MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018)

Though little remembered, Disney made a followup (if no sequel) to MARY POPPINS (same writers, songsters, producer, director, leading man) in BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS/’71. A major flop from the early ‘post-Walt’ period at the studio, it was re-released to little effect in various shortened edits. (Ironically, here, just as in BEDKNOBS, Angela Lansbury takes over a role planned for original Poppins Julie Andrews.) This new film, an uninspired ‘further adventures of . . . ’ is more disappointment than major flop, so careful not to put a foot wrong it never puts it right. The look & tone is dingy & depressed (it’s the Depression Era, get it?) with hideous green costumes on everyone. The very air inside the Banks’ home dank & green. Happily, amid all the gloom, a nice hand-drawn animated sequence, not in the style of the original POPPINS pic (an unhappy moment in Disney animation history), but more in line with the look of LADY AND THE TRAMP. Nice. But little else measures up to the older film.* Certainly not its song score (unmemorable) or story arc (will the Banks’ home be repossessed?). It’s a wash between Ed Wynn’s pointless ‘Laugh’ number in POPPINS and Meryl Streep’s pointless upside-down routine here. But didn’t anyone notice that the twist ending reverses the moral of the first film? So much for giving the old Bird Lady a tuppence! Then again, it’s just right for modern corporate Disney Inc. Perfect for Baby Boomer fans of the original who grew up to be greedy bankers.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Briefly: Emily Blunt’s Poppins very blunt. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Cockney accent less distracting than Dick Van Dyke’s. (Though Van Dyke’s surprise cameo here a rare moment of musical comedy magic.) Ben Whishaw, our grown-up Michael Banks, now a pint-sized Jeremy Irons . . . and wearing Irons’ mustache!

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: In a first, there are two (count ‘em 2!) trailers for the same film (TOY STORY 4) on this DVD.

DOUBLE-BILL: The first MARY POPPINS/’64, if never quite living up to Julie Andrews’ classic portrayal, gets past obvious shortcomings & longueurs with its memorably cheerful score & unique painterly look. (That final kite sequence pure Henri Rousseau - courtesy of Andrews’ then husband design consultant Tony Walton?)