Practically perfect in every way
MARY POPPINS RETURNS (U)
AH HHHHSPOONFUL of nostalgia – make that several heaped spoonfuls – helps the joy-infused medicine of Rob Marshall’s 1930s-set musical fantasy go down in the most delightful way.
Mary Poppins Returns prescribes two hours of pure, sentiment-soaked escapism for our weary souls. It’s a lavishly-staged carousel of whoop-inducing song and dance numbers that kicks up its polished heels in the face of cynicism and affectionately harks back to the 1964 Oscarwinning classic.
Musical refrains, from Chim Chim Cher-ee, Let’s Go Fly A Kite and The Perfect Nanny among others are seamlessly woven into the lustrous fabric of this lavish re-telling.
Plot threads are admittedly gossamer thin and noticeably frayed in places. Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in the original, has a lovely cameo as an elegant lady in search of 19 Cherry Tree Lane – and Dick Van Dyke proves he can still step in time, as chairman of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.
Emily Blunt is practically perfect in every way, making her entrance with a reverential nod to Julie Andrews – “Close your mouth, Michael. We are still not a codfish!” – as the London-born actress makes this role her own with effortless efficiency.
A new songbook by composer Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman, writers of the Hairspray and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory stage musicals, lacks the immediately hummable melodies conjured by Oscar winners Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman.
However, when ditties hit their emotional mark, they are spit spot on. A father’s heart-wrenching lament to his late wife is delivered with tearful restraint by Ben Whishaw, while Meryl
Streep – with an east European accent of hysterically indecipherable origin – swings from a chandelier during her scene-stealing solo, Turning Turtle.
It has been a year since Michael Banks (Whishaw) lost his wife Kate, and with it the light in his heart to guide their children Annabel
(Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson).
His rabble-rousing sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) helps to care for the brood but the grief-stricken father is three months in arrears on a bank loan secured against 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Unless Michael can repay his dues in full by the end of the week, the house will be seized by bank chairman William Wilkins (Colin Firth). The family, including clucky housemaid Ellen (Julie Walters), will be homeless in London.
Thankfully, a high-flying kite snags magical nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt), who rekindles sparks of joy in her former wards, aided by Cockney lamplighter Jack (Lin-manuel Miranda) and Topsy (Streep), her eccentric “second cousin... many times removed”.
Before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Marshall has us grinning from ear to ear as we accompany the Banks clan on their fantastical odyssey.
The sequel’s centrepiece, Trip The Light Fantastic, is modelled on Step In Time with its acrobatic troupe of lamplighters and syncopated choreography, and the aptly titled Nowhere To Go But Up soars courtesy of Angela Lansbury.