Up to the highest height

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2014)

I knew Walt Disney's name from the time I was imprinted with "Peter Pan" in 1954 at the age of six – I've never quite gotten over it.
Each generation in turn experienced the same thing as Walt and his studio produced those amazing movies. It was "Snow White" and "Bambi" before me, and then it was "Lady and the Tramp", "101 Dalmatians", "The Little Mermaid", "Toy Story" – dozens of them, right up to the present day – long after Walt was gone. At time of writing, "Frozen" is the highest grossing film of all time.
One who didn't share the passion of millions was P.L. Travers, the author of "Mary Poppins".
What an emotional roller-coaster ride of a movie this is as the audience waits for P.L. Travers to finally love Walt like most of us do. The film is set around her time in Hollywood during the preparation of "Mary Poppins", one of Walt Disney's greatest successes. She proves beyond difficult and hates what Walt and his crew are doing to her beloved character. She doesn't want songs, she doesn't want animation, she doesn't even want the colour red.
As she battles Walt, her early life as a little girl in Australia is revealed piece by piece, especially her relationship with her alcoholic father who died when she was seven years old. By the end of "Saving Mr Banks" we understand some of the forces that have shaped her life and made her so protective of Mary Poppins.
Apparently it didn't quite happen as depicted here, and P.L. Travers and Walt never really had that rapport, but over time she appeared to appreciate aspects of the movie. What the story does is telescope everything into the period around the making of the film. There appears to be much truth in the movie, but it also takes plenty of artistic licence.
Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks are just about perfect; these couldn't have been easy roles. P.L. Travers was such a complex character whose prissy and intimidating exterior hid a kinder, more sensitive side. Tom Hanks must have also felt the pressure of bringing Walt Disney to life for the first time on the screen.
The film is full of beautiful performances: Paul Giamatti, Rachel Griffith, Colin Farrell as the father, and Annie Rose Buckley as Ginty, the young P.L.Travers. The film also pays homage to the brilliance of the Sherman brothers and the songs they created for the film – so many of them instantly recognisable.
It would be carping to say that the scenes set in Australia don't really look like the actual locations. They serve the purpose of the story and represent the emotionally heightened memories of childhood.
Funny and heart wrenching, it's hard to resist this film. It has a deeply felt human dimension, and explores the forces that drive creativity. Aided by Thomas Newman's beautiful score, it is almost impossible to remain unmoved as the film nears its end and "Mary Poppins" reaches the screen.