SAVING MR. BANKS - BLU-RAY REVIEW

SAVING MR. BANKS - HOME RELEASE (BLU-RAY)

Release Date: Out Now (Monday 24 March 2014)

Director: John Lee Hancock

Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti,

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

THE FILM:

Despite some initial audience confusion as to precisely what it was actually about, Saving Mr. Banks comes together with extraordinary clarity and efficiency, shedding off any ambiguity or identity crisis from the off, managing to juggle various different elements and timeframes into a thoroughly charming, consistently entertaining and brilliantly judged piece of filmmaking which has all the charm, whimsy and heart of anything Disney put his name to. Fundamentally it presents a dramatisation of the early pre-production work that went into the making of the Mary Poppins movie back in the early 1960’s, which saw the cantankerous and principled author of the original books, P. L. Travers (a resplendent Emma Thompson) come to loggerheads with a determined Walt Disney (Tom Hanks, who suggests rather than imitates the famous studio head) who saw the opportunity to alter her works through a more fantastical and family-friendly filter that she expressly loathed. 

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW - SAVING MR. BANKS

SAVING MR. BANKS
Sponsored by ST. ERMIN'S HOTEL, LONDON

Release Date: 17 January 2014 (UK)

Director: John Lee Hancock

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell

Screening Reviewed: London Film Festival Closing Night Gala/World Premiere Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

There seemed to be, and perhaps even still remains, a modicum of confusion surrounding exactly what the purpose and plot of Saving Mr. Banks actually is, being a live action feature whose trailers and marketing offer clear links to the studios perennial family favourite Mary Poppins as well as what appeared to be Tom Hanks playing the big man himself (Disney, not god - though Emma Thompson’s character does get a cracking dig along those lines). Is this a drama doc retelling of the making of the musical fantasy we all know and love? Is it a biopic concerning Poppins’ original scribe P. L. Travers, or one of Walt himself? And what exactly does Colin Farrell riding horseback in the Australian outback have to do with it all?

BRAVE: MOVIE REVIEW

BRAVE

Release Date: 17th August (UK)*

Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane (Voices)

Screening Reviewed: US Theatrical Release

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

For a Studio so proudly determined in developing consistently original and unique cinematic outings over the course of it’s highly successful existence, Brave seems to represent the first time originality and purely self-contained storytelling have fallen by the wayside for animation giants Pixar. Whilst this may not deliberately have been the case, it is difficult to ignore the fact that their latest feature length outing, which depicts the story of feisty Scottish princess Merida, is their most pedestrian, by-the-numbers offering since 2006’s Cars (ignoring that films risible 2011 sequel). 

At a time when Katniss Everdeen has given ‘girl power’ its latest shot in the arm (likewise with bow in hand) and other releases such as Snow White and the Huntsman have similarly empowered their princess leads, so much of what Brave seems set on telling and showing us with its central protagonist seems a little old hat and unremarkable to say the least. Little time is wasted on establishing Merida as an independent and headstrong yet fortunately quite likeable young woman, daughter to Billy Connolly’s bawdy King Fergus and Emma Thompson’s resolute yet overbearing Queen Elinor, and within the first few opening scenes the tension and dynamics between the royal family are very effectively laid out. Merida feels stifled by royal protocol and the way of life expected of her whilst Elinor is the atypical over-zealous parent who is firm out of necessity yet distanced and detached as a result.