Saving Mr. Banks is a Disney movie that basically explains how Disney movies are made, including getting the rights, to the actual process of making the movie. The movie dives into the creation of one of the most iconic Disney movies whilst explaining the book’s origins and the process of converting a book into a movie. Walt Disney, portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie, made an empire from creating movies and shows from books. The adaptation of a book to a movie is an art form of it’s own, especially in the early 60s. As the movie progresses, we, as the audience, see what making a movie such as Mary Poppins. The movie entails the planning sessions, music development, character design, and legal rights.
The movie starts with P. L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson, talking to her editor about signing the rights to her book over to Walt Disney. Due to her refusal to write new books, she is short on money and could lose her home and her editor believes the movie is her last hope. She is extremely reluctant and has many requirements and guidelines before she officially signs the documents and gives Disney the rights to make her Mary Poppins into the image he sees. For 20 years, Walt Disney tried to convince Mrs. Travers, a stubborn protective writer, to let him make her book into a movie. As we follow the characters through the movie, we see Mrs. Travers working with brothers Robert and Richard Sherman and Don DaGradi, played by B. J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman, and Bradley Whitford respectively. The Sherman Brothers, a writing duo specializing in musical films and working closely with Walt Disney, work with Mrs. Travers and spend the majority of the movie trying to convince her of how Mary Poppins would be wonderful as a musical. They present her with songs, with which she is obviously not extremely impressed as she refused most of their ideas and seems fairly offended by them. Her book will not be a musical! Except, we all know the story of Mary Poppins and it is very musical. The process of writing and presenting the music is very important for this film. Music is very heavily incorporated in many Disney movies and has been since the very first Disney movie (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937). Saving Mr. Banks shows the process that creators underwent to ensure that every song, every lyric, and every melody and wraps you in for the ride.
The most interesting part of the move, as someone who appreciates art and movies, is the utilization of animation in live-action movies. For Mrs. Travers, it is a very touchy subject. One of Travers’ explicit requests, a main arch of the movie, is that there be no animation in the movie. In the early 60s, Disney used a lot of animation in its films, cartoons, and commercials. In the beginning of the movie, we see this use in a Disney world commercial where Tinkerbell, a pixie from the movie Peter Pan, is pouring pixie dust on Walt Disney and makes him fly. Slowly through the film, Mrs. Travers becomes more open to the music, the style choices, and even the color red. However, when it came down to the animation she was absolutely not convinced and this fib that Walt Disney told her nearly loses him the rights of Mary Poppins. Another very explicit example of art presented in this film is the idea boards they look at. In the early planning stages, a few sketches are presented to Mrs. Travers. As she looks through the first designs of her beloved characters, we as the audience get an idea of what it was like experiencing words come to picture for the first time.
Throughout the movie, we follow two stories, both of which are stories of how Mary Poppins came to be, but both are different. In the parts of the movie set in the 60s, we experience the making of the movie Mary Poppins, and we see the defensive Mrs. Travers in all her stubbornness and cynicism. In the parts of the film set in Mrs. Travers’ youth, we see imaginative, free-spirited Ginty, driven by her love for her father. Ginty, growing into P. L. Travers, shows the circumstances that brought Mary Poppins to life in the book, then Mrs. Travers working on the movie reveals just how much her childhood influenced her Mary Poppins. While it does have some historical inaccuracies, such as that Mrs. Travers was a mother or her relationships, the depiction of the process and the emotions around Mary Poppins are surprisingly authentic and fairly true to the actual story. The film captivates its audience with the touching storyline and loveable characters, including the stubborn, slightly unruly Mrs Travers. Saving Mr. Banks is a film that pulls on your heartstrings, makes you laugh, overwhelms you with waves of nostalgia, and give you a newfound appreciation for the art of film making.
