Saving Mr. Banks (2013), PG-13, 3 stars

Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) having a magical time at Disney Land, I think.

Don't you have any recollection of when you went to a Disney Park? Do you recall the wonderful memories of spending the time with your family and friends the whole day and have fun and look at the awesome fireworks at night? Well, of course, none of these memories at a Disney Park would ever happen if Walt Disney had not have the imagination and spectacle that he envisioned to create a suitable and friendly environment for all families to enjoy, especially with the movies. I mean he had imagination with certain films. This movie was about the making of one of the most successful films, Mary Poppins. But, he has to work with a very difficult woman.

The film is set in 1961, where a grumpy woman named P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) is living in London where she hears that she is successful with the Mary Poppins series. However, after some financial issues with the rights of her series, she travels to Los Angeles to hear out what the people at the studios want to do to entertain the audience from a movie adapted from the novel. If she's not happy, well, that's it for all the work she has to put through.

In a series of flashbacks, a young P.L. who is about eight years old at the time has a close relationship with her father, Travis Goff (Colin Farrell). He calls her "Ginty", kind of a name for a little princess and they play around and tells her that their adventure is about to begin. Travis and his family including Margaret, Ginty's mother, and her three-year old sister, Biddy. They are moving from their old house presumably in London and move to Allora, a rundown city, where Margaret gets uncomfortable of the state it is in. Travis calls the shack a "palace" with chickens.

Now the movie is back to the present day where Pamela Travers arrive at Walt Disney Studios when she is met by her driver, Ralph (Paul Giamatti), who took her to the studios and greeted by Don DiGradi (Bradley Whitford), the film's screenwriter, and the Sherman brothers, the film's songwriters (B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman). They are so charismatic and jubilant but Pamela is quite awkward and uptight stating that she is not planning to sell the rights because it is not a musical or an animated feature.

She finally meets Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and he enthusiastically greets her but she still remains unfriendly. The reason he wants to start the production of Mary Poppins is that his daughters were reading the book and that he is keeping a promise from them to make the movie. He assures Pamela that he will not tarnish the project that he holds dearly to the project and she tells him that the agreement stipulates that the movie will be live action----not animated. But, he has not signed the agreement yet. So, the production begins with but how far will the working relationship go between the impossible Travers and the staff from Disney---including Walt himself?

Pamela Travers' family in 1906.

The movie is a delightful charm because the movie really presents the making of a Disney production even though it is mostly difficult to make with a serious, uptight person. There is some magic and there is some bitter sadness throughout the picture as to why Pamela is being uptight and wants to make the movie as she want it to make it. And, also, we find out who was her inspiration to make Mary Poppins. I certainly thought it was kind of unpredictable.

Emma Thompson steals the movie as the serious and apprehensive person to work on the movie. She presents almost every emotion that she could carry and embody on screen and the viewer sympathizes with her. Most of the material we find out from her is illuminating. Tom Hanks is having a good year with this one and Captain Phillips (one of the best movies of the year). He does not make his version of Walt Disney bland because of the right balance of screen-time and his natural persona and not putting his charm over the top.

The criticism I will make is that the flashback scenes in Allora were somehow tonally confusing in relevance to the present day material. I found that those scenes were somewhat sluggish and slowed down the movie. Even though, the bitterness in those scenes are certainly acceptable as to why it is sad and unsettling, pertaining to the descriptions of why the rating is PG-13. However, it is made by John Lee Hancock, the same man who made The Blind Side, which was good but a bit overrated. This movie I liked because of its sincerity and poetic and charismatic visions of making a Disney movie. Thomas Newman's score is fantastic and I hope his score gets an Oscar nomination. Sure, the movie could be viewed as an advertisement, but I think this movie is a good and powerful story. I did like this a little more than Hancock's previous movie, The Blind Side, which was also based on a true story.

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