Mary Poppins Returns

DC Comics hits the rocks with a muddled CGI romp for Jason Momoa’s beefy man from Atlantis. SIX different versions of Spidey emerge from a dimensional portal. A BIG-hearted video game star goes online in Disney’s witty follow up to Wreck It Ralph.

In cinemas now

“IF it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems to have been Disney’s mantra when devising their Mary Poppins sequel.

Here, every character, song, and dance echoes the 1964 original. We’re in the 1930s and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) now has three children of his own (Nathanael Saleh, Pixie Davies and Joel Dawson).

As he has forgotten to make three loan payments, he learns that the family home is about to repossessed.

But then Emily Blunt floats down from the clouds with a talking umbrella.

Her Poppins is a bit sterner and a lot posher than Julie Andrews’ version. Thankfully, she is just as charming.

Highlights include a surreal bath scene where the kids are transported to the ocean bed, and a trip to a cartoon musical hall filled with talking animals.

Blunt is practically perfect as the supernanny, US stage star Lin-Manuel Miranda is a decent Dick Van Dyke surrogate (he even seems to have inherited his cockney accent) and the dance routines are beautifully staged.

The songs are a delight, although none is quite as catchy as A Spoonful Of Sugar or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Loving tribute or dodgy retread? You’ll be too busy tapping your toes to care.