Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Buckley, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, Melanie Paxson, Victoria Summer, Kathy Baker, Rachel Griffiths, Dendrie Taylor, Kimberly D’Armond.

Saving Mr. Banks is a film that exemplifies the thought that somewhere between novel and film the life of the author is lost in the complexity of producing a cinema hit. The life of the writer, whose soul is poured into the painful birth of producing something that in a lot of cases is a cathartic way of exorcising a childhood memory, is overlooked. Cinema audiences, perhaps comforted in many cases by the end result, neglect the person who gave them the character in the first place.

For that Disney Studios, and especially writers Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, should be congratulated for bringing the life of P.L. Travers, the creator of the iconic Mary Poppins, to the forefront of people’s minds and the two week thrashing of ideas between the film mogul Walt Disney, the Sherman brothers, Don DaGradi and the woman whose own childhood trauma was captured in the heart of the much loved 1964 film.

In terms of performances, and away from the two main leads of the enthralling Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, both Annie Buckley as the young Travers – Helen ‘Ginty’ Goff, and Colin Farrell as her father, give such commanding and respectful depictions that of all the films this year that by such a long margin have they given the thought of best supporting actor the most credible association. Annie Buckley shone throughout and gave the audience the link they needed to see the pain that eluded from Emma Thompson’s eyes a natural starting point.

As with all films, it is the relationship between script and actors that make going to the cinema worthwhile. The effects, the plush cinemagraphic feel, the end result all have to start somewhere and if the script doesn’t feel right, if the words expressed by any actor feel false and they don’t truly believe in what they are saying, then the overall film is of little consequence. In the hands of two maestros, Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, there is no suggestion at all that there was ever a moment of doubt in what they were trying to achieve. They carried these two iconic people’s lives before them, you could really see both the author P.L. Travers and Walt Disney in every mannerism and thought.

Emma Thompson’s personal showing as the repressed but correct P.L. Travers was at times delightful, a true and powerful portrayal of a woman whose demons had carried her through life but had lost something remarkable along the way. In a career that has spanned many decades, Ms. Thompson still has the authority and playfulness needed to be one of the top actors of her generation.

Saving Mr. Banks is a must see. Something that can recapture the joy of innocence whilst at the same time reconnecting author with finished film product should be savoured and relished.

Ian D. Hall