Mary Poppins Returns - 3 smiles

I had to see "Mary Poppins Returns" a second time because I really didn't like it the first time. I was able to pay more attention to song lyrics and Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't bother me as much as he did the first time around so I enjoyed the movie more. But what does that say about a film?  Director Rob Marshall relies on the original from tone to song style to costumes and set design. So it seems that he's appealing to those who were kids in the 60s and 70s. And I could argue that today's children will get lost somewhere in the middle of this rather dark story. Most of the new songs are easily forgotten whereas A Spoonful of Sugar, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Chim Chim Cheree are hard to forget. Emily Blunt does an admirable job of taking over for Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins and Lin-Manuel Miranda if effective in the various song and dance numbers he's in.

"Mary Poppins Returns" opens in 1935, 25 years after the original. When the now-grown Banks children, Jame (Emily Mortimer) and Michael (Ben Whishaw), find themselves in danger of losing the family home, Mary (Emily Blunt) descends from the clouds to lend her no-nonsense abilities as a nanny and problem-solver to the situation, taking Michael's three motherless children under her wing. This time around, with Bert no longer in the picture, her human best friend is Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), a London lamplighter (or Leerie as he refers to himself) who is always available to lend a hand. Michael, whose life was thrown into chaos with the death of his wife, finds himself deep in debt to a bank whose chairman, William Weatherill Wilkins (Colin Firth), pretends sympathy while hiding ulterior motives. When Michael asserts that his father owned shares in the bank, Wilkins offers to stop the foreclosure if proof can be provided by Friday at midnight. As Jane and Michael search for the missing papers, Mary provides a refuge for the children, taking them on magical journeys, including a visit to a China bowl and to her cousin, Topsy (Meryl Streep). While these events are enjoyable, "Mary Poppins Returns" pales in comparison to the original. It's an enjoyable holiday movie, but it's also an imperfect sequel.