Disney wisely decides to update rather than to remake its original adaptation of P.L. Travers’ stories and have Mary Poppins return to the save another generation of Banks’ children from a joyless existence. Because the original Mary Poppins is a beloved classic, a remake would have made the original property not only less valuable but also would have alienated parts of the audience which will find much enjoyment in the franchise’s latest installment. The new film, Mary Poppins Returns, functions as a sequel, and both films can be enjoyed together. Director Rob Marshall creates early twentieth century London as a bleak world of economic despair and, yet, a place where magic is needed and can happen, especially for the Banks family.

The film opens on Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame), a lamplighter, and his musical number sets the mood even before the film’s title and functions as a true overture to the film’s delightful musical experience. After the title, the Banks family, including housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters), deals with a plumbing crisis while bank officials nail a repossession aka foreclosure notice to the door. Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortime), the children from the 1964 film, have grown up and now face real adult problems, especially Michael. A widower with three small children, Michael has given up his art and taken a part-time position at the bank where his father worked. Jane, a labor organizer, fights for the rights of working poor and doesn’t know Michael took out a loan to cover expenses while his wife was dying. The only way to prevent losing their family home in five days is finding the stock certificate that their father left them, and Jane and Michael desperately ransack the house searching. The new generation of Banks children, especially twins Anabel (Pixie Davies) and John (Nathanael Saleh), have already taken on numerous adult responsibilities, and they and younger brother Georgie (Joel Dawson) head to the store for food without enough money. Although their father tries to protect them from the current crisis, only luck can save them now. Into this chaos of strife and loss, a stiff wind suddenly blows, and the magical Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) appears on the tail of a kite. Because Marshall chooses the musical style where the songs tell integral parts of the story rather than function outside the storyline. The songs and musical number, even the flights of fancy created with gorgeous, fantastical CGI computer effects, flow naturally from the characters’ emotions and the plot twists.

From the moment Mary Poppins Returns opens with Lin-Manuel Miranda singing the overture to the lush musical score, the film sets the stage for the magic of the improbable becoming possible. Using the classic style of the Hollywood musical, especially of the era when the original 1964 adaptation was made and when motion picture industry was reinventing the musical for an evolving audience, Mary Poppins Returns evokes nostalgia by matching the style of its predecessor. The cast primarily includes very talented performers with plenty of musical and terpsichore talent although Blunt, who dances very well, is likely the least strong of the singers in the film; however, careful handling of her songs masks what she lacks, and Blunt holds her own in the long run and embodies the beloved nanny from the original film.

   Marshall also updates many elements to create a film that encompasses another of the standard Hollywood practices that have too long been left on the shelf: Films reflect the world as including characters of all ages and genders and, now, diversities, so every audience member had some characters with whom to identify. Marshall appeals to a variety of moviegoers with surprise cameos by aging actors, starring roles by popular current stars of stage and screen, children as protagonists, lamplighters with extreme bike riding skills, troubled adults struggling in bad economic times, and mercenary bankers foreclosing on homes for their own gain. By creating a diverse and potentially beautiful world for Mary Poppins Returns, Marshall pleases a wider audience and delivers a true family film. Mary Poppins Returns, a Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release, opened Wednesday, December 19, and runs a fast 130 minutes. The “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” musically magical Mary Poppins Returns is rated a family-friendly PG for some mild thematic elements and brief action.