Take a look behing the making if Mary Poppins with, Saving Mr. Banks on Blu-ray 3/18/14 #savingmrbanksbloggers #Giveaway

There are those movies that you just have to see and being a Disney family we had to see Saving Mr. Banks. Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of Walt Disney's (Tom Hanks) quest to convince P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to let him turn Mary Poppins into a movie. Filmed primarily in the Walt Disney Studios (where all of what we were watching actually happened) and parts of it in Disneyland itself this movie is a Disney fans dream.

Reluctant to let go of her rights to Mary Poppins because Disney makes animated movies and Ms. Travers utterly disdains them a money strapped Travers was convinced by her agent Diarmuid Russell (Ronan Vibert) she had to meet with Disney to see what he was willing to offer her, after all Mary Poppins was a favorite book in the Disney household and Walt promised his girls that he would make the movie happen and Walt never broke a promise to his girls...it took more than 20 years to come to fruition but it did happen and this wonderful movie brought us along for the ride.

The movie is mostly based on the life of P.L. Travers or Ginty as she was known to her family growing up in Australia with her family. A series of flashback to a young Travers played by Annie Rose Buckley we see that Ginty is a daddy's girl, her father Travers Goff (Colin Farrell) was a charismatic banker with an alcohol problem. When Goff became ill Ginty's Aunt Ellie moved in to help with the burden. These years of her life and her Aunt Ellie is where the basis of Mary Poppins came from and the part of Mr. Banks is a nod to her own father and his struggles with life, where her father failed to ultimately achieve happiness and understanding Mr. Banks succeeds.

This is a wonderful movie and we absolutely enjoyed it, while it might have tweaked history a little bit it was really a well written, well acted and well made movie. Tom Hanks portrayal as Walt Disney was outstanding and Emma Thompson was great as well (my husband whispered to me I can't stand that woman several times during the movie so I have to assume she nailed Travers' personality.) But what I really loved was the utter disdain Travers shows the Sherman brothers (Jason Schwartzman & B.J. Novak) songs and how their use of made up words was awful. 

To think that actually happened and how we almost didn't get some of the most iconic Disney songs ever written because of Ms. Travers being a little too uptight about everything. Ralph her chauffeur (Paul Giamatti) is the only one who can get the otherwise stone cold Travers to open up and finally show some human qualities. This was a nice touch to help humanize a somewhat stiff and almost unlikeable Travers, even though Ralph technically didn't really exist, Giamatti played a concoction of all of her drivers. This is a great movie that any Disney fan or Mary Poppins fan will absolutely love.

Being such big fans of Walt, I wanted to share a picture of my family in Walt's apartment in Disneyland... If you ever have the chance to go, it is a wonderful place to visit. 

So if you are looking for a great family film, I would highly suggest picking up Saving Mr. Banks, I am sure your family will love it as much as mine did.

One of Susan’s Disney Family readers will win a Saving Mr. Banks on Blu-ray! Would you like to win? Please let me know who would love to see this movie? There are also other ways to enter, please enter below.

Buy it:

You can purchase this great dvd in stores starting 3/18/14! You can pre-order on Amazon now.

Win it:

One winner will win a copy of Saving Mr. Banks on Blu-ray

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Disclosure: The reviews and or opinions on this blog are my own opinions . No monitory compensation was received. I was not required to write a positive review. Your experience may differ. The opinions I have expressed are my own I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement and Testimonials in Advertising .