A Spoonful of Memories

Saving Mr Banks centers around the last few years where Walt Disney tried to obtain the rights to P.L. Travers's series of books about the nanny Mary Poppins, and while this may sound like a mundane subject, it's pretty much a soap opera and a trip through regressive therapy, all in one fell swoop. If the movie tells the truth, Mary Poppins was more than the product of an active imagination in Ms. Travers's mind. She is tied up with memories of the author's life as a girl in Australia, most importantly her relationship with her father (played quite charmingly by Colin Farrell, weirdly enough), a relationship that hit a little close to the belt for me, if truth be told. But that's for another therapy session. The person that Ms. Travers becomes is the product of these experiences, and it makes for quite a sorry person indeed. If truth be told, if it wasn't for Emma Thompson's amazing talent portraying her, I would have wanted to haul up and smack her after a while. She's an unhappy, bitter woman who is not swayed by the type of sentimentality that Disney churns out. She's afraid that Mary Poppins will become a frivolous joke for Disney to exploit, and she's got a lot of evidence to support that fear. Once I understood her story and her life, understanding started to replace irritation for me, and I found myself rooting wholeheartedly for her. The introduction of the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite" to her makes for a beautiful epiphany and opening of self that is wonderful to see. Emma Thompson's acting is superb, and she truly makes P.L. Travers a character to root for, when all logic is telling one not to. Again, if the movie is truthful, Walt Disney's only sins were smoking and being too cheerful. Maybe a bit too flip, but I think there's a real issue with Disney making a movie that involves Walt Disney and the Disney company. I do feel that Disney is whitewashed a bit, from his downhome charm to getting possibly the most loved actor around, Tom Hanks, to play him. Hanks is quite good, but his part is a little weak. He's basically a foil and a sounding board. I don't claim to know much about Disney's life as a whole, other than the more salacious things that have gone around in the last few years, but I don't see him as a father figure, even though he's set up as one in this. It's not to say that Hanks isn't wonderful, but I've got just enough cynicism to have doubts about the shininess of his character's halo. I suppose that this makes it sound like I didn't like the film. I did, quite much actually. It's charming and emotional and knows how to pull at the heart strings, and I'm a sucker for that. Besides the two leads, there are great performances by Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, B J Novak, and Jason Schwartzman. There's plenty of charm to go around. Still, the cynic in me doesn't allow me to think that Disney magic can cure all ills, physical and emotional. In the end, however, I shed a tear or two, and I more than bought into the idea. Call me a sucker.