Saving Mr Banks

Synopsis: For 20 years Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) has tried to get the movie rights to the Mary Poppins books written by Australian-born author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson).. At last the author reluctantly agrees to meet the famed studio head in Los Angeles and after two weeks of clashes agrees to allow him to make a film which goes on to win 13 Academy Awards.

On the enjoyment rating this film ranks a near perfect score for me. However, we must not overlook the fact that Disney studios are making this film and it is the first time that their beloved founding father has ever been portrayed on film. Thus, Walt is shown in the best possible light – an avuncular, reasonable, charming and absolutely delightful man, whilst Travers is portrayed as irascible, unreasonable and difficult to work with, albeit ultimately won over by good old Walt’s charms. The truth is that the dealings between Travers and Disney were far less civilized than is displayed here and Travers, a difficult person, was left embittered by the experience and Disney's film (the film was based on Travers' first two novels and she refused to sell the rights to any more of the series) . Nevertheless, helmed by two stunning performances from Thomson and Hanks, the film is an utterly entertaining, and even moving, an eye-opener into a piece of cinematic and literary history that has a much more complex back-story than I ever imagined.

Toggling back and forth in time, the filmmakers take us back into the childhood, in outback Australia, of P.J.. Travers aka Helen Goff (played by Annie Rose Buckley), affectionately known by her beloved father as Ginty. Ginty’s dad, Travers Goff (Colin Farrell), is a bank manager, but also an alcoholic who has trouble keeping a job. The relationship between father and daughter is portrayed as one to be envied – close, full of fun, with the child adoring the man and to be devastated by his decline and death.

In the film’s present, Disney, upon meeting Travers and discovering the sort of woman she is, decides to pull out all the stops in order to get his film rights. Along the way he discovers the demons which haunt the author and which are behind the character of Mr Banks in the Mary Poppins books.

Whilst there is tragedy behind the writing of the book the film provides much delightful humour, particularly in the form of the team charged with presenting Disney’s rough ideas and first drafts to Travers. The two songwriters responsible for the film’s much-loved songs, Robert and Richard Sherman (B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman), along with screenwriter Don da Gradi (Bradley Whitford) endlessly battle Travers as she slashes and burns most of their ideas and they grapple to find a way around her. Walt brings out what he regards as the ultimate deal-maker by taking Travers on a personalised tour of Disneyland. Delightful Paul Giamatti gets a guernsey here as Ralph, the limo driver sent to ferry Travers around. Her snootiness keeps them at arm's length, but, as you would expect, gradually there is a softening and his home-spun wisdom penetrates her defences. And let’s not forget Rachel Griffiths as the real nanny, Aunt Ellie, who came to help the Goff family after the death of the father and upon whom the character of Mary Poppins was based.

Despite the sugar-coating Saving Mr Banks is not to be dismissed. It’s a wonderful story of reparation and redemption expertly craftly by writers Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith and helmed with a judicious hand by director John Lee Hancock.

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