Its easy to be cynical and claim there's nothing more sugary and saccharine than Disney making a movie about Disney but this was done with such grace and style that it actually quite won me over and I must admit being a blubbery, teary mess at the end. It is also a decent fictional (?) portrait of two real-life characters and look behind the scene when classic children movie "Mary Poppins" was made.
Famous British writer P.L.Travers (Emma Thompson) finally gets persuaded to visit Hollywood and consider selling rights of her novel "Mary Poppins" to Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Travers is shown as pedantic, uppity spinster accustomed to get things done her way but we understand that underneath her eccentric exterior she is proud, dignified artist afraid that her beloved novel will be sacrificed for money and financial gain, therefore she is determined that she has artistic control and final say in creation of the movie, which means she basically blocks almost every suggestion and every step during the making of the script. Because she arrived in Los Angeles already convinced this is a sell-out and a bad idea, Travers is adamant about the way movie should look, insist on every detail and is horrified with Disney suggestion that this should be a movie with music and (gasp) animation - her attitude makes creation of the movie almost impossible because Disney and his team of script writers and composers basically can't do anything without her approval and if she feels "corralled" into doing this, her new colleagues feel similar hostility towards this joyless, nitpicking woman who not only don't know how to relax and enjoy life, but also won't really participate in creative process. The movie cleverly shows how from her perspective, everything sunny California offers, this typical British woman finds vulgar, offensive and showy.
In flashbacks we see Travers childhood in Australia and deep scars left behind, unconditional love for her beloved father (excellent Colin Farrell) who might have been irresistible charmer but in reality was embarrassing alcoholic unable to keep a job in a bank and who taught his "princess" never to trust money - for the rest of her life Travers kept dreaming about him and always saw money as evil that destroys people (hence her refusal to sell rights to Disney, she avoided this for two decades until she was financially stranded and had to consider it a option). Realising that there is something psychological that prevents Travers from accepting his offer, Disney have to find a way how to reach to her not as a canny businessman but as a human being and convinces her that movie will be a gift to countless children around the world. We finally understand it wasn't about Mary Poppins at all, but about fictional Mr.Banks (father) whom Travers saw as a imaginary portrait of her father and during the world premiere, watching it from the audience Travers breaks down in tears because Mr.Banks on the screen is everything her father never was.
As an interesting curio, during movie final scenes we hear tape with original recordings made during creation of "Mary Poppins" - lo and behold, everything we saw in the movie actually was recorded as real dialogue, we hear nervous and apprehensive Travers commanding, demanding and refusing everything scriptwriters suggested. So perhaps this is not just fictionalised retelling but there is a truth in it.
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