Saving Mr. Banks (2013) review

It’s interesting to note that, in the years since his death in 1966, there haven’t been any films made that center around or feature Walt Disney. After all, he was the man responsible for some of the greatest animated films of all time and one of the biggest companies in the world is named after him. With credentials like that, it makes you wonder why there hasn’t been any attempt to do something along the lines of a biopic. But with this film, the man behind arguably the world’s most famous mouse finally makes his debut on the big screen, albeit through a portrayal by Tom Hanks instead of Disney himself. But Disney’s not exactly the star of this film. Instead, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ is the tale of ‘Mary Poppins’ author P.L. Travers and her experiences working with Walt Disney during the production of the iconic film adaptation of the novel starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. It was the film that earned thirteen Oscar nominations and ultimately five wins and is considered to be one of Disney’s best films. However, as this film shows, the production didn’t really go as smooth as one might have expected but with the help of a talented cast and the proper focus, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ ends up being one of the best films of the year.

In 1961, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) travels to Los Angeles to meet with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) so that they can discuss the development for the film adaptation of her novel, Mary Poppins. Travers, who has script approval rights, is concerned about Disney turning her beloved story into one of his ‘silly’ cartoons, although Walt assures her that he will do her story justice as he made a promise to his daughters years ago that he will make Mary Poppins ‘fly off the pages of the book’. Still, as pre-production begins, Travers remains very skeptical about the project, objecting to pretty much every decision made in bringing the story to the big screen by Walt, co-writer Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and the Sherman Brothers (Jason Schwartzman (Richard) and B.J. Novak (Robert)). During this time, Travers also reflects on her childhood, when she was a little girl living in Australia in 1906. More specifically, she remembers her alcoholic but loving father Travers Robert Goff (Colin Farrell), who was her inspiration for the character of Robert Banks in the story.

While the film does take a little while to get going, it offers a very interesting look at the production of what is easily one of the most famous films of all time. Sure, it may have been a big hit both critically and commercially when it came out in 1964, but that doesn’t mean that P.L. Travers was happy about it. In fact, she was so angry about what Disney did to her story that she did not allow any future movies based on her stories to be made. As this film shows, there were multiple things that she was against, like the casting of Dick Van Dyke as Bert or having animation in the film via the dancing penguins. But in the end, most of her objections ended up being overruled by Disney who stated that he had final say. As one might expect from a film like this, it is a little dramatized (that ‘final say’ plot point I just mentioned isn’t in here) but it also allows us to see two well-renowned story tellers try to work together despite the fact that they each have different ideas about how the film should be made. I also like that this film did make Travers the main character instead of Disney himself. Don’t get me wrong, I would really like to see a biopic on Walt, but at its core, this story is about P.L. Travers, which I like especially considering that this is a Disney film. The filmmakers could have just made Walt the main character, but thankfully they decided to focus on Travers more. The scenes of her childhood in Australia are well-done and, at times, are rather heartbreaking (particularly this one scene that I don’t want to spoil that involves Travers and her father).

Emma Thompson is outstanding as Travers, conveying the author’s emotions with both skill and grace; her connection with ‘Mary Poppins’ feels real and you understand her hesitation, as I bet most authors would have whenever Hollywood adapts their stories to the big screen. Tom Hanks is just as excellent here. He may not exactly look like Walt Disney, but he succeeds at embodying the spirit and showmanship that Walt himself was known for. For the record, I know that some of you are wishing that they explore some of the more ‘controversial’ aspects about his life, like his supposed anti-Semitic views, but trust me, you won’t see that here (this is his studio we’re talking about here; I’m pretty sure they would not be too keen on doing something like that. They didn’t even want to show that Walt was a smoker.). The two leads work off each other very well and what’s also great about it is that the movie doesn’t try to dishonor either of them. There is obviously a lot more to this story than what we see in the film, but both of them are portrayed in a positive light. Of course, the rest of the cast is excellent as well; Colin Farrell in particular does some of the best work of his career as Travers’ father, who might be suffering from alcoholism but it’s clear that he really loves his daughter no matter what happens.

‘Saving Mr. Banks’, despite a rather slow opening, is easily one of the best films of the year. The tale of the production of ‘Mary Poppins’ is an interesting one, mainly because of some of the conflicting ideas between P.L. Travers and Walt Disney over how it should be made. But one of the great things about this film is that while it’s clear that these two are very different, both are portrayed in a positive way. I mean, considering that this is Disney, there might have been the possibility that the filmmakers would have just been supportive of Walt the whole way through and try to vilify Travers for not agreeing with his ideas, but thankfully they decided to have the story be about Travers, as it should be. A terrific cast certainly helps this film succeed, particularly from Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, both of whom give extremely Oscar-worthy performances. Expect this film to be a key player in this year’s awards season race. I can’t say it’s the best film this year, but it’s extremely enjoyable nevertheless. Fans of the classic movie will no doubt be interested to see how it all came together.

Rating: 4/5