Long before Harry Potter, many young people grew up with the Mary Poppins series of books, only to discover years later that they were far more complicated than they appeared when first read… and so was the writer! Disney Studios’ sentimental film Saving Mr. Banks, directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side / Snow White And The Huntsman), about the author P. L. Travers and her extraordinary professional relationship with Walt Disney, should go down well over the summer holiday period. In it we learn that Walt Disney (Tom Hanks - The Da Vinci Code / Captain Phillips) and Mrs. Travers, as she insists on being addressed, (Emma Thompson - Beautiful Creature / An Education), have been communicating for over twenty years. Walt is determined to get Mrs. Travers to sign over the rights to Mary Poppins; years earlier, he had made a promise to his daughters that he would make a musical version of the novel and he was not going to take no for an answer. But Mrs. Travers is equally determined that her creation will not be toned down or ‘Disney-fied’, and definitely no animation! Thus, a battle of egos begins.

We first meet the adult Mrs. Travers in 1961, when she is living in London and about to travel to Hollywood to meet Walt Disney and discuss the plans he has to make the film. On arrival in Los Angeles (“It smells”), Mrs. Travers has a meeting with the famous Sherman brothers (played perfectly by B. J. Novak (US TV series The Office) and Jason Schwartzman (I Heart Huckabees / The Fantastic Mr. Fox), who desperately try to sell their musical ideas and songs to the old curmudgeon, but Mrs. Travers seems to abhor musicals as much as she does animation and, of course, the meeting does not go well. From then on Walt realizes he has to crack the code of Mary Poppins or he will be unable to convince the author to release her creation and thus fulfil his promise to his children. He must discover the real reason behind her reticence and, in order to do so, he must find out more about her background.

Saving Mr. Banks features lengthy flashbacks to Mrs. Travers’s childhood when the family lived in Allora, Queensland, at ‘the end of the railway line’. She is beautifully portrayed as a young girl by new-comer Annie Rose Buckley, who has an adoring relationship with her alcoholic father, Travers Goff (Colin Farrell - Total Recall / Fright Night). The scenes in Australia are integral to the story, for they explain why Mrs. Travers comes with so much baggage and is unable to let go of her work.

Thompson is pitch-perfect in both her mannerisms and facial expressions and this is one of her best performances for some time. Hanks also delivers a heart-warming, passionate performance that showcases his talent, a talent that improves as he gets older. The support roles are equally good, particularly Paul Giamatti (12 Years A Slave / Sideways) as Mrs. Travers’s long-suffering, put upon driver – a diplomat if ever there was one! The film is cleverly edited by Mark Livolsi (The Blind Side / The Devil Wears Prada), so at no time does one feel that one isn’t privy to the motivations of screenwriters Kelly Marcel’s and Sue Smith’s rather sad and endearing characters. The intercutting between the different time periods is particularly well handled.

Judging by the audience’s very positive reaction at the premiere, this film will capitalise on word-of-mouth. Don’t rush out while the end credits are running because there is a lovely surprise included in them that also backs up the integrity of the story-telling. In a year when the awards competition is shaping up to be pretty tough, Saving Mr. Banks may miss out on getting the recognition it deserves, however, if you are looking for a good film with terrific performances and a feel-good tone, don’t miss this ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ movie.

// SALT

Previewed at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, Sydney, on 18 December 2013