Why Mary Poppins (1964) Is My Favorite Movie.

In college everyone always asks: What do you want to do with your life? Luckily for me I knew what I wanted to do since I was 17. "Make movies" I'd respond. "Oh you want to direct then?" They say it like a statement, not a question. "No, actually I want to produce." Most people nod their heads being familiar with a producer at least in a general sense. After that dialogue, however, they ask the inevitable question that every film student gets asked nearly every single day (at least it seemed like it to me), "What's your favorite movie?". I used to respond uneasily, there's a certain pressure and expectation that if you have studied film it means that you have to have excellent taste and you have to see every single movie ever made. So there's a pressure to respond with either something brilliant or something no one's ever heard of nor seen before.

That pressure also comes across when people ask if you've seen a certain movie. I can't even tell you how many times someone has asked if I've seen a movie and if I haven't they are immediately taken aback and this usually comes out, "I can't believe you haven't seen that movie. It's so good. You HAVE to see it. Didn't you study film?" I feel a small twinge of guilt when I haven't seen it, perhaps I'm missing out on one of the greatest movies ever? One thing that I've realized is that not everyone likes the same movies so therefore everyone has movies they don't like or haven't seen yet, even well-cultured film students.

A few years ago I made a list of my top 20 favorite movies, choosing from movies that I owned. If I don't own it then I don't like it enough for it to be a favorite movie. Then I took that list and picked my 10 favorites, then my top 5 favorite films. I see picking a favorite movie as something that you love to watch multiple times. I'm not talking about what's the BEST movie, but what's my FAVORITE movie and there's a big difference. The best movie is superior in all categories of film making. If you think about the categories at the Oscars they all are talking about the "best" of a certain criteria. So I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about a favorite movie. It's something that you prefer above others. Most importantly, it doesn't have to be something that everyone else thinks is the greatest movie ever. I want to say that again.

Your favorite movie DOES NOT have to be something that everyone else loves.

I own this beautiful poster

So now when people ask me, "What's your favorite movie?" it's easy for me to respond. "Mary Poppins," I tell them. "Really? I don't think I've seen that movie since I was little" is usually what people say back to me and I tell them to re-watch it. I think at first it surprises many people because it doesn't seem like more than a kid's movie. I completely disagree. In my opinion, it's a practically perfect film. It's originally based on a children's book series by P.L. Travers and Walt Disney spent many years acquiring the rights to the books in order to make a film (See: Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Mary Poppins was made). Yeah, they made a movie about how my favorite movie was made.

Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers

So now the whole reason I'm posting this is to explain to you why I love this movie so much. Well, it's magical. The story is relatable at any age. The music is spectacular. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke are incredible together and their love for creating art through film is evident throughout the entire movie.

Aren't they great?

Step-In Time is one of the best numbers of any musical. Just watch it:

The scenery and set-design is beautiful artwork, the cast is well chosen and it's just easy to watch. There are great actors in the film but no one who out shines the two stars. I think that it's a beautiful movie in all aspects. You feel warm when you watch it and get engrossed in the film. It's special effects are great for it's time. While we are lucky enough to experience high class special effects in current films, this one celebrates the art of it and uses it to elevate the film during a time that advanced special effects were not very common. 

How beautiful are these colors though?

Julie Andrews, of course, is the reason why this movie is so wonderful. Her performance is perfect and absolutely legendary. My favorite story from Mary Poppins is that they wanted to take out the song, "Stay Awake", which Mary sings to the kids, and Julie Andrews wanted to keep it in the film so she called up P.L. Travers (the author of the books) and told her she wanted the song to stay in the movie. Travers called up Disney and told him to keep it in. And it stayed in the movie. Julie Andrews, you are truly one of the greats.

Julie Andrews flies as Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's not on Netflix Instant but rent it and re-watch if you haven't seen it in a while. It's a great film.

And for your enjoyment here is a photo of me at Disneyland with Mary Poppins and Bert:

Bert asked if I wanted to hold his cane. I said, "of course!"