mary poppins

GREG: You need to take a step back to appreciate what Disney accomplished with Mary Poppins. Forget about the rather callous marketing machine the studio has become and let yourself be enveloped by the innocent genius of it all. As far as non-animated films go, this is far and away Walt’s best work. RANDY: Little wonder, since he pursued the project for decades to secure the rights. This movie just feels like it has that little extra “oomph” – the perfect casting with Dick VanDyke and Julie Andrews (in her first film role), pioneering combination of live-action and animation, and songs so catchy they wrap themselves around your brain stem ‘til you beg for mercy. GREG: That’s not a very Poppins-esque expression, but it’s dead on. The plot has Poppins (a magical figure who, as her calling card states, is “practically perfect in every way”) answering the call of two precocious kids under the thumb of their distracted parents. From there we bounce from one misadventure to the next picking up Bert the chimneysweep (VanDyke) along the way. The animation kicks in as Poppins and the gang pop into some sidewalk chalk drawings, eating lunch served by penguins and riding carousel horses that don’t need a carousel. RANDY: And the brilliance of it all is it never seems showy, like latter-day imitator Roger Rabbit. You said it earlier, there’s an innocence here that just wants to entertain, not impress. Then there’s the big dance numbers, totally stylized with backlit rooftop sets and actors dangling from wires. I know I should be way too old for this stuff, but I don’t care. GREG: Your manhood need not be threatened. I liked it too. And, as usual, the DVD extras knock another one out of the park. Disney always does right by its classics. The 50-minute “Making Of” takes care of the informational stuff (Walt’s decades-long quest to buy the rights to the story, the structure of the screenplay, etc.), then come the reunions – Andrews, Van Dyke and composer Richard Sherman gather around the piano to reminisce. The same group show up on the running commentary along with others. RANDY: But wait, there’s more! The big selling point is a new animated short, “The Cat That Looked At A King,” but it’s nothing special. Stick with the Poppins related extras instead. Like the deleted song, “Chimpanzoo,” gobs of photos and stills, games and special effects breakdowns. GREG: So we’re agreed? This is the Disney movie to end all Disney movies? RANDY: Agreed.