The central story of the 1964 Disney Classic “Mary Poppins” is about a single father whose wife has recently died and who then has forgotten to make mortgage payments for 3 months and now faces losing his house, despite having to raise two children on his own. The callous inhumanity shown by the bankers in this story has nothing to do with fantasy or dancing and singing and everything to do with the the harsh reality of life and money.

For many people of a certain age, they will remember Mary Poppins as the very first movie they have ever seen in a movie theater, myself included. Given the great quality of the original, I thought this remake was extremely unnecessary. Despite never being a fan of musicals, most of the story here is quite boring with a film that is too long and with music that was not nearly good enough as the original. This could be a film that is enjoyable for young children younger than 12 years old but for everyone else, it drags on into uninteresting scenes that seem disjointed with a constantly overcast and rainy sky typical of London, reminding all of us that we would never want to live there.

The star of this film, Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda are both good in their roles, with some Oscar buzz for Blunt so it is unfortunate that this was not a better movie.

I recommend Mary Poppins Returns only for young children, but this version should be skipped in favor of renting the original Mary Poppins, which is a far better movie.