Happy New Year! (and a movie review)

Let me just start out by saying that 2018 went by way too quickly. And I keep hearing from so many different sources that the older you get the quicker time flies. I definitely hope that is not the case for 2019, but I have a feeling it may be the fastest yet with all we have to look forward to this year!

I have so many things going on in January alone - trying Whole 30 again, starting a new One Little Word project, the Yoga with Adriene 30 day challenge, subbing in classrooms, basketball practices and games for my daughter, drum performances for my son, and my husband's out of town project ends soon so he will be home more (yay!)

But for my first blog post of the new year, I want to share my thoughts about the newest Mary Poppins movie which we went to see on New Year's Eve. (all images found on the internet) *And if you haven't seen it yet, there may be spoilers*

I will be honest - I am a huge fan of the original Mary Poppins movie with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. I thought they were perfection, and I loved the way Walt Disney and crew brought the book to life. I was definitely excited to see another story turned into a movie, and was so glad they weren't just doing a reboot of the original one.

I was a little afraid to get my hopes up that this one would be as good as the original. Emily Blunt has huge shoes to fill when it comes to portraying the character of Mary Poppins.
I went in with an open mind though. And to be frank, at first I felt she was just "playing" the character of Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews IS Mary Poppins. But by the second half of the movie I think Emily had won me over and achieved the right feel for the character. She has a lovely voice and I can't imagine anyone else playing the part in this movie now.

Which brings me to the songs. They were fine, but I didn't feel they had the same uniqueness as the original Mary Poppins movie. They actually seemed pretty generic. The only one that really caught my attention was The Place Where Lost Things Go. It was pretty moving during the scene in which she first sang it. And without giving too much away, I thought it was even more moving when the children sang it to their father in a reprise towards the end.
As for the rest of the songs, like I said they were ok, but I can't really remember too many of them today so I don't feel I really connected with any of them. On the other hand, I could sing most of the lyrics from the original songs right now if you wanted :). I didn't see the first movie until a long time after it was released, so I don't know if the songs were as loved or as known back then as they are today by so many. I guess time will tell if the same will be true of the new movie. I just don't think that will be the case though.

Another area of Mary Poppins Returns that wasn't as magical was the animation scene. In the original, they jump into a chalk drawing of an English countryside which leads to a merry go round and horse race. The new movie had a little bit of a more adult theme to it and ended a little darker and with nightmares.
The one thing I really did love about this new animation scene were the costumes Mary, Jack and the children wore. I loved the faux animation details so much!

One of my favorite parts of the original Mary Poppins, was when they went up on the roof tops with the chimney sweeps! They had a similar scene in Mary Poppins Returns, but it started out with them going downwards into a sewer. All I could think was really, we are going to the sewers.

But in truth, it was a pretty great song and dance number. And when you first come across the lamplighters, it's an impressive visual. I think it was one of my favorite numbers in the movie.

As for the other characters, I really did enjoy Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance. He also had big shoes to fill, but I like they he had a completely different character. The children also did a pretty great job. I loved that we were able to see what happened to Jane and Michael after they had grown up, but I couldn't help wondering where their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Banks were. They definitely were not so old in the original movie that they would no longer be around. And I will confess, I have not read the book so maybe more was explained there.

All in all, I did enjoy the new movie. I thought it was great that Dick Van Dyke had a cameo at the end. And I will admit that I may have teared up a little for sentimental reasons. (lol) Mary Poppins will always be one of my favorite characters and movies, so I'm glad another generation will be able to enjoy a new story.

I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars!

Which reminds me - my husband and I also watched Game Night with Jason Bateman and The Bird Box with Sandra Bullock. I would give Game Night 4 out of 5 stars and The Bird Box 3 out of 5.

Did you see any new movies over the holiday break?