Movie Review: Mary Poppins (1964)

A film by Robert Stevenson

Mary Poppins is one of the most beloved movies of all time, and for good reason. This truly is a magical film. It is a mixture of live action and animation and is a wonderful musical and is quite possibly the perfect family film. Nominated for 13 Academy Awards and it was the winner of 5, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews in her feature film debut.

Mary Poppins is the story of, well, Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews). Mary Poppins is the new nanny for Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Matthew (Michael Garber) Banks. As a nanny, Mary Poppins is practically perfect . She floats down from the sky holding on to an umbrella and convinces George Banks (David Tomlinson) to give her the job as the nanny. George is flustered by Mary and of course he gives her the job. The lives and experiences of the children are about to change because there is something magical about Mary. With a song and a dance amazing things happen around Mary. She can clean up a room with nothing more than a snap of the fingers and can take a journey into a picture drawn with chalk on a sidewalk.

Mary Poppins perfectly mixes animation (the penguin waiters!) and live action to create a magical world that is an incredible change from the London that Jane and Matthew think they know. There are excellent acting performances and the over the top penis Van Dyke is charming in how sweet he is. The whole movie is sweet, charming, funny, and fantastic. This is a highly recommended musical for the whole family