1971, Walt Disney Productions
Live action with some animation
Rating: G
Approx. 140 mins.
THE STORY:
It is war-time England, and Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) spends her days alone in a large house in Dover working on her magic with the help of a correspondence course in witchcraft. Her routine is thrown off when she is asked to house 3 child evacuees from London. They soon discover her secret and become her accomplices in trying to locate the head of her suddenly defunct magic school, Professor Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson).
When they arrive in London, Eglantine discovers that Browne is not the wizard she had assumed; instead he is a small time entertainer and con man who has been compiling his lessons from the first half of an old book he happened upon. He is shocked to learn that his spells work, and joins Eglantine and the kids on their quest for the book's second half.
Their travels take them all over London and even to an animated world populated by anthropomorphic animals, but eventually they find what Eglantine has been desperate for: the key to a spell she hopes will help England win the war. She figures it out just in time to use it against a Nazi incursion. Although she manages to turn the attackers back, it is not before the Nazis succeed in destroying the source of her magic.
When they arrive in London, Eglantine discovers that Browne is not the wizard she had assumed; instead he is a small time entertainer and con man who has been compiling his lessons from the first half of an old book he happened upon. He is shocked to learn that his spells work, and joins Eglantine and the kids on their quest for the book's second half.
Their travels take them all over London and even to an animated world populated by anthropomorphic animals, but eventually they find what Eglantine has been desperate for: the key to a spell she hopes will help England win the war. She figures it out just in time to use it against a Nazi incursion. Although she manages to turn the attackers back, it is not before the Nazis succeed in destroying the source of her magic.
QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:
- bleeding
- ruddy
- bloody
VIOLENCE:
- punching, shooting at phantoms
- scenes of Nazis landing are not violent, but a bit ominous
TEACHING POINTS:
- nothing significant-- very patriotic and pro-England, which seems a bit odd for a kids' movie made almost 30 years after the end of WW2
THE UPSHOT:
This is a loooooong movie. It seems fairly obvious the film-makers were attempting to recreate the Mary Poppins magic in every aspect-- theme, music, animation, effects and length. Unfortunately, it is somewhat less successful than its predecessor.
Nice story, but the context makes it difficult for younger kids to appreciate. The 5 year-old in the room had a lot of questions, some of which were hard to answer while watching the movie (what is WWII? who are the Nazis? etc.). The cockney accents and dialect were also impossible for her to understand, and not always so easy for the adults in the room.
With all due respect to Angela Lansbury, I think this is a movie crying out for a remake. A shorter remake that doesn't involve Nazis.
Nice story, but the context makes it difficult for younger kids to appreciate. The 5 year-old in the room had a lot of questions, some of which were hard to answer while watching the movie (what is WWII? who are the Nazis? etc.). The cockney accents and dialect were also impossible for her to understand, and not always so easy for the adults in the room.
With all due respect to Angela Lansbury, I think this is a movie crying out for a remake. A shorter remake that doesn't involve Nazis.
2.5/5
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