This was an unutterably joyous film. For me better than the original which may partly be because I did not see the original as a child but only much later in life as an adult - and when I did see it (a good few years ago now) I can recall thinking that it looked a somewhat aged.
Everything in this film seemed to work. The family background with widowed Mr Banks struggling at work and home was poignantly done and Ben Wishaw, as with the rest of the cast, was first-rate. The three child actors had just the right amount of cuteness without ever going overboard American-style with the smart-alecery. Emily Blunt was a marvellous Poppins - recognisably the same sort of character as Julie Andrews but making the role her own - and I loved the verbal and visual allusions to the first film - not least the seated ascent of the stairway bannister, elegantly done in the background. This witty homage-paying was a feature of the whole film, from the set, to the roof-top dance number. And it was the music that was the most powerful element of the film for me as if I had been told that it was the same composers as the original then I would have totally believed you. There was even one mixing live action and cartoons with the cartoon figures drawn in the same Disney style of pre-computer animation. there was also, I am sure, a visual homage to the terrifying forest scene in Snow White, with the colour palette and the finger-like tree shapes. Masterly. And I am sure there are many many more, but these were the ones that leapt out particularly for me.
It was a lovely idea to have the players of original roles in cameos, of which the most spectacular was Dick van Dyke and a desktop tap routine at 90 years plus! The only episode that I did not like and which irritated me was the (obligatory?) Meryl Streep cameo where she was as self-consciously smart and ‘actorly’ as ever. Am I the only person who, on seeing her announced in yet another film think ‘OMG not Meryl f*****g Streep AGAIN!
Something tells me that I will be watching this again…