Saving Mr. Banks

SAVING MR. BANKS

Director : John Lee Hancock

Year : 2013

Genre : Biopic

Rating : *****

Since it's release in 1963, 'Mary Poppins' has become known as one of the greatest children's movies ever made and to some people, it is even the jewel in the very large crown of the Walt Disney company. Starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and David Tomlinson and featuring some of the most iconic songs in movie history, 'Mary Poppins' would gain 13 Academy Award nominations and would eventually win five including Best Actress and Best Visual Effects. However while the songs and dialogue are known  and adored by millions and millions of people across the world, the incredible story behind the film is not. 'Saving Mr. Banks' explores the history of the novel which inspired the film and the fights that Walt Disney had to bring it to the screen. Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are simply perfect in the roles of Walt Disney and 'Mary Poppins' author P.L Travers respectively and the direction by John Lee Hancock is some of the best I have seen all year. For fans of 'Mary Poppins' and the history of Disney, 'Saving Mr. Banks' is an absolute must see; a film that is sure to feature in my top 10 films of 2013 next week.

As is typical with many of these biopic films, 'Saving Mr. Banks' takes a great deal of time to show us how some of the most iconic moments of 'Mary Poppins' came into being and were are treated to reconstructions of the moments when the famous songs were written and the main ideas of the story were conceived. However while these scenes are a joy to watch, it is when the movie focuses on Travers' childhood and we see the real life inspirations that made her write the novel in the first place that 'Saving Mr. Banks' really becomes something special. Telling the heartbreaking story of her formative years in Australia, where her father becomes an alcoholic and eventually succumbs to influenza, 'Saving Mr. Banks' does a phenomenal job of exploring the psyche of the obviously damaged writer and allows us to see why her persona is so strict and regimental; constrasting perfectly with Walt Disney's jovial and optimistic nature. Emma Thompson is for my money the greatest actress alive and she has never been better here, portraying a woman who cannot let go of the past and live in the dynamic present. There are moments in the film where her stiff upper lipped nature and old fashioned values threaten to make us dislike her immensely, but through her care, tactfulness and overwhelming emotionality, Thompson is utterly spellbinding as an author who really doesn't get the credit she deserves and who is determined to protect a character who means just as much to her and Mickey does to Disney.

To play Walt Disney, one of the most beloved human beings ever to live on the planet must be a daunting prospect and it would take an unbelievably versatile and above all avuncular actor to play the great man. So who better than Tom Hanks, the greatest actor alive? Playing Disney as both a lovable and scheming man, Hanks shows us that while he was indeed a caring and almost magisterial presence, he was also a businessman who would fight to get what he wanted and both Hanks and director Hancock do a masterful job of showing both sides to his personality without making him seen too saccharine sweet and conversely too dictatorial. Finding the right balance between the two, Tom Hanks epitomises everything that was so great about Uncle Walt and why he is as beloved today as he was 50 years ago. 

With a supporting cast including Colin Farell, David Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford and an outstanding Paul Giamatti, 'Saving Mr. Banks' is an absolute joy from start to finish. As a tribute to the genius 'Mary Poppins' it is a triumph, as a tribute to P.L Travers it is a triumph, as a tribute to Walt Disney it is a triumph and as a tribute to proper filmmaking it is a triumph. I guarantee that 'Saving Mr. Banks' will dominate the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards next March and along with the simply perfect 'Captain Phillips', 2013 has proved to be an astonishing year for Tom Hanks. There really is no word to describe 'Saving Mr. Banks'...

Well maybe one, iiiit's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!