okay so here's a fun fact you probably
didn't know my Dale is in the Navy and
gas station a la various places so that
actually ended up with me being born in
Italy
yeah I was actually born in Italy the
reason I bring this up is because being
in Italy we didn't have that many movies
that were in English so that meant the
few movies we had we just kept watching
over and over and over and the movie by
far we watched the most with Mary
Poppins so I know this film pretty well
the songs the characters the story I
know it practically inside out so I
guess you can make the argument that I'm
already sort of prejudiced towards this
movie as obviously I'm gonna love it but
I don't know I stopped watching this
movie for a bed grew up looked at years
later and it's still a damn impressive
movie not just for the songs not just
for the acting not just for the effects
not just for the sets not just for the
atmosphere but for the characters for
the story for that
oh just there's no other word I can use
for it except magic it's a friggin
magical movie the best way I can
describe it is like being cheerfully
drunk at a party you go you have fun yet
dance you have all sorts of great times
but then you want to get into the
serious moment where you want to
question life and yeah that's kind of
here - it doesn't shy away from some of
the really heavy stuff that it's doing
or well I guess it's simple stuff I mean
one could almost say it's too simple
it's a father who's a workaholic and
needs to spend more time with his kids
that's not so hard but the way they deal
with it in the creative way they talk
about it and oh it's just so damn good
okay well let's start from the beginning
as if you guys don't know this story mr.
banks has two children Jane and Michael
who are not very good at doing what
they're told because the father is
always at work and the mother is always
out fighting for women's rights
so they request a nanny to sing them
songs give them treats do all that good
stuff
but mr. banks hates the idea once the
one that Stern and strong so he rips up
the letter but little does he know it
gets whisked up to the clouds where Mary
Poppins is waiting so what she is gonna
be all the fun and games and treat
giving and all that stuff we heard about
well yeah
but the clever thing about it is that
she actually is very strict and Stern as
well there's all sorts of weird magical
things that go on with her but at the
same time she's very mysterious she
doesn't always smile that much even when
the magical stuff happens she'll just
deny that it ever happens it's always
kind of keeping you guessing even the
kids don't always know what to think of
it you want a horse race a respectable
person like me in a horse race how dare
you suggest this thing but I saw you do
it
if Julie Andrews of course is Mary
Poppins a man does she hit it out of the
park yeah she can obviously do the
really charming pretty moments where she
has the nice voice that is a nice voice
but again what sets it apart is when she
is strict and she is just so hard to
figure out I love the way she constantly
plays people against themselves and
they're never aware that it's going on
they always think that they came to the
conclusion themselves when everything is
actually going exactly to how she
planned at my side where are we going
exactly as your proposed I propose of
course did I say that I was going to
take the children to the bank it's good
news sounded that way did and why not
and of course he had Dick Van Dyke as
bird and yeah everyone makes fun of the
accent and it's not unwarranted it's a
really bad cockney accent now this
imposing edifice ball first greasy I
here's the home of Admiral boom but I
really hope that doesn't divert people
too much away from really still what a
good performance it is I mean yeah the
accent is distract baby can't see past
it I can understand that but at the same
time look how much energy he's putting
into it look at all the dancing look at
all the physical stuff he's doing just
look at what a great character this is I
love the fact that every time you see
him he always has a different job I mean
this is probably a guy who lives on the
street but he doesn't care he's just so
happy with life he's happy with
everything he's just happy to have air
in his lungs mr. banks a perfect
bullseye as well he is a stick in the
mud and doesn't ever get the job but you
see that he's really trying hard and you
see that when he does actually want to
bring his kids closer he is legitimately
excited about it it just has to be about
something that he's excited about and as
of course his work the memorable moments
in this movie are too many to count and
win laughing on the ceiling the chim
chiminey
song the dance sequences with Bette
walking on top of the rooftops blowing
the smoke into stairs that wonderful
sunset oh yeah it's just it's overload
there's so many good moments of
atmosphere music and Wonder and just
foul it takes you back to being a little
kid again and all the effort is there
all the effort that they put into the
look of it and the size of it and the
dance numbers and the music and the
lyrics and okay obviously you can figure
out I like this movie a lot I'm trying
to think of what's actually not good
about this movie the only thing I can
really think of is maybe during the
scenes where they're playing and having
fun they go on a bit too long and it
becomes a bit unfocused but I don't know
it's still supposed to be a family film
that entertains the kids too and kids
just really want to stay in these
entertaining world and in my opinion it
lets them stay there for as long as they
would probably want to stay there until
it goes on to the next cool thing or
balances it out with some really
touching moments remember the feed the
birds isn't that unbelievable something
so simple as giving money to an old
woman to feed birds and by God that song
look down - he stays away
although you can't see you know each
time someone shows that he came
I heard this was Walt Disney's favorite
song and you can see why it's something
so simple but so powerful at the same
time the way it seems to blend in from
one scene to another going from happy
and dancing into something a little bit
more heavy and serious into happy and
dancing again into animation into
live-action it's just a perfect blend
the song sequence step in time near the
end I just never want to stop and it
just keeps going and going and going
like a party you never want to end and
when it does it just ends on a perfect
note where you just have to catch your
breath it allows you to calm down from
this high that you've been going on for
the past like 10 or 15 minutes but then
again what makes it so good I mean so
freaking good is this ending scene when
mr. banks is walking to his job knowing
he's about to lose it there's no song
here there's no dialogue it's just him
walking down these empty dark roads and
it takes the time to really let this
moment sink in and it's not only one of
my favorite moments in the movie it's
one of my favorite moments in film
altogether listen to that music look at
these shots you can just feel the
atmosphere coming through on the screen
this is a man who's tied everything to
his job and now he's about to lose it
which equals to him about to lose
everything and then it comes to this
really great moment where he goes to the
stairs where the woman feeding the birds
was and she's not there I could be
reading too much into it but I always
sort of took it that she may have died
listen to that choir is that like the
choir you'd hear in a church but being a
Disney film they can't clearly say that
and I don't know maybe it wasn't the
intention but that's what I get out of
it because you never see her again
almost like it's signifying do those
good moments when you can because there
may not be another time it's just such a
perfect moment but of course the ending
equals out to a happy one and it's just
the perfect one that you need I won't
ruin it to those who haven't seen it but
even if you know what's gonna happen
it's such a happy positive delivery and
it's just such a good feeling when you
watch it and such a bittersweet exit for
Mary Poppins as well and just it brings
me back to being a little kid again
every single time I see it but as an
adult I can appreciate so much about it
too not just from a technical level or a
special-effects level but from a writing
level from a musical level from a
character level it's just so strong this
is one of those kids movies that just
every family has and for good reason it
deserves to be in every family it
deserves to be on every shelf it's just
a wonderful flick it's written
wonderfully it's acted wonderfully it
looks wonderful
it sounds wonderful it's just one