Saving Mr. Banks

— If I’d read something about “Saving Mr. Banks” before seeing the film, I might have been more prepared for it. Instead, I went expecting to see the comedic film portrayed in the previews but got two stories—one set in 1960’s Hollywood that is mostly fun, and another set in early 1900’s Australia that’s melancholic. It’s a little uneven and a slow development of a backstory, but Emma Thompson and Tom Banks are both so outstanding that the struggle between the two stories becomes less and less distracting. Besides, the film really is about struggles between personalities, struggles involving artistic temperaments and attachments, and the struggle to accept the past and embrace the present. There are many very good films out there right now and I like some of them more than this one, but I think “Saving Mr. Banks” is among those that shouldn’t be overlooked.

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[2013. 125 min. Directed by John Lee Hancock. Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, and Bradley Whitford.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/saving-mr-banks-review-the-affecting-story-of-how-mary-poppins-reached-the-screen/2013/12/11/a711137c-6275-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html