Saving Mr Banks

2013 - Dir.: John Lee Hancock - (USA)
Shown at the FeckenOdeon on 31st January, 2015
Some critics have pointed out that this film was bound to be over sympathetic to Walt Disney because it was made by the Walt Disney Studio. There may be a grain or more of truth in this but there’s no doubting that this is a beautifully constructed and well acted account of the making of one of Disney’s finest achievements. There’s also no doubting that P.L.Travers was a tricky customer to deal with. On her own insistence, all dealings with the studio were recorded on audio tape and it’s evident that Emma Thompson hasn’t overplayed her character’s eccentricities - by all accounts the real Mrs T was a good deal nastier.
The accusation that the studio was merely making an extended plug  for its 50th anniversary re-release of the original film probably scuppered its chances of Oscars and other awards. Certainly the central performances are worthy of recognition. Emma Thompson has never given a better observed performance and Tom Hanks, fresh from his exploits in “Captain Philips”, really gets under the skin of Disney’s character. Mr Hanks had his own argument with present day Disney puritanical producers when he tried in the interests of accuracy to persuade them to show Walt smoking. Disney was a heavy smoker with a persistent cough. He died of lung cancer two years after the release of Mary Poppins. A compromise was reached where ashtrays are shown but not the actual smoking.
Tom Hanks is a distant cousin of Walt Disney which may account for the physical resemblance