Review: Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and Dick Van Dyke
The Royal Albert Hall was transformed into Cherry Tree Lane for the European premier of Mary Poppins Returns . Reviewer Damon Smith gives us his verdict:
A spoonful 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.
Based on the books by P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins Returns prescribes two hours of pure, sentiment-soaked escapism to banish the winter blues and jiggedy-jog 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 Oscar-winning 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 Marshall's lavishly embroidered picture.
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 iteration of the 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 literally 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) is helping 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 and the family, including housemaid Ellen (Julie Walters), will be homeless on the fog-shrouded streets of London.
Thankfully, a high-flying kite snags magical nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt), who descends serenely with toes pointing out to rekindle sparks of joy in her former wards. She is aided by luminous Cockney lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and Topsy (Meryl Streep), her eccentric "second cousin... many times removed".
Before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Marshall has us grinning ear to ear as we accompany the Banks clan on their fantastical odyssey, which includes one euphoric sequence festooned with hand-drawn animation.
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.
Last year, we bathed in the giddy glow of The Greatest Showman.
This Christmas and beyond, it's an exceedingly jolly 'oliday with Mary Poppins Returns.
Mary Poppins Returns, rated U, is released on Friday, December 21. To learn more about where you can catch the film in Kent please click here.
Children's laureate and Charlie and Lola creator Lauren Childs has illustrated Mary Poppins for the latest hardback edition. To learn more about the book, which could make an ideal stocking filler, please click here.
