MEH-ry Poppins- Page 2

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 12/25/18 at 5:43pm

I watched it and enjoyed it but also admit that it was quite forgettable.

[CallMeAl2]

Posted: 12/25/18 at 11:33pm

Ho-ly crap! I was thrilled. That nine-year-old kid inside me that saw the original movie was over the moon. It was both bigger and deeper than the original film and it stands beside it really well - they compliment each other. 

Nobody has mentioned the rock solid actor that holds the overall plot together - and that is Ben Wishaw. My god, this whole thing could have gone south so easily (ask Christopher Robin) if he had not been able to carry the big bag of love, sorrow, despair, hope, optimism and pessimism that the script piles on to his shoulders. And he can sing and fly - two previously unseen talents. Seriously though, Wishaw is the MVP in this production as well as being the protagonist of the story. 

The script was much better structured than the original film, but for me there was a glaring flaw. "Can You Imagine That" - the bathtub number was too much too soon. I would cut it and replace it with just enough magic to impress the kids, but no more. It seemed really excessive. I think problems that people perceive with the later numbers would be fixed by cutting the first and saving the big ballyhoo for "Royal Doulton Bowl" and "Trip the Light Fantastic". Those two song/adventures have a good tie to the plot that "Imagine" doesn't have.  They shot their wad too soon. 

But overall - great job! The big splashy entertaining musical fantasy is back. I predict that this will be a movie that hooks a new generation on the storytelling and joy possible in musical film. 

Updated On: 12/25/18 at 11:33 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 2:15am

The Other One said: "Miles2Go2 said: "haterobics said: "Mary Poppins was never a favorite flick of mine, but I caught this today and had a grand time. No complaints, really... of course, I didn't go in disliking Lin, or having strong opinions on the fine line betweenrap andpatter... Seemed to honor the original, do some things on its own, and was just a nice time out..."

I love Lin and Blunt,but am not certain I’ve ever seen the original. If I did, it was when I was so young that I can’t be certain. I’m on the fence about needing to see this in a theater. I fly Delta often enough that it’ll be available on a flight in a few months. I’m seriously thinking about seeing a movie Christmas night after spending part of the day with my mom at her retirement center. I’m in the Oklahoma City area so my choices are a bit limited. I’m leaning toward seeing Vice or driving a bit further and seeing The Favourite. It’ll probably be Vice."

Both are better choices, but Mary Poppins Returns is a pleasant enough film to make it a point to see on the big screen. I hate watching movies on planes, personally."

As the Christmas lunch at mom’s assisted living center was disappointing and not much was open, I ended up eating supper at Fridays. Then opted to bypass going to theater to see a movie. Instead, I went home and finished last two episodes of The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime) then watched the highly regarded movie Roma on Netflix (I highly recommend if you like subtitled subtle, naturalistic, foreign movies; I loved it). Now watching Springsteen on Broadway. I’m about 35 minutes in. He’s always been an artist (like Dylan) I’ve (greatly) admired more in theory than in practice and so far this hasn’t changed that. Some of his narrative bits are modestly humorous or emotional, but I’m glad so far that I was never tempted to get a pricey ticket to see his Broadway show. I’m just not the right audience for him, I think. I’ll finish it though because I’m not a quitter. Lol

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 5:45am

MIles2Go2, I love Bruce, but I couldn't get through his show on Netflix, either.  Too much talk!  I have read his autobiography and didn't need to hear him essentially reading it.  

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 9:15am

as a good little jewish boy on Christmas, i went to the movies...i saw MP yesterday with a nice size crowd, and in the end most people applauded...i did not...i thought it was over-all just ok...i thought EMILY BLUNT  as MARY POPPINS did not have enough character on screen to be MP...she sang and acted well, and i loved her in INTO THE WOODS...as written, this Mary Poppins was not in the film enough except for the song and dance numbers...the one song that i actually liked a lot was the lullaby sung by MP.."The Place Where Lost Things Go"

i saw the original Mary Poppins as a young teenager and knew every song as i wore out the vinyl in short time back then...this newer version will not have me do the same!

[musikman]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 10:17am

Yea. Meh-ry Poppins is a very apt description. It all just felt so unnecessary and forgettable, if pleasant to look at. Some brief, wonderful moments, but otherwise just a shrug. The Mary Poppins character felt so superfluous and pushed to the side here. Clearly the kids could get by on their own. They didnt need her lol.

[CallMeAl2]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 1:43pm

musikman said: "...The Mary Poppins character felt so superfluous and pushed to the side here. Clearly the kids could get by on their own. They didnt need her lol."

The story isn't about the kids - it's about Michael. He is the protagonist. He has the problem that Mary Poppins comes back to fix. That's also why I say that there was one too many musical production numbers with Mary and the kids. They weren't the heart of the story. 

[musikman]

Posted: 12/26/18 at 2:29pm

Well thats what I mean. For a story that isnt supposedly supposed to be about the kids, they spend about 90% of the movie focused on them and their escapades (while they sing pleasant if second-rate versions of the 1964 films songs). Like I get that they were trying to do a parallel of the films where the father figure has to reconnect with his children. It just didnt work for me at all. The charm and wonderment of the original was severely lacking here (save for the appearances of two characters late in the film that I wont spoil), but it was a visually striking film to watch at least.

[DAME]

Posted: 12/27/18 at 7:29am

musikman said: "Well thats what I mean. For a story that isnt supposedly supposed to be about the kids, they spend about 90% of the movie focused on them and their escapades (while they sing pleasant if second-rate versions of the 1964 films songs). Like I get that they were trying to do a parallel of the films where the father figure has to reconnect with his children. It just didnt work for me at all. The charm and wonderment of the original was severely lacking here (save for the appearances of two characters late in the film that I wont spoil), but it was a visually striking film to watch at least. "

Yup.  The basic story was meh.  It almost just exists as a outline.  If only the music was at a magical level it wouldn’t have mattered.

[barcelona20]

Posted: 12/27/18 at 10:17am

The moral of the story is to never use your money to feed the birds.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 12/27/18 at 8:27pm

The storytelling was a little more structured in this one with the same themes of listening to your kids and taking care of your finances.

The reviews gave me low expectations but given how much I disliked Beauty and the Beast 2.0 and La La Land this was a vast improvement. Everyone here could sing, the big dance number was performed by dancers and no one was embarassingly miscast.

Will the songs stick with me? Well the hooks for "Can You Imagine That" and "Trip a Little Light Fantastic" will though the rap patter number was out of my head as soon as I heard it.

That being said I have absolutely no desire to see the CGI Lion King reboot.

[WaffleOnWheels]

Posted: 12/27/18 at 9:01pm

Caught this today and overall had a really great time. 

Cast was uniformly excellent. Emily Blunt was stunning, if not given quite enough to do and work off of. Comparisons to Julie Andrews are pointless, as Julie had better, more memorable material to work off of (and, well, she's Julie Andrews) but Emily has made her own mark on a role that was seemingly owned by Dame Andrews.Spectacular singing from her as well. I enjoyed Lin Manuel-Miranda MUCH more than I thought I would. At first I was confused by his casting, but he comes off very charming and endearing on screen. Agree that Ben Wishaw was the unsung hero of this cast. Emily and Lin were great, but without Ben's range of emotion and vulnerability, they would have come off weaker than they did.

I thought the movie started off slowly, but picked up quickly when Mary Poppins appeared. After Mary Poppins arrived, the film flew by, until Meryl's scene. I love Meryl, and she was great with what she had, but I was just sitting there thinking "Why?". It didn't advance the already thin plot at all. Other than that my only other complaint in terms of pacing was that the dancing scene went on for too long, without giving anything new for the audience to watch. Loved seeing Angela Lansbury on screen again.

The score was pleasant, if mostly forgettable. There were no songs that were painful to sit through, but none that stood out to me, besides "Trip to a Little Light Fantastic" and "Nowhere to go But Up". I didn't mind the rapping/patter, and did enjoy that number, although I could never hum you the melody. 

Overall, great performances and singing, a thin but fun plot with a pleasant score to go along.

[DAME]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 10:25am

The movie had a nice box office boost the last couple of days.

[bfreak]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 8:46am

I saw the film last night and loved it. I enjoyed most of the songs, and felt the casting was strong. Emily Blunt did an excellent job, and even Lin-Manuel Miranda was better than I expected. The opening number by him was a little jarring at first, but once he settled in, it turned out to be a nice performance. Dick Van Dyke, Meryl, and Lansbury all had fantastic cameos, Ben Whishaw was solid, and overall I felt this movie was a worthy successor to the original. I'm very surprised, but I believe this movie will end up in my top ten for the year. If you're on the fence, see it and give it a chance! I had a huge smile on my face from start to finish.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 1/1/19 at 10:47am

Miles2Go2 said: "Yeah, I know. One of my Facebook friends absolutely hated it,but her tastestend to be very pedestrian (I.e. she loved Game Night and hated Inception and I loved it, but can’t even get interested in Game Night when free on a flight).
"

Just chiming in to say that Game Night was one of the funniest, most clever comedies to come out of a major studio this year (it’s also 84% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com, so the critics mostly liked it, too). Seems unfair to say if someone liked that particular film, they have pedestrian tastes (especially compared to the pseudo-intellectual Inception, which, as well made as it is, was also produced with mass appeal in mind). For what it’s worth, I also loved The Favourite. 

As regards the topic at hand, agreed that Mary Poppins Returns was pleasant but ultimately pointless, lacking any real narrative drive or emotional resonance. Blunt is wonderful, though. 

Updated On: 1/1/19 at 10:47 AM

[dramagoer]

Posted: 1/1/19 at 2:41pm

What a total snooze. The songs are ALL awful. The plot is a big who-cares. The performances are adequate. It really feels pointless.

[Skip23]

Posted: 1/1/19 at 3:14pm

Ive already forgotten most of this movie. What a snooze!

I do like Turning Turtle, tho. Sue me.

[RussT2]

Posted: 1/1/19 at 9:32pm

I thought it was a good movie and I really liked the cast, costumes and script. As far as the music goes, I liked some of the songs, but the final song "Nowhere To Go But Up" is in my opinion an instant classic sounding like something the Sherman Brothers would have written back in the early 60s for the original Mary Poppins.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 1/2/19 at 2:43pm

>The moral of the story is to never use your money to feed the birds 

I was very confused by this.  I thought the original was about charity and it turns out it was wiser not to give that old woman anything. 

I thought the songs were just fine but they were really just in service of the snorefest  plot that feels more like  a ****ty remake.  What gives? 

I wish the rap was the only unforgivable thing in this film but it wasn't.  The Clock? Streep?  

[DAME]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:46pm

As of Sunday, after three weeks of release MARY POPPINS RETURNS has grossed $138,729,000 on a $130 million budget. The cold hard facts are that it needs approx. $325 million to break even. I don't think the lackluster international gross will help.  Disney will go at great lengths not to label it a flop.  But according to some articles in the trades it is already being treated as one.  Despite whatever we think of the film... were general audiences just not interested?    And why not?

Updated On: 1/7/19 at 01:46 PM

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 2:14pm

For me, it's the meh word of mouth and despite my love for Ben Whishaw, and like for Emily Blunt, and love of the original film, nothing in the clips, commercials, or trailers made me excited to see it. I also felt I couldn't be objective about this one since the original holds a very special place my heart and thought it'd be better to skip it this time around.

[Tom5]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 2:50pm

In the original Julie Andrews was magic, the music had melodies and the story was an original. I saw all three missing with this version, so I gave it a miss, too.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/9/19 at 12:32pm

Tom5 said: "In the original Julie Andrews was magic, the music had melodies and the story was an original. I saw all three missing with this version, so I gave it a miss, too."

It picked up some BAFTA noms today?  

[JoshTodos]

Posted: 1/9/19 at 9:33pm

It was not MEH. Its not Citizen Kane. But MEH it is not. Personally it needs to come to Broadway. Can it replace  the musical with two witches in it

[Papi2013]

Posted: 1/10/19 at 11:30am

JoshTodos said: "It was not MEH. Its not Citizen Kane. But MEH it is not. Personally it needs to come to Broadway. Can it replace the musical with two witches in it"

It was beyond MEH.  And I guess the MEH soundtrack is doing MEH as well.