In the new Disney musical extravaganzaMary Poppins Returns,years have passed since the world’s original supernanny brought serenity and some much-needed sugar to 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Now, sadly, the Banks household is once again at sixes, sevens and possibly eights.
Oh, Michael, you hopeless grownup! All you need to do is look out on the blustery London weather and behold Ms. Poppins. Once more she descends from the sky, like a woman riding a funicular of wind.She’llmake everything spit-spot!
Maybe, arguably, even spitter-spotter than strictly necessary.
Courtesy Disney
Emily Blunt(A Quiet Place)takes over the role that won an Oscar for Julie Andrews and her silvery peal of a voice. Blunt isn’t a musical-comedy star like her predecessor, who always invested her singing with so much personality and theatrical focus that, for all practical purposes, shewasthe music. But Blunt can carry a tune confidently and tunefully, and her acting is charming.
Looking like a more vigorous Deborah Kerr—the actress who, back in the day, was Hollywood’s go-to star for prim British beauty—Blunt gives us a Mary with less starch, a Mary who’s less of a nursery commando. She’s playfully sly and adaptably clever, making minute internal calculations to solve any and every snafu. This is perhaps the only time you might imagine a Mary who, in our more advanced times, could be an Instagram influencer (#spoonfulofsugar) or president of Hogwarts.
A round of applause, then: Blunt is flawless as a woman described as perfect in every way. Whenever she’s sweeping her magical way through, above and even below London, the movie is the jolly, jolly holiday it wants to be.
If Disney played it any safer, Mary and Michael would be wearing hazmat uniforms.
(In theaters, rated PG)
source: people.com
