The comedy is excellent; the drama less so

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2014)

Yes, this film is a highly fictionalized account of what went on behind-the-scenes of the making of Mary Poppins (1964), but on its own terms, it is a delightful, witty comedy. Well, most of the time anyway.
The 1960s atmosphere is well-portrayed and all of the acting is above average. Emma Thompson in particular does a brilliant job. I especially loved B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the Sherman brothers. Their facial expressions and interaction with Thompson were hilarious, really the highlight of the movie for me.
The film's main issue is not the way it improves P.L. Travers' opinion of the finished film (in real life, she loathed the 1964 adaptation until her last breath), but the way the pacing is shot down every time we fade into the flashbacks of Travers' traumatic childhood. While they do help give us a clearer image of the woman and why she turned out to be so joyless and cold, they stop the film dead every time they appear. I feel her back story could have been incorporated into the film in a much more natural manner, perhaps through some dialogue or just less flashbacks.
Overall, not a bad film. It's amusing and touching, but nothing that will be considered a great classic decades from now.