Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks bring the story behind Disney's Mary Poppins to life in this uplifting drama.
Thompson stars as PL Travers, the exacting British author of the children's books, who under normal circumstances wouldn't entertain a film adaptation by the famously frivolous Walt Disney (Hanks). However, Travers has fallen on hard times and with the loss of her house a real possibility, she flies to LA to oversee a script that's in the works.
Inevitably, the starchy Travers clashes with Disney and his team and expresses an open distaste for their saccharine, sing-song plans for the picture. Will the charismatic cartoon magnate find a way to loosen the author's vice-like grip on her creation?
The director of The Blind Side delivers another heartwarming drama, featuring a virtuoso, BAFTA-nominated performance from Thompson.
Colin Farrell and Ruth Wilson star as Travers' parents in flashbacks depicting the author's troubled childhood, as well as the nanny that inspired her story.
But the film really sings in the scenes that show (with a spoonful of dramatic irony) how Travers and the Disney creatives failed to see eye to eye as the Mary Poppins we know came to be.