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Thank you for sharing! It was great seeing James Baxter talk about the movie. It's been so long, I hadn't realized how much I missed that. Not just the movies themselves but the delightful making ofs where you see the animators working on their animations desks and talk about the process of creating the movie. It was also nice seeing Karen Dotrice talk about the original film and share her memories with us from the set. Dick Van Dyke is still such a charmer. He has such a wonderful spirit and zest for life. I can't believe he's 92 years old! He's so full of energy!


He's totally overacting to the point of caricature. Couple that with his ridiculous British accent, I can't possibly fathom how the voters thought not only this was good acting but better than so many other performances this year.


I knew that already. Again, that's a secondhand account of what he supposedly said.


No. I find it disrespectful and unfair that Disney didn't let him write the songs but that doesn't influence whether I like the new ones or not. I felt the same when Menken was replaced on Frozen but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie's songs. It's clear you're simply trying to find any excuse to silence and invalidate opinions you don't agree with.

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Just finished listening to the soundtrack... And...

THEY. HAVE. ABSOLUTELY. NAILED. IT!!!!

These songs and score are freaking beautiful and masterfully written. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have not only did the Sherman Brothers proud, but they should do the songs and score for any future Disney Animated films pronto! I can't wait to see the film now more than ever and those who "criticize" it are just going to be white noise to me and I say: good.

In fact, to me this is the most memorable set of songs we ever had for a Disney film since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not to knock the other Disney films, but mostly they had a few songs that were great standouts but not an entire memorable/ear-wormy package of them. It's been that long.

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Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Film fan since 1999

The lyrics are so clever! I'm reading the novelization too and it's impressive how much they've used the books in this film.

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are such a wonderful composing team aren't they? Plus I heard their next project is a Broadway musical adaptation of the classic film Some Like It Hot.

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Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Film fan since 1999

I haven't had a chance to listen to the full soundtrack yet but any comparison to Hunchback is a win in my book since it really is one of the last few great Disney musicals (Tarzan is the other one for me). Can't wait to listen to all the music now!


I'm so glad to hear that they really drew material from the books! That was something I was looking most forward to.

The soundtrack is excellent. It’s faithful to the Sherman Brothers and to the British music hall sound that inspired them. Emily’s take on Mary can stand on its own, although my eyebrow raised a bit when she went into full-out Cockney speak, but I think it’s justified within the song and it’s not really at odds with the nature of the character— Mary Poppins really is more at home with the working class even though she works for the middle class and presents herself as posh. Lin-Manuel seems right at home as Jack— truthfully, Miranda is merely an adequate actor, his talents lie elsewhere— but he has an old fashioned charm and charisma, not unlike Dick Van Dyke which makes him an excellent counterpart and companion to Mary Poppins. Special shoutout to Meryl Streep as Cousin Topsy, who delivers a delightful performance in this Russian-inspired (and a little Yiddish, I think) number. It’s a shame nobody was making musicals during Streep’s heyday because she could have been a true musical star.

Angela Lansbury’s song would have had added poignance if it had been sung by Julie Andrews as intended. I wish they might have changed that song a bit... it’s clear Mary and the balloon lady are meant to have a “moment,” which doesn’t make as much sense between Lansbury and Blunt because the history isn’t there. But that’s a really small nitpick that will probably only bother me.

Oh! And the return of that beautiful, full-bodied Disney chorus... I could swoon. I’m probably going to cry in the movie theatre. But Emma Thompson-style, not um, real PL Travers style.

PS I’ve read Karen Dotrice, the original Jane Banks, makes a cameo in the film. Does anyone know what part she plays? Is it a fleshed out character or just a mere quick bit? A part of me really hopes she plays Winifred Banks.

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Avatar and signature are Al Hirschfeld illustrations of Julie Andrews in Star! (1968).

I saw the movie last night and I absolutely loved it. I've long wanted to see Marc Shaiman write songs for a Disney musical and he did not disappointment. The songs and the choreography are wonderful and Emily Blunt is so fantastic as Mary Poppins, I didn't even find myself comparing her to Julie Andrews. Considering how highly I think of Andrews's performance in Mary Poppins, that's saying a lot. I also thought Lin-Manuel Miranda was completely charming. I mostly know him as a singer/songwriter, so this was truly my first time seeing him act and he just radiates joy the entire time he's on screen.

I was all smiles through the entire movie and there's just a big-hearted, cozy feeling that leaves one in high spirits by the end of it. However, Rob Marshall handles the emotional moments nicely, too. Kudos to Marshall for successfully capturing that old-school Disney vibe. I almost felt like I was watching a movie musical in 1965, right down to an overture playing over the opening titles.

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"There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed." - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland

Yay!

I do wonder what context the score track Rescuing Georgie is all about. It sounds like something from a thrilling chase sequence.

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Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Film fan since 1999

I listened to "Nowhere to Go But Up." It's a really fun song. I'm surprised by how wonderful Whishaw sounds and Walters was really good, too. I'll listen to the other songs first, but I'll probably end up buying the whole soundtrack after all. I'm shocked that the film's music was snubbed by the Golden Globes. The Globes are just strange most of the time.

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Listening to most often lately:
Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd) ~ "A Little Priest"
Bernadette Peters (Smash) ~ "At Your Feet"
Bette Midler (Gypsy) ~ "Some People"

Really glad to hear how Musical Master, UmbrellaFish, and estefan love the music and movie! That this film really is as great and wonderful as you are saying, that you feel so much like this, is beyond awesome.

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New TV spots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8dE8l79l98
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 5946985472

Soundtrack promos:
https://twitter.com/DisneyMusic/status/ ... 7966179328
https://twitter.com/mca_music/status/10 ... 2260685824

Other promos:
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 8129858561
https://twitter.com/ElCapitanThtre/stat ... 4957531137
https://twitter.com/FreeformTV/status/1 ... 3724337152
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhV2V7hM3Cg
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudiosIE/sta ... 5292697600
https://twitter.com/picturehouses/statu ... 8314327041
https://twitter.com/HarveyNichols/statu ... 3137603584

New special look during Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings:
https://twitter.com/25Days/status/1071192636478930944

Articles and interviews:
Making of 'Mary Poppins Returns': How Rob Marshall Returned Disney's "Guarded Jewel" to the Big Screen
Parts of the Process — Disney animation supervisor Jim Capobianco on the making of Mary Poppins Returns
Broadway.com #LiveatFive with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman



Yes, it was great. I've missed that too.


I didn't remember his accent. It's true, some people have criticized that. However, he was also nominated at the Satellite Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical and I've read several positive comments about his performance, so I don't know. We'll see if it's true when the film opens.

By the way, now that I've listened to the songs several times, I think the composers have done quite a good job after all. Of course, they aren't as good as the original movie ones, and some are better than others (I don't like "Turning Turtle" or "The Royal Doulton Music Hall" much), but overall is a good soundtrack in my opinion. I think my favorites are "(Underneath the) Lovely London Sky" and "Nowhere to Go But Up", but "Can You Imagine That?" and the ones submitted to the Oscars are quite good too.

Having listened to the rest of the soundtrack now, I actually love "Turning Turtle." It makes me laugh. *shrug* "Can You Imagine That?" is my favorite after "Turning Turtle" and "Nowhere to Go But Up." I don't think the soundtrack compares to the original, but it's not bad.

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Listening to most often lately:
Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd) ~ "A Little Priest"
Bernadette Peters (Smash) ~ "At Your Feet"
Bette Midler (Gypsy) ~ "Some People"

New TV spot:
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 8244289537

Another promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Caq_Nx8TI

Emily Blunt explains why she speaks that way in the movie and more things in this video:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvsho ... Q-NYC.html

More photos and video of the Disneyland exhibit:
https://wdwnt.com/2018/12/photos-the-ar ... isneyland/
https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/20 ... isneyland/



Well, though as I said it's not from my favorites, what I like about that song and also about "The Royal Doulton Music Hall" and "A Cover Is Not the Book" is that they're funny and cheerful songs. And Meryl Streep gives a great performance in "Turning Turtle".

By the way, does anybody know what technique they've used in these shots with the carriage from the previous TV spot? Is it cel-shading? I think it looks quite bad. I wish it was 2D like the animated characters or completely live-action instead.

The footage from that one TV Spot, the one where Annabel and John are having some kind of carriage chase in the animated world but darker and scarier to save Georgie seems to be where the score track "Rescuing Georgie comes from, boy howdy is that going to be big nightmare fuel for everyone.

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Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Film fan since 1999

I haven't seen any trailers nor listened to any songs, but they showed us a large part of Trip a Little Light Fantastic and it looks awesome and kinda has the same heart of the first one, you know? I thought it would be awesome but not awesome like the first movie, but now I'm convinced this might be amazing and a very nice sibling. Emily Sibling is just Mary Poppins and no one can deny. (I think they also showed us a very large trailer between both ends of the scene, but I don't know if it was something already released or not)

New promos:
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 6500320256
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 6637730816
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 5212414977
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/statu ... 2590622721
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CdxaLFiaNI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFRq-I7wxmY


Yes, it could be. I was intrigued by that score title and also by tracks 25 and 26. I wonder what happens in those scenes.

Thanks Old Fish Tale, now it makes sense.

Of course I wonder why Wilkins wants to repossess the Banks house in the first place because I heard from one Instagram review that he didn't have a clear motivation for it.

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Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Film fan since 1999

I'm still reading the novelization. In fact, I just ended reading that chapter before writing that post. So far, what I know is Michael owes money to the bank because he took a huge loan out when his wife got sick. Michael and Jane are trying to find a certificate of the shares their father left them to pay the debt.