Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks

Overall rating: 4.5 stars

As a squeaky clean, nostalgic look at the battle between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers (and indeed between Travers herself), Saving Mr. Banks is droll and charming, with particular strength coming from its two accomplished leads.

It's a simple tale, the wonderfully pompous Emma Thompson plays P.L. Travers, a rather vile and stubborn author, whose books have warmed the hearts of millions. On the other side of the spectrum is Tom Hanks's Walt Disney, an effervescent crowd-pleaser, with a desperate longing to fulfil an old promise that he'd bring Mary Poppins to life. A battle of wits ensues, with Travers turning her nose up at everything Disney throws at her, vetoing the use of songs or "silly cartoons".  Eventually, after days of arguing and a trip to Disneyland, she's worn down (ever so slightly), but it turns out there's a lot more to the characters than meets the eye.

I won't spoil the rest, but the film is enriched with a much deeper and much more personal story than I first realised, intertwining many intimate moments from Travers's childhood with the cynical (and almost pitiful) woman she's become. Thompson's performance packs a lot wallop, with Tom Hanks proving to be an able(if less spectacular) foil. The lack of ugly insight irked me. Only once was Disney's famous smoking habit mentioned, giving the impression that, whilst on the surface it appears very probing, the film is hiding things under its sentimental sheen. Besides that, the attention to detail and production value is top-notch, with a capable supporting cast filling the gaps out nicely.

It's funnier than I expected too, although the slight glimpses of humour are later, rightfully, overridden by Travers's troublesome past, which proves to be the emotional anchor of the film. Indeed, Hanks's Disney, ever affable, has a back story too; which seems to spearhead his campaign for the rights.

It's fluffy in parts, yes, but rarely saccharine or cloying. Director John Lee Hancock utilises the array of tools at his disposal to ensure that what is, essentially, a piece of propaganda, can somehow become a heartwarming and thoughtful look at a sardonic woman and why she's become that way.

At the end of the film, I was pleased to realise that there is true substance under the corporate shine. It's a film so effusive, so sparkling with wit and charm that only the most cold hearted Disney cynics (such as Travers herself) could dislike.