Saving Mr Banks - review

Saving Mr Banks is the story of how Walt Disney tried for 20 years to acquire the film rights for Mary Poppins from the author of the books, PL Travers, a formidable woman who has no intention of giving up her creation lightly.

In 1965 as PL Travers makes her way from London to Los Angeles to read through the proposed script for the film, there is no hesitation when she comes to putting her point across and in the process makes it very difficult for Walt & the production team to come up with any ideas she is happy with.

With objections to turning the stories into a musical, including animation and the casting of the great Dick Van Dyke, Mrs Travers becomes a bitter pill to swallow as the team continue to try and create a movie which everyone including Mrs Travers will enjoy.

But as the production meetings go ahead and Walt spends time trying to bring Mrs Travers round to his idea of making Mary Poppins a movie for all ages, we see through memories of her childhood in Australia how she enjoyed spending time with her father, an alcoholic Bank Manager and how the idea for Mary Poppins came from her own life.

We also discover why she was so reluctant to give her creation away, but thankfully PL Travers gave in and helped create a wonderful movie which will last the test of time.

An insightful and excellent movie starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks which I knew I wanted to watch as soon as I saw the trailer.

Definitely a movie to watch for fans of the musical which knows no age boundaries, Mary Poppins.