Many of us are familiar with Walt Disney’s beloved nanny: Mary Poppins. She goes up banisters backwards, has magic cough syrup, and is practically perfect in every way, but if you ask about her creator, P. L. Travers, most will be unknowing.

Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson star in the new movie “Saving Mr. Banks” which outlines the adaptation of Travers’s book, “Mary Poppins”, into a major motion picture.

Hanks and Thompson deliver stunning performances in the film. Hanks exudes charisma as well as a firm, steadfast nature that really captures the essence of his character, Walt Disney. Thompson’s character is headstrong, pessimistic, and snobbish, yet you can’t help but love her and feel sympathetic for her. Her facial expressions captivate the audience and convey the mood of the situation with great emotion.

The film flows seamlessly from flashbacks of Travers’s childhood to the making of the film. When Travers alludes to her past, the corresponding flashback is not spoon fed to the audience immediately after, but left to stir in our minds of a while before the meaning is revealed.

One problem with this otherwise amazing film is that Travers seems softened at the end of the movie and, although it is left somewhat open ended, it would seem that she grew to like the film and was a changed person et cetera et cetera, but in reality, Travers went to her grave abhoring Walt Disney’s movie. This makes you wonder that if the movie on the “disneyfication”, so to speak, of Mary Poppins has in fact been slightly “disneyfied” itself. The film presents a sentimental, tender tale about Travers’s relationship with Disney that isn’t quite accurate.

Even though the movie paints a slightly altered version of the truth, the movie is heartwarming and enjoyable to watch and definitely worth seeing.