The Dark Magic of <em>Mary Poppins Returns</em>

The 2013 film is the story of tragedy as much as it is the story of magic. Nominally the tale of the genesis of, the 1964 movie, the film is also a biopic by another means: an exploration of the childhood of P. L. Travers, the author of the book series that informed the iconic Disney film. , suggests, was rooted in sadness: Travers, born Helen Lyndon Goff, lost her beloved father, a man of imagination and youthful wonder, when he was 43 (due to, the film suggests, complications from alcoholism). Employed, like Mr. Banks, at a financial institution, the film’s Goff (Colin Farrell) was torn between the soft whimsies of childhood and the hard responsibilities of becoming an adult. So, in its way, is the movie: is the story of magic colliding with business. Set in the early 1960s, as P. L. Travers negotiates with Walt Disney about selling him the rights to her enchanted nanny, it is a