Saving Mr. Banks

[AirmensMom]

We watched this on Netflix last night. It's about the author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, working with Walt Disney to make the movie. There are a lot of flashbacks to Travers' childhood. Also some clips from the Mary Poppins movie as well as actual audiotapes of the sessions between Travers and the Disney team. Emma Thompson plays Travers and Tom Hanks plays Disney. It's hard to go wrong with either of those two. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyone else catch this one?

[CDerekGo]

1. Completely agree on Casting

And now about to stream it from Netflix based on your recommendation

[AirmensMom]

2. Great!

I hope you enjoy it.

[bif]

3. Saw it when it came out. Very enjoyable.

[Cracklin Charlie]

4. That's a great movie.

Well done, start to finish.

[Auggie]

5. You know who really shines in this?

Bradley Whitford (IMO)

The script and especially song development scenes with B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the Sherman Brothers are also delightful.

[hunter]

6. My wife and I enjoyed this movie.

Apparantly P.L. Travers was even more abrasive than the movie depicts and she hated Disney to her last days, even as Disney was the means by which she became wealthy enough to pursue many of her life quests.

The movie is about saving Mr. Banks.

The next metaphysical level up, it's a movie about "saving" P.L. Travers in a similar fashion.

It's a story about those who create art, especially fiction, in their struggle to heal themselves of grievous wounds.

[efhmc]

12. I read a lot about Travers on line after watching the movie.

I really do not like Disney. although my gdaughters got me to watch Moana and I found it to be entertaining. if too long. Once again I did like the music. I often wonder how old they will be (5 and 6 now) before they ever see an actual human entertainer on a screen. (BTW they are only allowed a very small amount of time watching anything.).

[efhmc]

7. So here is the history of Disney in general and MP specifically in my family:

My mother did not like Walt Disney (We were not allowed to use the word "hate".) because he confiscated, publicized and produced fairy tales as his own inventions. Personally I like what he did because I like the music. Those stories had been around for ages and as a child I did not care until.....he produced Mary Poppins. Again I liked the music but was thoroughly appalled at what the movie did to the character of M. Poppins. So much sugar was appalling to me after reading all of the books. It defeated the entire concept of her character. I have Saving Mr Banks up and ready to go on NetFlix but wanted to check here first before I wasted my time. I will comment later after I watch. (I am sure thousands are waiting with baited breathe. BTW what even is baited breathe?) Thanks for recommending because it sure saves me time when I need something to watch.

[AirmensMom]

9. LOL ...

I would think baited breathe means you put chum in your mouth. Might be looking for "bated breath" which means holding one's breath.

I have always liked the music too, even if I haven't liked what he did with the stories.

[efhmc]

13. That's funny about the breathe.

I had only heard the term, not seen it written.

[Fla Dem]

18. Actualy it's "Bated Breath"

Bated breath is a phrase that means to hold one's breath due to suspense, trepidation or fear. Bated breath is a phrase first mentioned in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. The word bated is an abbreviation of the word abated, meaning to lessen in severity or amount.


https://grammarist.com/idiom/bated-breath-vs-baited-breath/

I really did not think it had anything to do with "bait", always thought it meant holding one's breath. But looked it up to make sure.

[efhmc]

8. So only two minutes into it and I can see that Mrs. Travers was right not to

trust Disney by what was finally produced. Only if you were a child who actually read these books and then saw this movie could you ever understand. Not sure anyone reads the MP books any more. Just as I am pretty sure no one reads the original Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan.

[AirmensMom]

10. Yes.

She said no animation, don't turn it into a musical, and no red. He sort of ignored all that, didn't he?

True that people don't read the books. The movies rarely follow the books. I remember being shocked by Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as I'd read the books several times and couldn't recognize most of what happened in the movie.

[getting old in mke]

11. As an aside

You might want to check out the Hook and Jill series of books by Andrea Jones. A serious, darker, Jungian take on Peter Pan and its characters, beautifully written.

[efhmc]

15. Thanks. I will.

[efhmc]

14. Thanks for the suggestion.

Last edited Mon Mar 11, 2019, 05:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I did like the movie. Although quite a bit was flimflam as is much of anything produced in Hollywood. Two of my favorite actors so that made it worth the time.

[AirmensMom]

16. You're welcome.

They are two of my favorite actors as well, which is what drew me to it.

[sueh]

17. Thanks for posting and for your recommendation, AirmensMom. When I last searched for this

movie on Netflix it was only on DVD. I look forward to watching!

[llmart]

19. I just watched it on Netflix last night.

It's still on there. You must have missed it somehow.

I thought it was relatively well done, but it took me awhile to get into it and it seemed a tad long.