We had a quiet Christmas, so we decided to go see a movie. Based on the reviews that I had read, Mary Poppins Returns sounded good.
Now, I knew that this wasn't a remake of Mary Poppins. So I expected it to stand alone as a fun movie. My expectations were low - so that I don't do a Dick Tracy and be underwhelmed should the movie not live up to its hype.
I'm sorry to say that even though my expectations were low, the movie did not meet them.
First, I can't fault the acting of any of the actors. They all did stellar performances. At no point did any of them do bad - even the kids.
The problem is with the story and director. The musical scenes were poor and way too long (and there were too many that did not improve the story). The actors were at some times required to not maintain their character (i.e. they made decisions that their characters should NEVER have made).
It felt contrived and pretentious. It's like they took a bunch of Mary Poppins ideas, dumped them into a pot, stirred them up and dumped them out.
At 1 hour in, I was wondering how long I would have to wait until the end of the movie. By the end, I wanted to go.
IMHO: Go see Spider-Man instead.
