"Mary Poppins Returns" begins with the now grown-up Banks siblings in the Great Depression era, Michael (Ben Wishaw; "The Danish Girl," "Skyfall," "Cloud Atlas") and Jane (Emily Mortimer). Ben is a widower with three small children; John (Nathanael Saleh), Georgie (Joel Dawson) and Annabel (Pixie Davies).
A painter at heart, Ben has another job as a bank teller to make ends meet. Jane is a labor organizer. Ben has fallen into hard times, having to take care for his kids and their family home is going to be foreclosed. The only way to save his home is to find his father's share certificate of the bank that he works at. Meanwhile, the ruthless bank's chairman Wilkins (Colin Firth, "Kingsman" series, "The King's Speech") is doing everything he can to repossess the house.
To the surprise of the Banks siblings, their former nanny Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt; "The Girl on the Train," "Edge of Tomorrow," "The Adjustment Bureau") arrives just in time to sprinkle some magic back into their lives.
Blunt brings blunt attitude and polish patina into the role. She gracefully ascends, glides or descends using a kite, umbrella or balloon and sing and dance with nary a hair out of place. Another standout is Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, the energetic lamplighter and partner-in-adventure.
None of the tunes is memorable except the closing song 'Nowhere To Go But Up.' A couple of musical sequences are overextended to the level of tedium. At times it feels like a musical number is just there for the sake of it, which prolongs the pacing and doesn't move the story along as it should be. These lessen the time that could have been used to build more warmth into the characters' connections. And of course, there's always an inherent hole with magic; the racing-against-the clock dilemma towards the end could have been easily solved by Mary Poppins.
The production is a lavish affair as scenes after scenes are filled with elaborate musical numbers, gorgeous compositions and colors, including a blend of live action and hand-drawn animation. Bubble bath-plunging, bowl-spinning, lamp-lighting, bike-riding, tower clock-climbing and time-turning, balloon-floating. Seasonal change from the cold cloudy winter into sunny spring blooms caps the story on a joyous hope for a better future.
There is something merry about watching musicals around the holidays ("The Greatest Showman," "La La Land," "Into the Woods," "Les Miserables"). "The Greatest Showman" was so successful that it leads to live show tours around the world next year. "La La Land" won the Golden Globes. "Mary Poppins Returns" is this year's end-of-year mirth that will put a bright smile on your face.
Soundtrack: https://tinyurl.com/marypoppinsreturnscd