Tom's Two Cents : Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Poppins, this time in the form of Emily Blunt, has returned to Number 17, Cherry Tree Lane in London. Is the film a successful sequel to its legendary original? Well... yes and no. Sequels are nearly always difficult. The one film exception I can think of is “The Godfather II,” which outdid the original. (“Godfather III” did not.). This sequel in no way outdoes the original, but it does have its moments, and among the most successful ones are those involving Lin-Manuel Miranda, who clearly has star power the likes of which we have not seen since the hey-day of Gene Kelly. I suppose I am one of the last to acknowledge this, not being one of the thousands of “Hamilton” groupies, but the man clearly has extraordinary talent and puts it to superb use, perhaps at an advantage in not having to try to bring the original Dick Van Dyke character, Bert, the chimney sweep, back to life.

Emily Blunt, in my opinion, is not so lucky. Yes, she captures the Mary Poppins role satisfactorily, but she is no substitute for Julie Andrews. This is not to say she does not sing, dance and act well, but she does not bring that certain indefinable “something” to the character that Andrews did. I would go so far as to say that no one can. Andrews’ grasp of Poppins was, like her Maria von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” a definitive interpretation, and one that another actress takes on at her peril. Mary Poppins does not have a range of characteristics like, say, Shakespeare’s Juliet—she is basically what we call in fiction a”flat” character, yes a very odd bird indeed, but even her oddities are relatively limited in scope. Andrews brought the character of Poppins totally to life, in that she was not playing a role—she WAS the character.

All this being said, the rest of the cast was quite superb, as were the musical numbers and production values in general. I would not agree with the New York Times review, which found the show “charmless.” It had plenty of charm and most of the elements that made the first MP a success. “The Place Where Lost Things Go” was a lovely, touching number, and “Trip the Light Fantastic” a terrific dance sequence. Cameos played by Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Dick van Dyke and others were delightful and effective—only Colin Firth, in a stereotypical villain role, was wasted.

• No, I didn’t come out dancing and singing, as I did some fifty-four years ago, when I saw the original film, but I’m very glad I saw it. 

Now let’s wait and see what our Real Film Critic, Chance Crane, has to say!