the “Step in Time” number.
One scene that stood out to me was a scene where balloons took people into the atmosphere. Yes, it’s a movie, and it’s supposed to communicate a message about youth and childhood innocence. But it was strange for me—the idea of holding a balloon in the sky and seeing it as a magical moment.
In real life, if just one person held onto a balloon that took them up to the sky, he or she would scream, and so would everybody on the ground. It would be a scary, panicking disaster. The emergency departments would be there too.
Another moment that was silly, even if essential to the plot, was the scene where Jack and his buddies try to turn back time on the Big Ben. No one would fall for that in real life, not to mention that Jack and his pals would’ve been arrested too.
I also still didn’t understand why the admiral had to fire the cannon every hour. But regardless of the flaws, this film had lots of perks. They matter more to me.
First of, The music was amazing. It followed the same mood and tone, but more modernized.
While Lin Manuel Miranda starred in this movie as Jack, and was the first character the story introduced with his song, “(Underneath the) Lovely London Sky,” he did not take part in and production if the songs. But he still excelled at his singing, especially with a British accent.
My favorite songs from this film are:
- “Can You Imagine That?” – sung by Mary Poppins, John, Annabel, and Georgie when their bath magically “becomes” an ocean
- “A Cover is Not the Book” – sung by Mary Poppins, Jack, and a bunch of 2D-animated animal extras while inside the Banks children’s mothers’ bowl – that Mary Poppins also magically transported them and Jack into
- “Trip a Little Light Fantastic” – sung by Jack, Mary Poppins, John, Annabel, Georgie, and Jack’s lamp-lighting buddies when the kids and Mary Poppins got lost on their way home after having to leave the bank Michael works at
This movie also includes humor. During the ocean bath scene, Georgie enters sea grass when the underwater parkkeeper points to a sign saying “Keep off the sea grass.” That is a reference to an earlier scene: while the children walk in the park, Georgie goofs around onto the grass, and the parkkeeper keeps yelling at him to stay off if it.
That is when Mary Poppins descends from the sky. She takes the kids home, which surprises Jane and Michael.
Even though they’re adults, Mary Poppins claims that Jane still giggles too much, and tells Michael to close his mouth, because he’s still not a codfish. Both of which had occurred in the first installment from 1964. That amused me.
When Michael commented on how Mary Poppins has hardly aged, Mary Poppins states that’s rude – because one never discusses a woman’s age. I thought to myself, Michael could’ve simply said to Mary Poppins how she still looks good after all these years.
While on the topic of manners, during the scene where Mary Poppins takes the children to a shop to fix their mom’s broken bowl, and everyone has to get onto a bike, John asks her how much she weighs. Of course, her jaw drops. I thought to myself, Wasn’t John taught not to ask people how much they weigh?
In fact, when I saw this in the movie theater, one of the guys with my friend who invited me to it, shouted, “That’s rude!” Thinking back to that, I laugh.
Mary Poppins Returns really pleased me. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars, and would recommend it to everyone.