Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Remains of the Day) got hosed out of an Oscar nomination! I had made it a goal to see all the nominees in all major Academy Award categories. Still, I didn’t see the snubs or the next in lines for Best Actor, Best Actress, etc., unless their movie received a nomination in one of the other major categories. It’s been a while since I reviewed all of the really good films of 2013. I’m sure I had already replaced Amy Adams (American Hustle) with a more deserving candidate. I don’t remember who I replaced her with at the moment, and I don’t feel like going back and looking. I’m pretty sure I did this, though. I believe I replaced the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for this movie because I didn’t feel like any of them deserved it. I think I did keep Jennifer Lawrence as a nominee because the nominees in the Supporting Actress category in 2013 were not overly impressive. But this review isn’t about the underwhelming American Hustle. It is about the under-appreciated Saving Mr. Banks, a movie I had written off as a lame little kids’ movie after a single trailer. It was one of those movies that I told myself I would eventually see because it had so much hype surrounding it, and I have yet to talk to someone who didn’t, at least, like it.

Saving Mr. Banks was also the most snubbed movie when the Academy Award nominees came out. While Saving Mr. Banks wasn’t one of my ten favorite movies of the year, I think it should have been the tenth movie nominated for Best Picture (there were only nine nominees this year). And Thompson absolutely should have been nominated for Best Actress. So for argument’s sake and assuming I already replaced Adams with an actress from a different movie who did not get nominated, I will give Meryl Streep’s (August: Osage County) nomination to Thompson, even though I thought Streep was fantastic in her role. Streep’s role was by no means as complex as Thompson’s. Streep has received more nominations than any other actor.

So I must include a couple of pieces of information before I write my review. And before reading this review, I would suggest seeing the movie first. As you will see in my rankings at the end, I recommend this movie to everyone. The first information is that I’ve never seen Mary Poppins (although I will now). Most, especially the older folks reading this review, have seen Mary Poppins. The second is that I went to this website www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/saving-mr-banks.php to learn what was indeed factual about the movie and what was based more on fiction. I was satisfied that enough of the film was based on actual events to give it the high marks I gave. What I found most remarkable was that P.L. Travers (Thompson) was even more of a (pardon the language) bitch than she was portrayed in the movie. And in the film, she was shown as one of the most grump, set on her ways prudes as you’ll find on film this year or any year. The movie revolves around the making of Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins.

P.L. Travers is the book’s author, and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks – Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips) has plans to adapt it into a film. Disney promised his two young daughters that he would do just that. The problem was that Travers had to sign off on the movie. Long story short…it took twenty years of trying to convince this woman to sign over the rights to the film. Walt and his crew working on the adaptation of the film, which was Richard (Jason Schwartzman – The Darjeeling Limited, Shopgirl), Robert (BJ Novak – Inglourious Basterds, television’s The Office), Don (Bradley Whitford – The Cabin in the Woods, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) did nothing but try to appease every wish of this disdainful woman. Still, she was determined from the very get-go to make sure this movie didn’t happen. Upon arrival, when she was told they wanted to make it a musical, she almost left right there. She protested this, that, and everything, and Walt Disney had to do whatever he could to appease her, knowing that she could walk out at any time and he would not have his movie. While Walt was kind, honest, and sincere with Travers, she was rude, terse, and unaccommodating with him. It made for a very awkward and uncomfortable situation, even though this movie was billed as both a comedy and a drama. Hanks was excellent as Walt Disney. He was a genuine family man who cared very much for employees. He wanted everything he put his money and effort behind to be both successful financially, but also have a positive impact on others. He was disinterested in putting forth anything less than his maximum effort. This was why he devoted so much time and energy to getting Mary Poppins right, despite Travers’s protesting every little thing he tried to do to make the movie an honest telling of her novel.

I love a movie that can effectively incorporate flashbacks that help pace the story. Director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie, The Bind Side) does a masterful job with this. We see a young P.L. Travers as Ginty (Annie Rose Buckley) in 1906 Australia. She’s the oldest of three daughters living with their banker father, Travis Goff (Colin Farrell – Minority Report, Crazy Heart), and a tender but emotionally unstable mother, Margaret (Ruth Wilson – Anna Karenina, The Lone Ranger). Ginty has a beautiful relationship with her loving father, even though he deals with several powerful demons. Specifically, he has stresses at his bank that overwhelm him and force him to turn to alcohol on an all too regular basis. Eventually, he is stricken with a sickness that keeps him confined to his bed. Ginty knows the end is near and does her best to cherish the final memories of her once proud and fearless father. Farrell is fantastic as Travis. His rebirth as an actor has been remarkable. He is someone that used to be way too brash and arrogant both in his film choices and in his personal life. I wasn’t a fan of his n the beginning. I didn’t think I would ever like him. But over the last 6-8 years, he has reinvented himself and committed to his craft. I cannot think of someone performing to portray Ginty’s father.

Likewise, I can’t see anybody other than Hanks as Disney. Walt was not the star of this movie, but he did a masterful job in his scenes. He could have, perhaps should have, earned a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, but I have already replaced Bradley Cooper’s (American Hustle) nomination with someone else (Will Forte for Nebraska). I’m not going to take that away from Forte. Hanks has been here before, and he will be here again (though lots think he got snubbed for Best Actor for Captain Phillips…I was not one of those people). The real snub was Thompson. Not only should she have been a nominee, she very well could have won. I still think Cate Blanchett’s Blue Jasmine performance was slightly better, but we are splitting hairs here. I’ve only seen 3-4 Emma Thompson movies in the past and don’t remember here at all in any of them. She’s pretty artsy. As I continue to progress with my movie watching, I imagine I will see many more of her films. In doing my research, I was shocked to know that she had four acting nominations (all between 1993-1996, winning Best Actress in 1993 for Howard’s End). Adding to the all-star cast was Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man) as Ralph, P.L.’s driver while she is in California, deciding on whether or not she will sign off on this script.

Plot 9.5/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 9.5/10
Screenplay 9.5/10
Directing  10/10
Cinematography 9.5/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
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