Two geniuses meet

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2014)

This is Walt Disney's first "biography", in a way of speaking--more specifically, it is how Mary Poppins flew to Hollywood. Emma Thompson (who also played an earlier nanny in the short lived Nanny McPhee franchise some years early) really conveys P.L.Travers's frequent reluctance and selfishness yet also her talent and magic, with Tom Hanks, no less as "Walt" (he didn't require titles to address him. Everyone was on a first name basis with him), fitting right into the role... You;ll see supporting plays like Paul Giamatti as the kindly limo driver who has the only true friendship with P.L.Travers, B.J.Novak & Jason Shwartzman as the famed Oscar winning songwriting Shermans, Bradley Whitford as Disney scribe Donald Da Gradif and even the famed Disney secretaries,(unsung actresses Kathy Baker as Tommie and Melanie Saxsson, who is real funny, as Dolly, the one who is in the sessions and brings snacks.) No fancy snacks, no animated Penguins or anything, no songs...you've heard all the (generally considered impossible to deal with) P.L.Travers requests. You'll see childhood Australian 1906 flashbacks of P.L., and you'll find out her real name and the reason for her temper later, in 1961. You'll also see that P.L. was both nice as a kid and only human as an adult, and that Walt Disney could be practically (to use Mary Poppins's obviously favorite adverb there) stubborn as P.L. was. You can hear the songs that the Shermans play, even an actual tape recording as P.L.Travers in real life and on screen insisted on. So, have a spoonful of sugar and see this. And Mr.Banks, of course, was the dad, both in real life and in the movie.I won't spoil what P.L.Travers real name is but the discussion board would have the answer.:)