Saving Mr Banks: Emma all the way

*ing: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell
Rated: 5.5/10

This is Emma Thompson’s movie and that’s quite something for an achiever who’s co-star is none less than Tom Hanks, that too playing Walt Disney himself in a Walt Disney movie!


Hanks, known for easliy monopolising a film much like Aamir Khan on our side of the world, has little to do in this one and excels in what he does, only as a side-dish to Thompson who plays Mrs P L Travers, the eccentric, introverted and meticulous writer of the unforgettable Mary Poppins.

Having turned down Walt Disney for more than 20 years, Mrs Travers finally succumbs to financial pressures to sell the rights of her book to Disney, but with a lot of riders.

The film which leaps out of a cherry blossomed apartment in London to the Walt Disney Studio in Beverly Hills, is a delightfu journey of tussle between a stiff Englsih writer and the scriptwriters’ artistic licence. Travers, however, will have none of it and mostly has her way. She will not have her characters animated and definitely will not allow non-existent English words to serenade the lyrics.

Thompson is at her best here countering the much too languid pace of the film. Her quirks, her eccentricities and her stiff upper lip are delightfully displayed. As is the pathos in her life, stemming from her daddy issues. A slow burner this one.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 9 February, 2014

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