Review: SAVING MR. BANKS

SAVING MR. BANKS    (BIOPIC/COMEDY-DRAMA)
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by John Lee Hancock
Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell, Annie Rose Buckley, Bradley Whitford, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Ruth Wilson
PG-13 for thematic elements including some unsettling images.
Verdict: Although still unlikely to satisfy the bloodlust of Disney-haters, SAVING MR. BANKS is a surprisingly earnest and solidly crafted look at the tumultuous backstory to one of the most beloved Disney films of all time, as well as the origins of the source novel itself, anchored by an abundance of strong performances and an able script.
YOU MAY ENJOY SAVING MR. BANKS IF YOU LIKED:
MARY POPPINS (1964)
THE BLIND SIDE (2009)
THE BOYS: THE SHERMAN BROTHERS' STORY (2009)
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002)
THE AVIATOR (2004)

There is not a single bit of trivia or information in SAVING MR. BANKS that is new to me.  I pride myself on an encyclopedic knowledge of film, but I have a speciality in the Disney story.  You'd think the idea of this film, the first to ever portray Walt Disney as a major character, would be euphoric to someone like me, but I was apprehensive from the start.  It's like a film adaptation of a book was coming out, a book that I had absolutely loved and clung to affectionately, but other people were going to have their say on it, and I was sure enough that I wouldn't agree with them.  At least, I wouldn't agree with them enough.  Funnily enough, that's basically the story that SAVING MR. BANKS is telling.
Common knowledge to the Disney aficionado is the story of Walt's decades-long courting of author P.L. Travers for permission to translate her beloved children's book, Mary Poppins, to film, and her reluctance to grant that permission, and later, her disowning of the film altogether.  Walt Disney first attempted to acquire the film rights to the book years before the main plot of the film takes place, way back in 1938, just when SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, Walt's first feature film, had become a colossal success, at the request of his daughters, Diane and Lillian.  Travers, who disdained the cinema, and even more, Walt's children-friendly animations, denied him the rights for over twenty years, and that's when the main plot take place; in 1961, Los Angeles.

B.J. Novak & Jason Schwartzman as Robert and Richard Sherman

Ms. Travers (Emma Thompson), as she insists on being addressed, but which most Americans either do not understand or plainly do not heed, arrives in L.A., at the behest of her agent, who pleads with her to sell the rights now that royalties have stopped coming in and her finances are fastly running out.  However, she has every intention of rebuffing Disney once again, and she lets everyone, including her talkative driver (Paul Giamatti), know right away just how little she cares for their city and the Disney brand.  Right off the bat, she tries to have the legendary songwriting team of Robert and Richard Sherman (B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman, respectively) removed, utterly disenchanted with the idea of a musical, and she even demands at one point that the color red be banished from the whole of the film.  Walt (Tom Hanks), the master showman, is stretched to the limit of his patience, struggling to find some way to please her, while also making the film he wants, but is forced to appease her as he still won't have the rights until she is fully satisfied.
Intercut throughout is another story, that of Travers' childhood in rural Australia, wherein lie the seeds of the stories she put to the page in Mary Poppins.  Colin Farrell stars as her father, a whimsical sap and the co-manager of a bank, where the daily stresses have driven him to drink, and his alcoholism threatens his job and the well-being of the entire family, including Travers' mother (Ruth Wilson, recently seen in Disney's THE LONE RANGER).
We all know that the movie MARY POPPINS did get made, and that it came to be considered one of the greatest films that Walt ever produced, becoming the studio's first ever major Academy Award contender.  Although this is mostly glossed over in a happier, but justified, resolution, Travers in actuality did not approve of the final product as it turned out, but it could be argued that the film works as something of a explanation and an apology to the intentions of P.L. Travers, but also a tribute to the final work, which may be displeasing to more cynical audiences, especially the Disney-hating faction who desire a full-blown expose of Disney sins, existent or non.  For most, however, both fans of MARY POPPINS and those who are not, it's not only a fascinating true-life story but solid drama as well.  In fact, you may want to pack some tissues.
I'm not a fan of director John Lee Hancock, whose filmography includes previous Disney films like THE ROOKIE (2002) and THE ALAMO (2004), as well as the Academy Award-winning 2009 hit, THE BLIND SIDE, and SAVING MR. BANKS doesn't exactly make me a fan of him even now.  Although in most cases he gets away with some very risky material here, narrowly avoiding offensive sentimentality (in exchange for tolerable sentimentality), his direction is, like his previous works, standard and unremarkable.  Hancock is mainly a steady hand to guide the film through (not too unlike MARY POPPINS' director, Robert Stevenson), while it emanates its greatness through strong material, a good script and stellar acting.  Although she'll have stiff competition, Emma Thompson will almost certainly garner an Academy Award nomination for her turn as Travers, and Tom Hanks will likely be nominated (possibly even win) for his

Tom Hanks as Walt Disney & Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers

portrayal of Walt Disney.
Thompson definitely has the toughest work here, playing a cantankerous and, frankly, unlikable woman, who is nonetheless sympathetic and realistic, with humor and pathos.  Hanks, on the other hand, is playing a far better known personality, and is also the first actor to portray Walt Disney as a character in a major film.  But Hanks is a case of positively perfect casting, with hair combed back, a mustache, suit and tie with his signature Smoke Tree Ranch tie pin, looking the part adequately, but not identically (that is a good thing, by the way), and playing the Midwestern vocal mannerisms with ease.  Hanks pressed the studio to allow him to smoke in scenes in order to accurately portray Walt, who was a notorious chain smoker off-camera, leading to his death from lung cancer in 1966, but because the studio heads felt that depiction of tobacco smoking would be unsuitable for a "family film," he's only allowed a scene of putting out a cigarette and having a brief fit of a smoker's cough in another scene.  Ironically, the depiction of Ms. Travers' father's alcoholism is plainly intact.

Annie Rose Buckley as "Ginty" Travers and Colin Farrell as Mr. Travers

It's yet another PG-13 rated Disney film, now practically commonplace for the studio that only just came to terms with the rating just ten years ago, but it's more family-friendly by far than their big budget adventure films like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN.  The themes of alcoholism, attempted suicide and fatal illness make it problematic for the youngest audiences, but it's not aimed at them anyway.  It's probably fine for most kids eight years old and up.  It's potentially a good wear 'n' tear on the emotions though.
Interestingly, it's arguably the first serious Oscar contender released under the Disney label (i.e., not Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures or Miramax; all formerly awards season heavyweights) since MARY POPPINS itself.  I don't really expect it to win the big Best Picture award, although I'm sure it will get the nomination.  For acting and even possibly a Best Screenplay awards, SAVING MR. BANKS just might be a minor to moderate success in the coming awards season.
I did not expect to like this film as much as I did, but I would be interested in seeing it once again.  It's a surprisingly sophisticated (even with the sentimentality, yes) film about filmmaking and storytelling in general, with a wider appeal than most films about the filmmaking process.  It soars on a spirit of old-fashioned optimism through real-world imperfections and an exuberance of the storytelling profession.