This is what is being said about it -
In the winter of 1933, in a thatched cottage in Sussex, England, a complicated woman named Pamela "P.L." Travers began to write "Mary Poppins," the first in a series of novels that would inspire the beloved 1964 Walt Disney movie and supply generations of children with a magical fantasy nanny.
The reality of Travers' own turbulent childhood — and her reluctance as an adult to relinquish control over her characters to Walt Disney — are the subject of the movie "Saving Mr. Banks," which has just gone into wide release. Directed by John Lee Hancock, "Saving Mr. Banks" follows Travers (Emma Thompson) as she travels to the Disney lot in Burbank for two weeks in 1961, tangling with and tormenting the studio chief (Tom Hanks). The L.A. visit inspires Travers to recall her childhood in Australia, in particular her father, a charismatic drunk played by Colin Farrell.
Some critics have complained that "Saving Mr. Banks," which Disney itself produced and distributed, is too hard on Travers and too easy on the company's founder. Travers is cold, critical and strange — arbitrarily objecting, for instance, to having the color red in the movie and dismissing Disney's "silly cartoons." "Uncle Walt," by contrast, is jovial and encouraging, with few flaws to speak of save for a bad smoker's cough.
Some critics have complained that "Saving Mr. Banks," which Disney itself produced and distributed, is too hard on Travers and too easy on the company's founder. Travers is cold, critical and strange — arbitrarily objecting, for instance, to having the color red in the movie and dismissing Disney's "silly cartoons." "Uncle Walt," by contrast, is jovial and encouraging, with few flaws to speak of save for a bad smoker's cough.
P L Travers was a pen name, she was Helen Goff, and an Australian. Her father died at 43, and she came to England and became very British. Insisted that everyone call her Mrs Travers, and she called Walt Disney, Mr Disney, in spite of the fact that he told her everyone uses first names in Hollywood.
I loved the Englishness of it. She was picked up in a limousine, being driven to studios, staring out of the window and said "No one is walking here". I think everyone in the auditorium heard my laugh; that was my reaction when I came to Shawnee. There are no pavements or sidewalks, occasionally a homeless person might be stumbling along the grass verge, otherwise everyone is in a car, going somewhere.
I am thinking tomorrow afternoon of going to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I tried to see it this evening as I had to go out, the weather is forecast to be very bad tomorrow so I needed a few things, but I couldn't find anywhere to park near the cinema. It is only at the cinema that parking is ever a problem in Shawnee.
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