Movie Review: Emily Blunt Is Practically Perfect In Every Way In 'Mary Poppins Returns'

In this current era of reboots, remakes, and sequels, few have dared to add to the lore of such a beloved classic as Mary Poppins (though 2019 will see remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King, plus the 4th entry in the Toy Story series). What makes this one unique is that its predecessor was released 54 years ago and was – and continues to be – universally loved. It even has a 100%/86% critic/audience split on Rotten Tomatoes. As flawed as RT may be, such high numbers can’t be ignored. The 1964 film was also nominated for 13 Academy Awards, winning five. All this was to say this new update had a lot to live up to. And I say it did, without question.

No matter how good the rest of the movie turned out, it could never be a success without Emily Blunt nailing the role of the titular Mary Poppins. And boy does she. Blunt brings a familiar feeling to Julie Andrews’ iconic portrayal but also brings her own flair. The end result is nothing short of fantastic, managing to feel fresh and new while still maintaining the heart of the character. This is one of the best performances of the year and Blunt should battle Lady Gaga for the Lead Actress award (though Gaga is probably a touch ahead).

Lin-Manuel Miranda is also a standout as lamplighter Jack, playing the Dick Van Dyke chimney sweeper role. His singing and dancing were as great as you would expect them to be. One of the smaller complaints I have about the movie, however, was Miranda’s accent. Now I’ll be honest, I’m not the best at judging accents, but something about his just felt…off. It wasn’t anything that detracts too much from the movie, but you do notice it here and there.

And of course there are the musical numbers. The visuals are near-perfect. They jump off the screen in such a fun, engaging way. But the songs themselves are catchy but largely forgettable. Only time will tell, but I don’t see any lasting songs like “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” or “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” But it is worth mentioning that I have listened to the soundtrack a couple times since seeing the movie, and most of them hold up better than I thought they might. In fact, two tracks, “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” and “Trip a Little Light Fantastic,” are on the Academy’s shortlist but Best Original Song.

Something I worry about with remakes or sequels of such a popular movie is how many “Hey, remember this!” references there are. When a movie over-relies on these, it quickly and drastically hurts the overall quality of the film. But thankfully, I can’t think of one that was egregious or felt out of place. There are a couple fun cameos, and one is just a quick, blink-and-you-miss-it type that many might even miss. The other actually effectively plays into the plot of the movie (and also drew a quick round of applause from a group in my theater). And there are some others sprinkled in, and likely more that I missed, not knowing the original all that well.

All of what I’ve said so far has been extremely positive, so why isn’t Mary Poppins Returns rated higher, in the 90s maybe? It comes down to a couple points, the main one being length. It feels like a cop out, as this is an all-too-common complaint with many movies these days. But it doesn’t make it any less true. The movie is a little over two hours long, and it simply doesn’t need to be. Specifically, two musical numbers run far too long, what feels like about 10 minutes each. Then there was Meryl Streep’s role. I had no issue with the role or the scene by itself; it was another fun musical number. But it was wholly unnecessary to the story. The movie could have gotten to the same end point with those plot lines with a scene half as long, if not even shorter.

That’s honestly it. A few small tweaks, a couple shorter songs, and we’d have a top 5-10 movie of the year, instead of the top 20ish movie – which, to be fair, is still quite good. In the end, it’s simply an incredibly fun movie that pays homage to the original while still finding its own identity. If you’re looking for a movie to go to for a family Christmas outing that everyone will like, Mary Poppins Returns just might be your best bet.

Oscar hopes: Mary Poppins Returns could end up with a pile of nominations. Because of its unique setting and style, it opens itself up to the majority of the categories. All of the categories I could see it receiving a nomination would be: