Last year’s Mary Poppins Returns was, as far as I’m concerned, the best Disney remake to ever come out of the gum-chewing House of Mouse. Though the magic of the music hardly crossed over in the way it had in the 1964 classic, the rhythmic beat and the old-school feel, along with fantastically mirthful performances from Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, made for one of the most heartwarming and nostalgic films of 2018.
With that said, there were and are plenty who disagree. Making a modest $350 million globally – that is, in comparison to the truckloads of cash The Lion King brought in – Returns also released to mediocre critical and audience praise, despite a lovely cameo appearance from Dick Van Dyke.
With that said, one voice was almost completely quiet upon the sequel’s release: it was that of Julie Andrews, the original Mary Poppins herself. Andrews, who won an Academy Award for her take on the character 54 years ago, had publicly championed Emily Blunt’s casting, but never really gave her impressions once the film hit theaters.
Well, almost a year later, her silence is finally broken.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the Mary Poppins and Sound of Music icon announced her beckoning approval of Rob Marshall’s film, while also saying the original has been out long enough to warrant this kind of sequel/remake.
Here’s how she put it:
“I loved it. Yeah. Look, the first film was made over 50 years ago, 60 years ago. I think it’s about time a second one was allowed. But also, this had nothing to do with the first one. It wasn’t as if they were repeating the first story. They had umpteen P. L. Travers books of Mary Poppins in the vault. So they had to make a new one.”
And to make her appraisal even more obvious, when Whoopi Goldberg, who was also a guest on the show, mentioned that there will probably be another Mary Poppins in 30 years, Andrews replied, “I hope.”
So, there you have it. If Julie Andrews is on board for more Mary Poppins, then I am too!
