MARY POPPINS

1964, Walt Disney Productions

Live action with animation

Rating: G

Approx. 139 mins.

THE STORY:

Based on the classic by P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins tells the story of a magical, multi-talented nanny who comes to the aid of the Banks children. With their mother preoccupied by the struggle for female equality and their father consumed with his bank job, the children want attention and fun. They get both in the form of Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews). She floats into the Banks' lives under umbrella power and proceeds to demonstrate a world of music, magic and marvels to the children. In the short time she spends with them, she makes the mundane and unpleasant fun, and opens up a new world of people and places to the sheltered upper middle-class family.   

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• none

VIOLENCE:

• none

  

TEACHING POINTS:

• A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Really.
• Venture beyond your comfort zone and embrace new experiences. 
• the most overt messaging is for parents: take the time to acknowledge and get to know your kids, leave your work self at work, etc.

THE UPSHOT:

By today's standards, it's a long movie that demands a commitment of time and attention. We watched the 2 hours and 10 minutes over a few days, and it did seem to drag. Especially since there isn't a very strong narrative; it's mostly musical numbers and special effects (impressive for the time and even now) built around a situation and characters.

Watching as an adult, one thing that really struck me was how progressive the movie is in terms of its treatment of social issues. The mother is a suffragette who needs a nanny to watch her kids while she protests in aid of the women's vote. Mary Poppins floats confidently between the classes able to fit in with her upper class employers as well as with working class friends like Bert.

And then there's Dick Van Dyke's accent...ugh.

But the fabulous music and the spectacle stand up. The story is simple and magical. And there is an innocence to Mary Poppins: no one gets hit or called stupid or dressed up in a bikini. It creates a time and place where ordinary kids come in contact with the fantastic and we hear clever, catchy songs about it. 

4/5