From the studio that brought you Mary Poppins, Disney has released a biopic about the author of the original novels, P.L Travers. Saving Mr. Banks is the story of her battles with Walt Disney, who wants the rights to the film adaptation, in a dramatic comedy that is both witty and sentimental.

Mrs. Pamela P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) has been hounded by Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and the Disney Corporation for 20 years for the film rights to her book and she has refused constantly. But by 1961, she has run out of money and agrees to go to Los Angeles for two weeks to work with the writing team to see if a deal can be struck. Her conditions are that the film cannot be animated, there are no songs and she has final script approval. Travers quickly clashes with creative team and Walt himself, a man who promised his daughters he would adapt the book.

As this is going on Travers reflects on her childhood in rural Australia, with her father (Colin Farrell),a loving man who feeds his daughter's imagination, but an alcoholic with probable depression and how these events influenced her writing.

Saving Mr. Banks is a film armed with excellent screenplay and a top notch cast. As well as the likes of Thompson, Hanks and Farrell, Saving Mr. Banks also features Bradley Whittaker, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Giamatti, B.J. Novak and Ruth Wilson. They all offer strong performances and have given us very well defined characters. Thompson dominates as Travers, a no nonsense woman with poor social skills and a British Bulldog stubbornness/determination and injects a deadpan humour with the witty lines she was given. Thompson also brings out the emotion, the serious aspects of the character, as the shadows of her past still linger over her.

One of the big themes of the film is the writing process, both the individual, personal aspect and the collaborative effect of a film adaptation. Saving Mr. Banks shows that many writers use they personal experience and life and become a part of the author. It is hard for writers to let go and particularly for Travers, as she has so much invested in Mary Poppins, so much of herself in it. Her books allowed her to have some wish fulfilment.

The screenwriters Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, director John Lee Hancock and editor Mark Livoisi worked brilliant to blending the story of Travers butting heads with Disney's creative team and her backstory about her childhood influencing her writing. There are plenty of transitions, allowing Hancock to have some fancy pans. One particular noticeable sequence is when the creative team performs one of the songs and Travers has a flashback. The film slowly reveals how Travers childhood and her father became a part of her writing, used in the books and become a part of the themes of her books and philosophies. This is particularly the case with her parents and their inabilities to cope, both Travers' father's alcoholism and mother's inability to cope with the stress, leading to her theme of responsibility. For a film that is about the writing process, Saving Mr. Banks never really shows about the writing process that Travers goes through, but explores the writing process of adapting a work, from one medium to another.

The final theme and a big part of the comedy comes from the clashes of cultures and personalities. Travers is a brash personality with formal, conservative approach and lives a modest lifestyle in London and a rustic life in Australia. This in comparison to the overtly friendly American and their glamour and excess, from the fashion to the food, particularly sweet treats and the hard sell from Disney in Travers' hotel room.

Saving Mr. Banks has a excellent screenplay, solid direction and balances the comedy dramatic portions extremely well. The film makes sure there is plenty of sentiment, particularly with the score by Thomas Newman. It is a safe film, but still a pleasing experience. It is perfect if you are a fan of Mary Poppins and you will have the songs stuck in your head.

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I think the wrong way to view the new film, Saving Mr. Banks, is as the making of Disney's classic, Mary Poppins. Saving Mr. Banks is really about storytelling as both truth and escape, as well as a film about fathers.

The film tells the true story of how Mary Poppins author, P.L. Travers, came to Disney Studios for two weeks in 1961, as Walt Disney and his ace crew of creatives tried to convince the ill- tempered Travers to allow them the rights to make Mary Poppins.

I think it's safe to say that we all know how the film ultimately ends, but how we get there is such an emotional journey that it is worth embarking upon. Emma Thompson portrays P.L. Travers with enough emotion buried within the subtext of her words that we care about this woman who is not all that immediately likable on the page, and in lesser hands the role would have been just that. Meanwhile, Tom Hanks plays the part of Walt Disney himself, with a twinkle in his eye, and yet he also manages to bring his trademark everyman quality to old Walt himself and make Walt not seem as if he's some myth, but rather a real man. However, the big mistake that many seem to be making with this film is that it's a movie about Walt Disney, and while Disney is a very important character in the film, this is P.L. Travers' story.

Through flashbacks we witness Travers' childhood in Australia and her relationship with her alcoholic banker father, Travers Goff, who was the inspiration for Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins, and is portrayed in this film by Colin Farrell with a charming, yet tragic likability. We witness how much of Travers' childhood went on to inspire Mary Poppins, and it's through these flashbacks that Saving Mr. Banks finds its heart. Without us seeing what P.L. Travers went through, it's hard for us to understand why she is so against Disney transforming, what is essentially, her own past into a film. This allows us to relate to this hard to relate to woman, which is the brilliant stroke of director John Lee Hancock and screenwriters Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. As a matter of fact, if there is one word to describe Saving Mr. Banks for me, it is brilliant.

It is rare to see a film made by a major studio with this kind of thematic density, and that is why this is such a brilliant motion picture. There is an honesty to the way the film deals with the idea of fathers and that while they may not be infallible, they can still be saved. Then there are the thematic ideas of storytelling that ring so true to me as a storyteller myself. Whether we realize it or not, the stories we tell are reflections of ourselves and our own lives. Walt says it best late in the film when he points out that the true power of imagination and story is to lend hope, and I think that is why anyone deep down tells a story, and I think that idea sums up Disney's entire career.

There just aren't that many kind of films like Saving Mr. Banks in these cynical days, but if you allow yourself to feel, you will be swept away. This is a Disney movie, through and through. There are laughs and moments of soaring emotion throughout, and I wouldn't want anything different from a film made by Disney. Every time you hear, "Let's Go Fly a Kite," your spirit soars and as you watch the film, the song begins to take on a whole new meaning that makes it an even more life affirming song than you perhaps ever thought of it as before. It's not merely a great toe-tapper that closes a film, it's a song of hope.

I just can't say enough about Saving Mr. Banks, I loved it and I think everyone should see this film. The funny thing about all this is, is that without the film Mary Poppins, Saving Mr. Banks would not exist, and yet Saving Mr. Banks is a film that manages to improve upon what is already a near perfect classic and perhaps even best it. From now on, every single time you watch Mary Poppins, the many events and ideas of that film will take on a whole new meaning. In fact, I can't wait till the next time I see Mary Poppins again to see how it may affect me more strongly on an emotional level now knowing more of the story. Saving Mr. Banks is just a miraculous kind of movie that we need more of. It's classic Hollywood drama, so if you want my advice, bring a hankie and just enjoy yourself.

I give Saving Mr. Banks a 10 out of 10!

Before I go any further in my review, I must point out that the film is NOT a 100% accurate portrait of P.L. Travers or the work they needed to bring Mary Poppins to the screen. It is NOT historically accurate in several instances* but overall it is still a very, very good film. Had the film been a bit closer to the truth, I would have scored it higher, as the retired history teacher within me bristles with the notion of changing a few facts in order to tell a better story.

The film is about the rather difficult time the Disney people had in getting the film "Mary Poppins" made. This is because the author was VERY protective of her character and insisted on having full control over just about everything. In some instances this was good but often it seemed that P.L. Travers just wanted to 'win'--such her insistence that the color red not appear in the film! Unreasonable, abrasive and fussy--the film shows the process from start to finish as Walt and his team worked with a very difficult woman to get a classic film made. And, ultimately, it appeared as if the Disney folks just did what they wanted despite her many, many objections (though this is downplayed a bit in the film).

The movie is a wonderful character study and seeing Emma Thompson playing such a strange and emotionally damaged person was fascinating. As for Tom Hanks playing Walt, while his part might seem a lot easier to play (since he was by most accounts human unlike Travers),I appreciated how Disney did NOT make him 100% perfect and sanitized (like many of the books they've produced about the man). In this, he is a bit of a schemer and smokes---making him much more approachable to the average viewer.

In addition, while the film isn't 100% true, it's mostly true and really, really manipulates the viewer (in a positive way). The film, as a result, is quite draining and often sad. My recommendation is that you indeed watch it but have a few Kleenex on hand just in case.

*A few of the 'creative changes' done to the story that differed from reality would include Travers' trip to Disneyland with Walt (which never occurred),Walt's trip to England to persuade her to agree to terms (which never occurred) and Travers loving the film in the end (she STILL hated it and did cry when she saw it at the premier because she hated it so much!!). I know of a few other instances of creative changes but you kind of get the idea. However, overall, the spirit of the film is still pretty close to the true story.