You can watch this without having watched Mary Poppins

Rating: 6/10 (14 September 2014)

Just like I did. "Saving Mr. Banks" offers an interesting insight into the background story of P.L. Travers, the writer of Mary Poppins and even without having seen the movie or read the books that this is based on, I had a good time watching. Most of it is due to the quality performances of Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks. The supporting cast deserves a mention too, they all did a good job, especially those acting in the years where Travers is grown up. Bradley Whitford really won me over here.
The parts with Travers' years as a child (including Ruth Wilson and Colin Farrell) admittedly did not blow me away that much. The alcoholism part in the center was displayed with precision and it became obvious that young Travers had a very strong connection with her father, but something was missing to greatness. I am not sure if I'd say they could have done completely without it, but on certain parts they could have elaborated more. Still it was already over 2 hours this way. They could have shortened the flashback parts quite considerably and not used them as a major element to her background. As suck, it simply was not elaborated enough.
The storyline including the making of the classic movie "Mary Poppins" was very good though. "Lets go fly a kite" is stuck in my ears months after having watched this film and I'd have to dig really deep to find something about it that I did not like. Maybe I found it a bit weird that Disney flies to her to England and then not even invites her to the premiere. Quite the contradiction. I am not sure how accurate this is with the real events though. If it was that way, ignore my criticism. The whole Disney in England sequence felt rather dry and I could have done without it. Actually, that part could have been much more emotional. What was very emotional and totally succeeded for me, was the part where she watches the movie and starts crying as the memories from her father all come back to her that very moment.
Even if Emma Thompson missed the Oscar nomination after being nominated for all the precursors, this movie is pretty much her. It is at least as interesting as a making of to "Mary Poppins" if there is one. It seems director John Lee Hancock always gets the best of his female protagonists. Not only was "Saving Mr. Banks" written by two women with not too much experience at least for wide theater releases, but after all, he managed to turn Sandra Bullock into an Academy Award winner. Thompson's Travers isn't inferior at all to Sandy's portrayal as Leigh Anne Tuohy.