Saving Mr Banks tells ‘the untold true story’ of the making of the Disney classic Mary Poppins via the stand-offs between Walt and the book’s author, P.L. Travers, and it is not a taxing film. You always know where it’s going and, with its rather melodramatic flashbacks, there is no ambiguity as to where it is coming from, but neither matters as much as they should as there is just so much joy to be had otherwise. It stars both Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson (you spoil us, ambassador!), is smartly and deftly directed (by John Lee Hancock) and if you can’t get off on the composers, the Sherman brothers, sitting at the piano and coming up with ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ or ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ there is something seriously wrong with you, and you possibly need a doctor’s appointment. Also, if you stay until the end of the credits, you will hear something that will give you goose bumps.
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