Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks is a drama-filled movie based on author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) who wrote Mary Poppins. In this film, Travers reflects on her childhood as Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) seeks to adapt her novel to the big screen. It is based on a true story of the making of Mary Poppins, the 1964 musical fantasy starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. This film gives insight into how P.L. Travers created the book and hesitantly gave the rights over to Walt Disney to make the film because of her own emotional attachment to the character.

The movie focuses on two weeks in 1961. That is when the aggressively charming Walt Disney entered the final stages of a 20-year pursuit of P.L. Travers, the Australian-born British female author, to secure the film rights to her book.

After sales of her book have dried up, the cash-strapped writer is encouraged by her manager to consider Walt Disney’s offer. Reluctantly complying with her agent, P.L. Travers travels from her home in London to Disney’s domain in Burbank, California to hear out his offer. The only way she agrees to make the film is if all her trivial demands are met. The back-and-forth ensues between the two throughout the entirety of the film which is quite entertaining to watch.

Mrs. Travers, as she prefers to be called, shows disdain towards Disney and the talent in charge of the making of the film from the moment she steps onto studio lot. She insists on changes that range from being harmless to downright insulting. She goes as far as to make demands that simply cannot be met. The reason she holds this stuck up demeanor towards others is because she is very overprotective of her characters in her book. They hold so much sentimental value to her because they are based off of influential people in her own life.

Director John Lee Hancock does an outstanding job showing us flashbacks of 7-year-old Travers (Annie Rose Buckley) in Australia in 1906 to give us a better understanding of her character. Through these flashbacks, Hancock shows us that Mrs. Travers, born Helen Pamela Goff, was raised on the rough outback alongside two younger sisters by an overwhelmed mother (Ruth Wilson) and adored workaholic father (Colin Farrell) who was an alcoholic. Hancock does his best to mesh past and present together, and he provides us with a tear-jerking film. Alongside all the meaningful flashbacks given by Hancock, the film also contains references to gimmicks made in “Mary Poppins” offering nostalgia to those who watched the film.

Emma Thompson is perfectly cast as P.L. Travers. She creates a nuanced, complicated character from one who could be two-dimensional and tiresome. In Thompson’s rendition, Mrs. Travers creates high expectations for everyone around her, so she saves herself from being disappointed if things don’t pan out the way she wants them to. Thompson gives her levels and depth, so the ending of the film makes emotional sense.

Tom Hanks conveys both the Hollywood icon’s boyish sense of wonder and iron-fisted resolve of Walt Disney. He plays Walt Disney in a way that makes it easy to admire Disney’s passion and commitment. Hanks and Thompson work magically together and give outstanding performances. They show Walt and Mrs. Travers forming a relationship that is not romantic, but instead founded on the basis of mutual respect and creativity.

Saving Mr. Banks focuses on the growing relationship between Travers and Disney which lead to the making of the critically acclaimed Mary Poppins. It captures the true meaning behind Mary Poppins and reminds everyone of what was so special about the 1961 film.