Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Jeremy Swift, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Jim Norton, Steve Nicholson, Noma Dumezwemi, Tarik Frimong, Sudha Bhuchar, Karen Dotrice, Christian Dixon.

A feel-good musical that the whole family can enjoy is a scarcity, perhaps not completely rare, but certainly a genre lacking in want in amongst the incessant variety that is pitched, some banal, more often than not, unappealing, the message that comes across being one steeped in a false upbeat premise in which is like being fed on a sugar rich diet, the instant hit soon losing its lustre as you realise all you have digested is a propaganda lifestyle that unfortunately means nothing.

Any musical, perhaps any film can fall into this trap of portraying a lifestyle that cannot be attained, perhaps giving false hope in the guise of raising a smile, and yet hope is not to be confined by the lack of, or even abundance of  imagination, it must be allowed to show a possibility of understanding, regardless if the protagonist is magical, or down to earth; above all it must surely remind the cinema goer in the time allotted what it is to believe as freely as a child, to see the world with the glimmer of light in a place that can be surrounded by the darkness of adult responsibility.

In Mary Poppins Returns, that sense of magic is to be found, perhaps not as elegantly or with the same wonder that greeted audiences in 1964 but then Time has moved on, it has become a directional cynical beast not concerned with whimsy but with hard profit. However, magic can still be found in the guises of danger and nostalgia, and in P. L. Travers’ seminal creation, the mysterious Nanny that drops out of the sky, armed only with a talking umbrella, a carpet bag that seems to store the universe in, and a fine sense of decorum, that is arguably all you require to feel the embrace of childhood once more.

To capture the essence of Julie Andrews in one of her most endearing film roles takes virtuosity and perhaps instinct, to know where to place faith and to show exuberance; it is a fascination of camera that seeks out Emily Blunt in every scene, and her partnership with Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as the three young actors playing the Banks children is a joy, a positive strength of the film.

The songs may not be as memorable as they were in the original, the plot a little on the strained side and yet the magic cannot be denied, the sense of wonder is still there and for whatever you may think of Disney, they do know how to embrace the act of nostalgia.

Mary Poppins Returns is an uplifting film which doesn’t rely on the act of sabotaging the audience’s feelings to produce the required result, to lose yourself in whimsy is an honour, to find the child-like memory of what you had before stuff got in the way is to be honoured.

Ian D. Hall