Saving Mr. Banks

Released in 2013 under the direction of John Lee Hancock ("The Alamo," "The Blind Side") on a budget of $35 million with distribution through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; "Saving Mr. Banks" is a biopic of the negotiations that occurred between animator and producer Walt Disney and author P.L. Travers over her series of books about a magical nanny named Mary Poppins to be adapted into a feature film by Walt Disney Pictures. I'd be lying if I didn't say I had been wanting to see this movie since I saw the trailer back in August and I can most humbly assure you, fine readers, it was well worth the wait.

In the summer of 1961, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) comes to California to oversee pre-production for the film adaptation of "Mary Poppins" by an enthusiastic Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Travers proves to be very frustrating, not only for Disney, but also to co-screenwriter Disney Legend Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and composer/lyricist duo, Richard M. Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) and Robert B. Sherman (B.J. Novak), who are forced to put up with her needy demands to ensure she is pleased so she can sign over the film rights to Disney. During the negotiation process, P.L. Travers finds herself slipping back and forth between her rough childhood in Australia with her drunk yet loving father Travers Robert Goff (Colin Farrell) who would mark the inspiration for the Mr. Banks character, struggling to come to terms with her loss and to trust in Walt Disney to make her happy.

RottenTomatoes.com I think said it best "Aggressively likable and sentimental to a fault" and they're not wrong in saying so. This is a touching yet surprisingly dark movie that looks at the the struggling process of appealing to the author and the author's reflection on her early childhood with the relationship with her father and the guilt of not being to change the outcome of your past. The theme of wanting control of your property is a theme that I, as someone who knows how it feels to be told to make changes, truly understand why Travers would be concerned.

Acting is fabulous, Emma Thompson truly inhabits the stiff-upper-lip personality of an English author, she pulled it off admirably, to the point where I forgot she was an actress. The same could not be said of Tom Hanks, not to say he's terrible, heavens no, he embodies Walt's kind and warm personality, but unlike Thompson, I look at Hanks and I just see Tom Hanks just being himself; a gleeful, jolly uncle that you wish you'd had. The supporting cast does it's part, while nobody gives a particularly striking performance, nobody turns in a bad performance either.

"Saving Mr. Banks" is a utterly charming feel-good movie that is almost impossible to hate. Believe me, I'm trying to find something to nitpick, but none of them really effect the movie on a narrative whole. Highly recommended you see this one.

Final Rating: 4/5