Across both sides of the pond, the world has got a little darker in the last couple of years – and Disneys know exactly the spoonful of sugar needed to sweeten things up in time for Christmas. Magical nanny Mary Poppins is about to return in – you guessed it – Mary Poppins Returns, a long-long-long awaited sequel to the enchanting Julie Andrews classic – and the first trailer has just arrived.
If you needed any convincing about this one, that trailer should do it – Emily Blunt looks perfect as Poppins herself (making her comeback in a most delightful way), while Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer look set to bring emotional weight as the grown-up Banks children. We even get a snippet of a new song, and some beautifully old-school animation too, all in keeping with the previous film. And then there’s Lin-Manuel Miranda as you’ve never heard him before, going all cock-er-ney as lamplighter Jack. In all, this looks emotional, slickly crafted, and entirely in homage to the original.
The sequel, 54 years since the original, comes from director Rob Marshall, with a cast bolstered by Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep – and Dick Van Dyke himself. It’ll arrive in UK cinemas as an early Christmas present on 21 December.
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