Rating: 
Summary: A Big Winner With the Kids
Review: It had been many a long year since I last saw Mary Poppins, but now, thanks to three little 'uns who are all hooked, I've managed to relive my childhood once again. This is a timeless movie. The songs are classic, the dancing is entertaining, particularly when penguins are involved and Mary Poppins' magical powers never fail to amaze my children. Who wouldn't like a carpetbag like hers? The favourite song of the movie is "Step In Time" performed on the rooftops of London by the ensemble of chimney sweeps. At the start of the song it's all hands on deck in my household, as we all have to get up and dance furiously to Dick Van Dyke's instructions (a hilarious sight when a twenty month old is involved). This is sure to be a hit with kids of all ages as indeed, it has proven for over 36 years.
Rating:
Summary: A classic for a lifetime
Review: This movie will always be a classic. It's an excellent movie that showcases family and magic. I remember always wishing Mary Poppins was my nanny when I had to have a babysitter, because I thought they were all mean. This movie is a must see for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: You Have to See This Movie
Review: Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" is a glorious family film. Though I have only seen it on DVD (I wasn't born in 1964 when it opened at Radio City Music Hall), I was quite impressed by the special effects of the time including the "Jolly Holiday" sequence with dancing penquins, singing ducks and so on. Andrews is a class act. Dick Van Dyke is wonderful as Bert. And the songs are the kind of showtunes you'll sing again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: Disney Incorrect
Review: Anyone who has a 16x9, widescreen television will be disappointed to discover that the technical information provided by Disney. They released this disc saying that it was in a widscreen ANAMORPHIC format. It is not. It is widscreen (letterbox) but it is not anamorphic so it is distorted when displayed on a widscreen television. It's disappointing because this film is one of Walt Disney's crowning achievements and it's too bad that they didn't put it out in the best possible format.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD has poor quality
Review: This is a wonderful film and Julie Andrews is luminous as usual. I don't like the chimney sequence or the laughing sequence, but otherwise the film moves along nicely. Dick van Dyke is annoying, but the children and other characters are fine. The problem is with the DVD transfer: the picture's very blurry and skin tones are inaccurate. This is the 2nd transfer Disney made of MP, and I don't see why they've the same mistake twice. Anyhow, this movie is definitely worth having, and so the DVD is, unfortunately, as good as you'll get.
Rating:
Summary: Only one complaint about "Mary Poppins":
Review: The movie is just a little bit too long. The problem is that it's impossible to identify a scene that can be cut to shorten the film; no matter which scene you picked, you'd be losing a great song or a fine visual or comedic or poignant moment if you cut it. So I guess it's about the right length, after all.
Rating:
Summary: Poppin Through Imagination
Review: In early twentieth century London, Michael and Jane Banks have scared off their fourth nanny in six months, when at last the perfect candidate for the job blows into town. This is the central plot to Mary Poppins, a Disney musical comedy, intended to entertain both children and adults. The father, Mr. Banks, is a banker, very precise, and a bit of a martinet. The mother, Mrs. Banks, is a suffragette. The two children wish for something better, and Mary Poppins is the answer to their wish. She leads them through a number of adventures and introduces them to many people before she influences their father's approach to family life. In the movie, children are encouraged to use their imagination while parents are reminded what it is like to be a child again thus bringing the family closer. The first outing the children experience with Mary Poppins is to the park. The children do not think it would be fun, but they are in for a big surprise. Jane and Michael encounter Bert, a sidewalk chalk artist. The children show interest in one of the drawings so Bert has the children use their imaginations as if they were in one of them. He pretends to ride a boat in one of the pictures using sound effects with his mouth and his walking stick. Another drawing is of a tightrope walker in which he once again pretends to be in the drawing. This makes the children feel they are there at the events. Then Bert tries to make the children think they can go into a chalk drawing by having them "Think, wink, double blink, close your eyes and jump." Since that did not work, Mary Poppins stepped in to help everyone experience the chalk drawing. Mary Poppins and Bert took the children into animated landscapes where penguins tap dance, barn animals talk, merry-go-round horses participate in horse races, and umbrellas talk. The children come into a fantasy world where everything around them is perfect. Michael and Jane were encouraged to use their imaginations to get them there. All throught the movie, Mr. Banks is very cold, uptight, stern, and course. He has forgotten about the simple joys and pleasures of life. The father is only interested in his job, money, and running the house. "I'm the lord of my castle the sov'reign, the liege! I treat my subjects: servants, children, and wife with firm but gentle hand noblesse oblige!" For him, there is no time for fun and games. While Mr. Banks is lecturing Mary Poppins he says, "And popping through pictures have little use, fulfil no basic need, they've got to learn the honest truth despite their youth." Towards the end of the movie, Bert helped Mr. Banks realize that ever since Mary Poppins came into his life she was a positive influence, he just didn't see it. After the children give him their tuppins, his eyes open up to the world and he realizes money and work are not the most important things in life. Once he loosens up, he gets a position at the bank, became closer with his family, and developes an outgoing and fun side to him. Therefore his life improves because he let the child inside him come out and be a kid once again. Mary Poppins is a nanny extraordinaire who enriches the lives of everyone she encounters. All throughout the movie there is never a dull moment; she and the children are constantly out exploring life and living each day to the fullest. Mary Poppins makes every chore a game and every day a "Jolly Holiday". She, Bert and the children have a number of magical adventures, which eventually bring the children closer to their busy parents. Mr. Banks is at first shocked by Mary's bizarre excursions; he would rather his children act like little adults. But he soon learns that children's games are good for everyone, and ended up leading his family on a kite-flying expedition. Mary Poppins encourages both children and parents to use their imaginations to enrich the life of a family.
Rating:
Summary: Practically Perfect in every way!
Review: Mary Poppins is one of the stand-out live-action movies that Disney has ever produced. The songs are very memorable - who out there does not find themselves humming or singing along with the likes of "Chim-Chim-Cheeree"? Julie Andrews will always be remembered for her role as Mary Poppins, and Dick Van Dyke absolutely shines as Bert the Chimney Sweep. The story is top-notch and has a wonderful moral without being too "preachy". The animated bit is a little flat by today's standards, but it adds a wonderful bit of whimsey to a stellar production. Highly recommended to any family with children.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than I remember...
Review: Mary Poppins was released in 1964. The following year Julie Andrews starred in The Sound of Music. Both are terrific films, and the Disney creation fairs reasonably well against the specacular Austrian setting of the 1965 Robert Wise production. Dick Van Dyke deserves special praise for virtually stealing many scenes. The entire supporting cast is first-rate. I especially enjoyed David Tomlinson as the stuffy banker/father. The music composed especially for "Poppins" remains as bright and snappy as was in 1964. Even if you own this film on VHS, the bonus features available on the DVD make it worth purchasing.
Rating:
Summary: Spit-spot! A Low-Tech, Anti-Sorcery Harry Potter...
Review: ....my only beef with Mary Poppins is not with the story and concept itself, it's with the Disney people who knew how to exploit the American tendency to place evvy thing European in on a higher level than evvy thing else, so that Poppins' British "perfect in every way" attributes, which were meant to be veddy, veddy tongue-in-cheek and cheeky (look under "Irony" and "Satire", kiddies.) were taken way too seriously. And too many people tried to emulate her. Disney brought this out on the cusp of the British Rock 'n Roll Invasion, Barnaby Street, the Mods, all that. So that Veddy "Brit" was Veddy "In"....Not only did Julie Andrews tried to fight typecasting of a sweet and perfect image from this and "The Sound of Music" with very un-Mary Poppins roles like in the movie "The Americanization of Emily" and "Victor/Victoria", she tried to murder the image by baring all in her husbands' production "S.O.B."(A perverse part of me wishes Andrews would bury the typecasting once and for all by showing up in a future Austin Powers moovy, but that's just how I think, folks.)...There ain't no Poppins, except in these fantasys....it's just a kiddies' story, folks! ....and "Mary Poppins", to it's great credit, is magical. And it's musical. My favorite scene is the "Step In Time" production with Burt's chimney sweep buds...talk about choreography! I know Van Dyke must've had a blast doing Burt and the decrepid, decaying banker--he was like a Rubber Band Man, then (a Carl Reiner clone), and his faux Cockney had all the school kids wanting to be a "matey", kinda like the way the Crocodile Hunter seduces kids with his Aussie ways. I had heard that the powers that be at Disney are gonna put out Poppins on a limited scale, in cinemas across the nation. The difference being that they plan to have the words to "A Spoonful of Sugar","SupercalifragilisticexpiallIamtoolazytofinishthiscorrectly", "Chim-chim Cheree" and "Let's go Fly A Kite" across the bottom of the screen to encourage singing and cult-dom a la "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"...say what? The Disney folks--at it again? Or mebbe it's because Disney has had the British children's story market covered for years with the likes of Poppins and Pooh and "Alice in Wonderland" and is looking for a bit of competition with the impending Harry Potter moovy and it's PR saturation. Hmmmm.... "On the rooftops of London, Coor--whatta site."
| 
