Mary Poppins vs. the Nazis

Rating: 7/10 (1 December 2001)

She runs, she sings, she prances! Julie Andrews is back as another nanny (or, governess) to rambunctious children (this time 7), but her magical powers are confined to a guitar and a lilting soprano. The romance between she and Christopher Plummer doesn't work because his haughty decadence seems more in tune with Eleanor Parker's ice-poison beauty than with Andrews' overeager tomboy. Cast as Maria, a novice hired away from the convent, Julie isn't always the jovial Mary Poppins here; she's rather stern and overly precise, and when she returns as Plummer's wife, there's an awkward chasm between she and the family, as if they're asking, "Who is this new person?" The songs are fine, and the kids aren't offensive, but I can see why some refer to this as "The Sound of Mucus". It's ladled with indifference. *** from ****