There’s been a lot of Mary Poppins in my life recently.

A friend and cinema-buddy of mine is a huge…and I mean HUGE…fan of Disney movies. This meant that he would no doubt drag me to see the new Mary Poppins movie, Mary Poppins Returns.

Now I don’t mind Disney films. In fact, I quite enjoy them. There was only one problem with me going to see the new Mary Poppins film. Only one. And that is….I had never seen the original Mary Poppins movie (GASP!). Yes, it’s true.

I was a Mary Poppins virgin.

So when I informed my friend about this little-known tidbit, he immediately suggested we rent the original (1964) movie and watch it together. So we did.

And I absolutely loved it! Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke were both phenomenal and it was quite a magnificent movie for its time. The acting was excellent, the songs were catchy and it was a visually enjoyable movie. If you, by some chance, haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It is quite an impressive film.

So now that I had an original Mary Poppins under my belt, I was ready to witness her return on the big screen. So we went to see the new movie starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins and while it was good, it wasn’t quite the same. That initial magic just wasn’t quite there. I thought that Blunt was a lot more serious, more no-nonsense and a lot sterner than Julie Andrews’s vision of Poppins. She felt a tad distant and unapproachable to me – almost cold, actually.

Now don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy the movie and would give it a solid B. I found it interesting how the plot paralleled the first film. That being said, I enjoyed the storyline and the cinematography. The songs were okay though they weren’t as catchy and memorable as those in the first film. After we had rented the first film, I had those damn songs stuck in my head for days (especially “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”).

So do I think the movie is worth seeing? Yes, as long as you don’t expect it to be as good as the first one. But of course, that is my own opinion. Perhaps I was biased given that I saw the first film only a week before this one and it was still fresh in my mind.

But regardless, Mary Poppins Returns is a solid, entertaining film that I’m glad I saw.

Have you seen it? What did you think?