Mary Poppins was fun nostalgia, and Emily Blunt was perfect in the role. Jane Banks was great too. I think that the opening credits were a little long, though, stopping the momentum and likely making children restless waiting for the magic to begin. Once the story started proper, we finally picked up the pace. Michael Banks's sad "Conversation" with his late wife was touching, and I loved the bathtub underwater fantasy. The writers tried to set up a romance between Jane Banks and Jack the lamplighter, but didn't push it too hard. Incidentally, I didn't think there were that many gaslit streetlamps left in 1930s London, but I read that there are still some left today, as part of a Heritage Foundation, so I guess there were more back then.
It was so good to see some side characters back, like Admiral Boom and Binnacle. (But if the sequel is set 25 years after the original, you'd think that those guys would have aged more or died in that time. I can handwave it away, for the sake of Admiral Boom's pleasure when Big Ben finally matched his time.) I do think that the movie went overlong on some songs like "Trip a Little Light Fantastic" and also the Big Ben sequence, when Mary Poppins could have flown the whole time. Great to see cameos from Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke at the end. Even the original Jane Banks actress appeared briefly as the woman who asked for directions on Cherry Tree Lane. I wasn't quite sure it was her until she said "Thanks, most sincerely" like in the kids' letter advertising for a nanny. I loved the balloons at the end.
On TV, the Timeless finale was great. I loved that Rufus came back after the first half hour. I'm glad the writers wasted no time about the love triangle with Jessica, even writing out her pregnancy. No time for those soap opera hijinks anymore when you need to wrap the show in two hours. (God I wish Mitch Hurwitz would have learned that lesson and killed the stupid Rebel Alley storyline in season 5.) Losing Flynn was hard, though, and the North Korea episode was somewhat aimless until we got back to Flynn to make the show come full circle to the pilot. Even though they hinted at a new time machine in the final scene, the writers still wrote a satisfying end, and that's all I'm asking for. No real cliffhanger to frustrate fans endlessly. Just hope, which everybody needs lately.
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