Mary Poppins (1964) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Mary Poppins
Year: 1964
Director: Robert Stevenson
Country: US
Language: English

One key to the success of any musical is the quality of its tunes. With memorable hits like the delightful "Spoonful of Sugar", the curiously upbeat "Chim Chim Cher Ree" and the extremely hard to spell "Supercalifragilisticeexpialidocious" it's not hard to see why Mary Poppins was so successful. Granted Julie Andrews is a terrific talent, her voice could grab the attention of any curious filmgoer. She won an Academy Award ("Best Actress") for this particularly stunning role. 

Mary Poppins is a kind of Super-nanny who flies in with her umbrella in response to the request of the Banks children and proceeds to put things right with the aid of her rather extraordinary magical powers.

Often parodied (see The Simpsons "Sherry Boppins") and paid homage to, Mary Poppins is a one of a kind film that is part fairy tale, part daydream, and all magic. We're lucky that Disney was able to produce this picture considering how reluctant the original author (Pamela Lyndon Travers) was to relinquish the publishing rights of her 1934 book. She eventually regretted giving the rights away to Disney, as they had drastically altered her original character. 

With many psychedelic elements at play, we get a sense that the production of Mary Poppins was a joy to be a part of. So much creative energy exhumes from every frame. Dick Van Dyke is truly at home dancing with well-integrated animated characters such as penguins. How he didn't collapse from exhaustion due to his over-energetic dancing style is anybody's guess. 

Well choreographed, written, scored and costumed there's hardly a negative quality that can be found in Disney's adaptation. I'd be lying if I said I "loved" this film, infact I personally find it a tad too joyful, but Mary Poppins is so iconic that my subjective opinion doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. This is a musical that may become dated, but will always be seen by newer generations.