This movie is similar to the first movie but with a slighter darker twist and less showstopping tunes. As a bookshop manager I will be playing the song "A Cover is Not the Book" around my shop for several weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNvV6N7veRs
Emily Blunt is not Julie Andrews but she is really the only woman currently acting, with a strong voice who could have pulled it off and she really did pull it off! Emily Blunt is the Mary Poppins that children from this generation will remember but children from my generation or earlier will remember Julie Andrews as the main Mary Poppins. Emily Blunt could keep this going for a few more movies though and I think that Julie Andrews may have been proud of their choice to replace her. Blunt has a great voice, the right personality to pull it off and the skill behind it all, which can clearly been seen by her dancing in this movie. So long as you remember that Mary Poppins never comes to save the father, she always comes to save the children then there should be no problems with these movies.
No Dick Van Dyke reprising his role of 'Burt', which makes sense because Burt would be reaching his fifties or sixties and therefore probably wouldn't still be sweeping the chimneys in London. This time, the role of street worker is taken on by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Musical writer of Hamilton and Moanna) and he takes on the role of 'Jack', a street lighter who was a child working with Burt in the original movie so it sort of gives his character a bit more purpose. This movie, in so many ways, runs parallel to the original movie. If you can remember the 'step in time' dance sequence then fear not because there is a similar sequence with the street lighters and of course, 'A Cover is Not the Book' is in a similar place to 'Supercallafragilisticexpialidosious', making it very easy for you as the audience to feel like you are in a Mary Poppins movie.
Of course, Dick Van Dyke gets a brief look in, as does Angela Lansbury as a balloon seller. Van Dyke takes over as head of the bank but he only briefly appears and dances on the desk as the movie resolves itself. The main role of head banker is played by Colin Firth and when I said that this movie was slightly darker that is only because there is an obvious bad guy in this movie and that is Colin Firth. The bank and financial troubles were always a problem for the Banks family but the bankers weren't obviously as bad as this time around.
Poverty hits Michael Banks after his wife dies and leaves him with three children to look after. He forgets to pay monthly loans and generally forgets to do a lot of things. He still has Ellen, this time played by Julie Walters but even she cannot make everything happy again. As I said, less showstoppers means less memorable music and less unity of family but this time Mary Poppins had a more subtle role to play and she did it so very well that I only have positive reviews to write about this movie. Everyone in this movie was great and I especially loved how far Meryl Streep has come with her singing. Her acting was more similar to her role in 'Into the Woods' but her voice has come even further than it had in that movie. She was great, her costume was fantastic, her setting was stupendous and her singing was enjoyable.
Overall, this movie was thoroughly enjoyable. I saw it with my Mother and my Grandmother and we all enjoyed it. There were moments where I wished for the classic, three beat Mary Poppins music but I do have to accept that the songwriters are not going to be the same. There is always room for improvement and this is something that they can take in to the next movie. Emily Blunt appears to do less with her singing voice than Julie Andrews did and therefore may have a little more time to make another movie before having to retire from the musical theatre side of movies but from my point of view, I hope that she makes another movie because she is fantastic in almost everything that she does and this role was different to any other role that I have seen from her and really suited her.
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