Saving Mr. Banks - Review
Yesterday I went to
see “Saving Mr. Banks”. What an amazing story and a well done movie!! I will
not spoil the movie for those that have not seen it.
“Saving Mr. Banks”
is the a mix of the stories about how Walt Disney encouraged P. L. Travers to
sign over the rights to Mary Poppins so
he could keep his promise to his girls to make the movie and the story
of the childhood of Helen Lyndon Goff (P. L. Travers).
As the trailers
show Pamela Travers was a feisty woman set and determined not to allow Walt
Disney to make a movie about her beloved Mary Poppins. Her reasons to withhold
the rights are as complex as the woman herself.
As the story
progresses you hear why it was so important to Walt Disney to make this movie.
As he said, “As a daddy I made a promise to my girls and a daddy never breaks
his promise!” You also see why Mrs. Travers does not want to let go. Both
consider the characters “family”. Walt does understand that Mrs. Travers
considers Mary Poppins and the Banks family her family and is protective of
them. He remembers Oswald being stolen and attempts of some to take Mickey
Mouse from him. Both are determined in their goals.
Some think this movie
shows Disney as a pushy, aggressive movie producer, determined on getting what
he wants without concern about the feelings of those whose intellectual property
he wants to use. Others think it is an unfair and unflattering portrayal of P.
L. Travers. In truth I think as a dramatization of 50 year old events. Some parts
are on totally factual while some are “retellings” that you have to consider
are stretched for better storytelling.
After hearing four
of the Imagineers that worked with Walt Disney speak at the last D23 Expo about
what Walt was like and their feelings about seeing early screenings of “Saving
Mr. Banks” I believe it is a great look at Walt the man. It shows what drove
him and what it was like to be around him. It was fun to hear one of the
characters in the move quickly say, “Man is in the forest!” after hearing Walt’s
cough as he neared the open door. From many accounts I’ve heard Walt would
cough when approaching an open door to let people know he was coming and when
he was known to be in a particular part of the building the warning, “Man is in
the forest!” would go around letting people know he was there.
What I found
interesting was what I took away from the movie. It was not anything to do with
Disney or Travers. What I took away was a look at my own past and how it has
shaped my own life and attitude. It makes me rethink my motivations and
encourages me to let go of the past and keep moving forward.
If you are a
Disney Fan I suggest you go see this movie. If you enjoy Mary Poppins and P. L.
Travers I encourage you to check this movie out. I believe you will not be disappointed.
My
Christmas book, “An Angel Remembers 25 Voices of Christmas” is available!!
This is a collection of 26 short Christmas stories that
together bring the amazing events of Christ’s birth alive. It is my hope that
this will help encourage families to spend 10-15 minutes a day together during
the busy holiday season remembering the true reason for the season.
You can
find it for ALL eReader formats and PDF at:
For your
Nook the link is:
It is also
available at the iTunes book store and many other ebook seller sites.
The only
big site not carrying my book is Amazon.
You can
download a Kindle version from Smashwords.com
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