Saving Mr Banks
09/12/13 Filed in: Cinema
We saw Saving Mr Banks last week. This review's a bit late as a number of other things have been occupying my time.
The film basically tells the story of how Walt Disney, after years of endeavour, finally managed to convince the doubting author of Mary Poppins, P L Travers, to release the film rights for her series of popular children's novels. Travers didn't want her characters trivialised by the 'Disney' treatment and it appears that she was a very difficult person to convince. In fact she was a very difficult person, full stop.
What was a surprise, for me anyway, was the back-story. The character of Mary Poppins was, it seems, created from Travers' childhood experience as a young girl growing up in Australia. The quintessentially English author was, therefore, actually Australian, but she had put that part of her life behind her; or had she?
The film basically tells the story of how Walt Disney, after years of endeavour, finally managed to convince the doubting author of Mary Poppins, P L Travers, to release the film rights for her series of popular children's novels. Travers didn't want her characters trivialised by the 'Disney' treatment and it appears that she was a very difficult person to convince. In fact she was a very difficult person, full stop.
What was a surprise, for me anyway, was the back-story. The character of Mary Poppins was, it seems, created from Travers' childhood experience as a young girl growing up in Australia. The quintessentially English author was, therefore, actually Australian, but she had put that part of her life behind her; or had she?
Behind these children's books was a bitter-sweet story that didn't end well.
The struggle to convince Travers was amusingly portrayed, with Emma Thompson providing perhaps an Oscar deserving performance as the intransigent and pedantic author. But, for me, it was the back-story that was much more interesting and the complex emotions that Travers struggled with as she finally agreed to release the film rights.
Well worth seeing.
The struggle to convince Travers was amusingly portrayed, with Emma Thompson providing perhaps an Oscar deserving performance as the intransigent and pedantic author. But, for me, it was the back-story that was much more interesting and the complex emotions that Travers struggled with as she finally agreed to release the film rights.
Well worth seeing.