Saving Mr Banks

Saving Mr. Banks is a 2013 American-Australian-British biographical comedy-drama film on Blu-ray, directed by John Lee Hancock from a screenplay written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Centered on the development of the 1964 Walt Disney Studios film Mary Poppins, the film stars Emma Thompson as author P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as filmmaker Walt Disney, with supporting performances from Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, B. J. Novak, Rachel Griffiths, and Kathy Baker.

Two-time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney's Saving Mr. Banks, inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney's classic Mary Poppins made it to the screen. When Walt Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie of their favourite book, P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins, he made them a promise – one that he didn't realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.

Saving Mr Banks Movie Awards:

• Won AFI Award Movie of the Year (AFI Awards, USA 2014)
• Nominated Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Emma Thompson (Golden Globes, USA 2014)
• Nominated Oscar Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Thomas Newman (Academy Awards, USA 2014)
• Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Leading Actress Emma Thompson (BAFTA Awards 2014)
• Nominated Satellite Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture Emma Thompson (Satellite Awards 2013)
• Nominated Satellite Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role Tom Hanks (Satellite Awards 2013)
• Nominated Satellite Award Best Motion Picture (Satellite Awards 2013)
• 8 other wins and 40 other nominations

Critic Reviews:

• " Uniformly excellent performances to cover the movie's languid pacing. " – Richard Crouse

• " Will most likely enchant diehard Disney fans and most certainly those who will appreciate its focus on a film that remains one of Disney's most enduring favorites. " – Richard Propes

• " Saving Mr. Banks is a film that pays tribute to the Disney legacy even if the film stretches the truth in storytelling. " – Danielle Solzman