Mary Poppins Returns Review and Activity Sheets

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The girls and I were invited to an early screening of Mary Poppins Returns. It was a late night, too. So, Mr. Serious says I’m the cool mom. The jury is still out.

So, let’s jump right into the thoughts on the movie without being too spoiler-ish.

Mary Poppins Returns

In Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” an all new original musical and sequel, Mary Poppins is back to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives following a personal loss. Emily Blunt (“A Quiet Place,” “The Girl on the Train”) stars as the practically-perfect nanny with unique magical skills who can turn any ordinary task into an unforgettable, fantastic adventure and LinManuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “Moana”) plays her friend Jack, an optimistic street lamplighter who helps bring light—and life—to the streets of London.

It’s not a remake of the movie. I know a lot of people were upset and said, “Don’t mess with a classic.” To which I said it wasn’t a remake, but they still repeated that. Hey, ever heard of Star Wars?

I digress.

The movie is familiar. If you are a Mary Poppins fan, you will see the parallels throughout the movie, almost allegorical-like. Here, the familiar is good. There were so many times that I felt myself smiling with the familiar and memories from Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins. I’m certain it’s the illustrations that helped.

And I think Emily Blunt can totally carry her weight as Mary Poppins. She’s different, but again, familiar. You know Mary Poppins and you know her.

The story is different, but again Mary Poppins returns (see what I did there) to take care of the Banks children…and their children, too. Along the way they have wonderful imaginative adventures and help their father along the way.

The music

We all quite enjoyed the new songs and dance numbers during the movie. The penguins might steal the show at one point.

Lin-Manuel Miranda enchants the audience with one of his songs sung in a very Hamilton kind of way. And Emily Blunt along with the additional cast really took the songs home. I will say that “The Place Where Lost Things Go” had my eyes leaking. Gosh, how they do that so easily in this movie.

What about the kids?

In addition to the 12 year old, who loved the movie and the new songs, I brought E (6) and B (almost 5) along with me. It was a late night, so that might have had something to do with it. There’s a scene with a cartoon wolf that had them quite spooked. After the movie, they both emphasized that they didn’t like the wolf and that he was scary. The 12 year old understood the relevance of the wolf, which is clearer later in the movie, so I won’t ruin that for you.

A warning also, as it’s well known, I think. The Banks children (Michael Bank’s children and Jane’s nieces and nephews) have experienced the death of their mother within the past year. There are some hard conversations around this theme as well as songs. The theme definitely carries throughout the movie which could make it very delicate (more than in a way that Disney typically kills off the mother or parent in a movie).

Final Thoughts

Everybody around us was smiling and at a couple points sniffling. I watched as people left the theater and you could see the joy on the adult’s faces as their beloved Mary Poppins came back. The children were just as enamored! Definitely go see the movie and enjoy the familiar.