MEH-ry Poppins — Page 2

The Other One said: "Miles2Go2 said: "haterobics said: "Mary Poppins was never a favorite flick of mine, but I caught this today and had a grand time. No complaints, really... of course, I didn't go in disliking Lin, or having strong opinions on the fine line betweenrap andpatter... Seemed to honor the original, do some things on its own, and was just a nice time out..."

I love Lin and Blunt,but am not certain I’ve ever seen the original. If I did, it was when I was so young that I can’t be certain. I’m on the fence about needing to see this in a theater. I fly Delta often enough that it’ll be available on a flight in a few months. I’m seriously thinking about seeing a movie Christmas night after spending part of the day with my mom at her retirement center. I’m in the Oklahoma City area so my choices are a bit limited. I’m leaning toward seeing Vice or driving a bit further and seeing The Favourite. It’ll probably be Vice."

Both are better choices, but Mary Poppins Returns is a pleasant enough film to make it a point to see on the big screen. I hate watching movies on planes, personally."

As the Christmas lunch at mom’s assisted living center was disappointing and not much was open, I ended up eating supper at Fridays. Then opted to bypass going to theater to see a movie. Instead, I went home and finished last two episodes of The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime) then watched the highly regarded movie Roma on Netflix (I highly recommend if you like subtitled subtle, naturalistic, foreign movies; I loved it). Now watching Springsteen on Broadway. I’m about 35 minutes in. He’s always been an artist (like Dylan) I’ve (greatly) admired more in theory than in practice and so far this hasn’t changed that. Some of his narrative bits are modestly humorous or emotional, but I’m glad so far that I was never tempted to get a pricey ticket to see his Broadway show. I’m just not the right audience for him, I think. I’ll finish it though because I’m not a quitter. Lol

as a good little jewish boy on Christmas, i went to the movies...i saw MP yesterday with a nice size crowd, and in the end most people applauded...i did not...i thought it was over-all just ok...i thought EMILY BLUNT as MARY POPPINS did not have enough character on screen to be MP...she sang and acted well, and i loved her in INTO THE WOODS...as written, this Mary Poppins was not in the film enough except for the song and dance numbers...the one song that i actually liked a lot was the lullaby sung by MP.."The Place Where Lost Things Go"

i saw the original Mary Poppins as a young teenager and knew every song as i wore out the vinyl in short time back then...this newer version will not have me do the same!

musikman said: "...The Mary Poppins character felt so superfluous and pushed to the side here. Clearly the kids could get by on their own. They didnt need her lol."

The story isn't about the kids - it's about Michael. He is the protagonist. He has the problem that Mary Poppins comes back to fix. That's also why I say that there was one too many musical production numbers with Mary and the kids. They weren't the heart of the story.

musikman said: "Well thats what I mean. For a story that isnt supposedly supposed to be about the kids, they spend about 90% of the movie focused on them and their escapades (while they sing pleasant if second-rate versions of the 1964 films songs). Like I get that they were trying to do a parallel of the films where the father figure has to reconnect with his children. It just didnt work for me at all. The charm and wonderment of the original was severely lacking here (save for the appearances of two characters late in the film that I wont spoil), but it was a visually striking film to watch at least. "

Yup. The basic story was meh. It almost just exists as a outline. If only the music was at a magical level it wouldn’t have mattered.

The movie had a nice box office boost the last couple of days.

Miles2Go2 said: "Yeah, I know. One of my Facebook friends absolutely hated it,but her tastestend to be very pedestrian (I.e. she loved Game Night and hated Inception and I loved it, but can’t even get interested in Game Night when free on a flight).
"

Just chiming in to say that Game Night was one of the funniest, most clever comedies to come out of a major studio this year (it’s also 84% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com, so the critics mostly liked it, too). Seems unfair to say if someone liked that particular film, they have pedestrian tastes (especially compared to the pseudo-intellectual Inception, which, as well made as it is, was also produced with mass appeal in mind). For what it’s worth, I also loved The Favourite.

As regards the topic at hand, agreed that Mary Poppins Returns was pleasant but ultimately pointless, lacking any real narrative drive or emotional resonance. Blunt is wonderful, though.

Updated On: 1/1/19 at 10:47 AM

>The moral of the story is to never use your money to feed the birds

I was very confused by this. I thought the original was about charity and it turns out it was wiser not to give that old woman anything.

I thought the songs were just fine but they were really just in service of the snorefest plot that feels more like a ****ty remake. What gives?

I wish the rap was the only unforgivable thing in this film but it wasn't. The Clock? Streep?

For me, it's the meh word of mouth and despite my love for Ben Whishaw, and like for Emily Blunt, and love of the original film, nothing in the clips, commercials, or trailers made me excited to see it. I also felt I couldn't be objective about this one since the original holds a very special place my heart and thought it'd be better to skip it this time around.

Tom5 said: "In the original Julie Andrews was magic, the music had melodies and the story was an original. I saw all three missing with this version, so I gave it a miss, too."

It picked up some BAFTA noms today?

JoshTodos said: "It was not MEH. Its not Citizen Kane. But MEH it is not. Personally it needs to come to Broadway. Can it replace the musical with two witches in it"

It was beyond MEH. And I guess the MEH soundtrack is doing MEH as well.