Saving Mr. Banks is a drama and comedy that tells the story of how Mary Poppins came to be.  Directed by John Lee Hancock, this 2013 film also depicts the struggles one woman has to go through while dealing with an super icon legend named Walt Disney.  Nominated for multiply oscars, this movie does not disappoint viewers.

The movie starts off kind of slow, showing flashbacks of the main character P. L. Travers played by Emma Thompson. In the present day however, she is a struggling old woman who is losing money.  She reluctantly decides to go to Hollywood to see if she wants to sell her movie to Walt Disney.  Walt is played by oscar-nominated Tom Hanks and I think Hancock did a good job with depicting him.  He is this happy man, but also a man who usually gets what he wants.  This is interesting because Mrs. Travers is not just handing Mary Poppins over to Walt and that frustrates him.  Hancock did a job in showing the struggles that Mrs. Travers and the production crew had to go through in order to make the movie.

Although this movie would seem like in was made for older viewers, this movie is recommended for all disney lovers.  Getting the story behind a classic movie such as Mary Poppins fascinated me.  Hancock also does a good job of throwing the element of comedy in there to keep his viewers entertained.  The way Hancock portrays P. L. Travers is quite funny to.  The way she acts around Walt and the rest of the production crew is comical.  Everyone in the Disney corporation is jolly and happy, while Mrs. Travers brings this negative mood to the story which adds comedy in itself.  I like how she sees Walt as just another man and not this guy who is rich.  I also love how she degrades Walt and he can’t do anything about it because he really wants Mary Poppins to become a his next big movie.  Mrs. Travers may seem like a sassy, arrogant women, but it just adds on to the entertainment value of the movie.

The only dull moments in the movie were probably the flashbacks in the movie.  They were important for telling the background story of the movie, but as an audience member, they were kind of boring.  They were kind of a killjoy because they took us away from the sassy Mrs. Travers arguing with the production crew.  And it pulled us away from the Sherman brothers singing the songs such as “Spoonful of Sugar” and “Lets go Fly a Kite.”  Never-the-less, these flashbacks were just as important to the plot as the present day scenes.

Like his other movie “The Blind Side,” Hancock has once again told a story about struggles in life and how to overcome them. It shows how one woman’s love for her father can ultimately lead to a story about a woman who saves the children’s father from becoming separated from his kids. This movie is a must see for everyone and I highly recommend it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140373/