Saving Mr. Banks


Saving Mr. Banks is one of those films that take you to a time and place where things were different, less complicate. Well, not for Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) who tried to convince Pamela Travers (Emma Thomson) to give him the film rights to Travers's masterpiece, Mary Poppins.  To Disney's surprise, Travers was always reluctant to grant the rights and he didn't understand why. The movie tells us that precisely: why Mary Poppins stories and the characters were so important to her author and the lengths Disney and his collaborators had to go in order to finally convince Ms. Travers that Mary Poppins was in good hands.
There are many things about this film that stand out but especially Hanks, Thomson and Collin Farrell as Ms. Travers's father; they all deliver great performances, and even the secondary characters look great. Also the recreation of the diverse settings of this story (California, London and Australia) is perfect with a great attention to detail. Finally, the plot is quite consistent and grasps your attention from the beginning. It tells you a lot about Pamela Travers, especially in the form of flashbacks so you get to understand why she initially opposed to Disney's treatment of Mary Poppins, her disdain for animated films the inspiration for her characters and many other aspects of her personality. In the end you see that behind Mary Poppins there is another story full of complexity but not less entertaining.
Four stars out of five.  

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