Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Costumes, and Best Production Design
  Yet another unnecessary sequel from Disney.  Fortunately, this one doesn't completely suck.

Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) is all grown up with three children of his own and real, grown up problems.  He took a loan out on his childhood home to cover expenses after the death of his wife and it is about a week away from being repossessed.  His children, Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathaniel Saleh), and Georgie (Joel Dawson), are mostly forced to look after themselves as well as their grief-stricken and distracted father, until the magical Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) arrives from the sky to look after the family once more.

Here's my main issue with this movie, even more than the deus ex machina ending:  Lin-Manuel Miranda has no place being in it.  He's perfectly charming as Jack the lamplighter but I seriously question why Disney couldn't have hired an actual British person for the role.  His accent is atrocious and really, that role could have gone to anyone.  I get that Disney is so happy they own him now after Moana, but I don't think they needed his name recognition to sell this.

Speaking of people Disney owns, they couldn't get Julie Andrews to cameo?  I thought maybe Andrews didn't want to risk singing, but according to this article in the Washington Post, she flat turned them down when they asked because she didn't want to overshadow Emily Blunt.  Which, okay?  I guess?  But I'm pretty sure they just asked her to do a cameo at the end where she basically would have handed the reins of the franchise over.  Instead, they got Angela Lansbury and it feels super weird. 

The musical numbers are fun, for the most part.  There are a couple of real downers in there, like when Michael sings to his dead wife, and the kids are sad about their dead mom, but the rest of them are fun and upbeat.  The nominated song is one of the ballads, "Where the Lost Things Go," but my favorite was "A Cover is Not the Book."  I can't really talk about the score but I did notice some callbacks to the original. 

Costumes are really where the film excels.  They are bright, cheerful, and sharp but I felt like they overused the color green.  It probably had some symbolic reasoning, like they only have green when they're part of the "real" world because they don't use their imaginations but I think it could have been more subtle. 

If the film is guilty of anything, it's trying too hard to look like the original.  There's a dance sequence with lamplighters instead of chimneysweeps, a transition to animation complete with a duet, an upside down/ceiling number, and a joyous ending in the park.  It's like the director had a checklist of moments from the first one that had one minor change made to them just so he couldn't be accused of plagiarism.

Is it still worth your money?  Yes.  Your kids will be entertained and you won't have your memories of the original tarnished irrevocably which is pretty much the best case scenario here.