'Mary Poppins': Mixed Reviews

[PunkTheFunk 124,449]

Mary Poppins opens in theatres today (December 19). Reviews have been mainly positive, but mixed. Here are a few:

Rolling Stone: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Review: Too Many Spoonfuls of Sugar (3/5 stars)

It’s no surprise that Mary Poppins Returns, an industrial-strength sugarplum, doesn’t live up to the 1964 original; how do you replace the immortal Julie Andrews as the London nanny who drops from the clouds to dispense tough love. Luckily, we have Emily Blunt, an actress who makes her own kind of magic in playing the impatient, imperious fixer once described as looking “like Joan Crawford trying to be nice.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/mary-poppins-returns-movie-review-760945/

The Atlantic Magazine: Mary Poppins Returns: Cunning Homage or Shameless Rip-off?

If there were two big upcoming movies I spent most of 2018 semi-dreading, they were A Star Is Born and Mary Poppins Returns. The former had already been dramatized four (!) times—at least if you include a Bollywood adaptation titled Aashiqui 2—and I wasn’t a particular fan of either the Judy Garland or the Barbra Streisand version. But to my surprise, Bradley Cooper’s remake was superb on almost every level. 

As for Mary Poppins Returns, it pains me to watch how ceaselessly Disney is cannibalizing its back catalog. The past few years have featured live-action reimaginings of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast—with Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio all coursing down the pipeline behind them. An updated Mary Poppins may have been an inevitability, but is it something that anyone actually wanted?

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/12/mary-poppins-returns-review-emily-blunt-sequel-disney/578410/

BBC News: Mary Poppins Returns cast defend 'forgettable' songs

The Telegraph's Robbie Collin called it "practically perfect in every way" in his five-star rave, while Empire's Olly Richards said Blunt was "impeccably cast as Poppins". But some critics have focused on the soundtrack, suggesting it doesn't live up to the original. "The songs of Mary Poppins Returns are almost shockingly forgettable," wrote Alissa Wilkinson in Vox. "I defy you to hum any of the tunes on your way out of the theatre."

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46555374

New York Times: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Review: A Truck Full of Sugar Can’t Make This Uplift Go Down

Bathed in nostalgia, “Mary Poppins Returns” is being framed as a homage, and there’s clearly some love here. Mostly, it is a modest update, one that has brushed off the story, making it louder, harsher, more aggressively smiley. It picks up several decades after the 1964 film “Mary Poppins” — starring the sublimely synced Julie Andrews and **** Van Dyke — concluded. Michael and Jane, the two Banks children at the center of the original tale, have grown up to become a grieving widower (Ben Whishaw) and an ebullient union organizer (Emily Mortimer). Michael has three children (the peewees Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and Joel Dawson).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/movies/mary-poppins-returns-review.html

The New Yorker: “Mary Poppins Returns”—with a Spoonful Less Sugar

It’s far too soon to know whether the songs of today will stick, lodging in our collective ear as those of 1964 have done. What’s amazing is the tenacity with which the gods of Disney, for all the novelties of their digital art, have clung to the formulas of yore. You can find the sequel unadventurous in that regard, while still being seduced and soothed by its vow of innocence. Mary may be radical in her fancies; follow her lead, though, and you’ll find that her voyaging always brings you back to where you started, just as Dorothy, post-Oz, wakes up in her own warm bed. There is joy, not merely fear, in the wish to play things safe.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/24/mary-poppins-returns-with-a-spoonful-less-sugar

CNN: 'Mary Poppins Returns' falls short of practically perfect

"Mary Poppins Returns" could just as easily be titled "Mary Poppins Remade." That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but a movie that descends from the clouds with a huge gust of nostalgia behind it only sporadically conjures magic between the title character's arrival and departure. The result is thus perfectly passable, but well short of practically perfect.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/12/entertainment/mary-poppins-returns-review/index.html

Vox: Mary Poppins Returns — with a sadder story and forgettable songs

Thus, Mary Poppins Returns feels mostly like a cover of Mary Poppins, with stars in Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda and a new, more grown-up storyline. It’s focused on pleasing fans of the original without taking any risks. It’s a pleasant, diverting, modestly ambitious film, fun for the whole family. But it leaves much to be desired, too.

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/12/18136044/mary-poppins-returns-review-emily-blunt-lin-manuel-miranda

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Well? Is Gaga's Oscar safe?

[Galagala 4,611]

We don't need to trash every 2018 Oscars best picture contender to secure ASIB's and Gaga's winning chances. 

Actually, the industry doesn't really care about critics this year. Bohemian Rhapsody & Vice both got many GG and SAG noms even if their critical reviews are mixed (worse than Marry Poppins Returns).

[Glittertinks 12,459]

Uh okay, forgettable songs? They're what finally sold me the movie "Can You Imagine That" and "Trip A Little Light Fantastic" are THAT songs on the soundtrack. 

[Ryusei 61,110]

I don't think she was ever the main threat, we all know it's that other one who is suuuuch a hit with the 1000000000000000 critics associations  even though she's apparently only in a third of the movie or smth... but ok 

[Shipper 13,078]

Let's go back and complain about Vox LUX cause their tweets were directly shady to ASiB.

I'll give Mary Poppins a pass. 

[JR Gg 12,985]

1 hour ago, Glittertinks said:

Uh okay, forgettable songs? They're what finally sold me the movie "Can You Imagine That" and "Trip A Little Light Fantastic" are THAT songs on the soundtrack. 

The songs were horrible lol. The instrumentation was good, but all the others, god bless

[Pacify Him 9,073]

Yes. Her Oscars are on lock

[Antichrist 9,818]

5 hours ago, Galagala said:

We don't need to trash every 2018 Oscars best picture contender to secure ASIB's and Gaga's winning chances. 

Actually, the industry doesn't really care about critics this year. Bohemian Rhapsody & Vice both got many GG and SAG noms even if their critical reviews are mixed (worse than Marry Poppins Returns).

that's what spreading kindness is about on gagadaily

[Bradley 59,150]

79% is rather a high score and difficult to achieve nowadays.

And yes A Star Is Born is at 90%, but because it features God Cooper and Lady Goddess.

[zakariah 11,721]

I feel like MPR is just a remake that didn’t really bring anything new to the table, like it’s basically just copy/pasting from the original movie, but with ASIB, it’s a remake but with significant changed that elevated the source material and made the film relevant to today’s issues

[Luv u Sum 2,391]

It was really cute! I can tell a lot of critics wouldn't like it but it was a cute movie and an homage to the original