December cannot come quick enough.
The long-awaited trailer for 'Mary Poppins Returns' has arrived and fans are already loving the seamless blend of old and new, and all the familiar moments from the original 1964 movie. It has more magic than ever before and sees Emily Blunt truly embracing an iconic role.
Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins
Directed by Rob Marshall ('Chicago', 'Into the Woods'), 'Mary Poppins Returns' is one of the most anticipated sequels of the year, coming fifty-four years after the original Disney film. The screenplay has been written by David Magee ('Life of Pi') based on the book series by P.L. Travers, incorporating many elements that didn't feature in the first movie.
In the trailer, we're welcomed immediately by the sight of Cherry Tree Lane, easily distinguishable by the ship-roof of the house of Admiral Boom (David Warner), and then Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) are sorting through their attic as grown-ups in the same house where they met Mary Poppins as children.
Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw as Jane and Michael Banks
'I honestly can't remember why we kept most of this stuff to begin with', says Michael, clutching a snow globe of St. Paul's Cathedral and packing it in a box to be disposed of along with a patched up green kite. Georgie Banks (Joel Dawson), Michael's young son, finds the kite and goes to fly it with his friend Jack the lamplighter (Lin-Manuel Miranda), only for it to bring Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt), the magical nanny, back to London when it flies off into the wind.
She's back to look after a new generation of Banks children, which is just as well because Jane and Michael have enough to contend with. Since the death of Michael's wife, the family have fallen on hard times and face the very real possibility of losing their beloved childhood home.
Meanwhile, Mary Poppins is showing young Georgie, John (Nathanael Saleh) and Anabel Banks (Pixie Davies) the magic of childhood by taking them on an animated adventure much like the one she had with Jane, Michael and Bert. Only this time Michael seems to have forgotten what it meant to him as a child.
Joel Dawson, Nathanael Saleh and Pixie Davies as Georgie, John and Anabel Banks
Speaking of Bert, Dick Van Dyke is the only one from the original movie to return to the cast, this time as Mr. Dawes, Jr., the retired chairman of the bank. In the original, he also played Mr. Dawes Senior (credited as the anagram Navckid Keyd), and the two characters look pretty much identical.
Other cast members include Colin Firth as William Weatherall Wilkins from Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, Meryl Streep as Mary's cousin Topsy, Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady and Julie Walters as the long-time housemaid Ellen.
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Bert's apprentice Jack
Emily Blunt definitely gives Julie Andrews a run for her money both in voice and mannerism, and we even get a snippet of one of her songs from the movie which includes the line: 'Nothing's gone forever, only out of place.' But that's pretty much the only taster we get of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's brand new score.
More: When we got our first look at Mary Poppins
All we know is that it's wonderful. It's magical. It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
'Mary Poppins Returns' will be released on December 19th 2018.
Mary Poppins Returns arrives this December
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