Mary Poppins Returns Review: 5 Ups & 4 Downs

3. The Opening Is A Little Flat

Marshall's direction isn't aided by the fact that the opening of the movie is pretty flat all-around.

Before Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) flies into London about 25 minutes into the film, there's an oddly lifeless feel to both the Banks' family drama and the music, only drawing further attention to how out-of-depth Marshall seems as a director.

It's not that anything is outright bad, just that the magic, the energy and the exuberance feels oddly dialled down.

The original Mary Poppins took roughly the same amount of time to introduce its title character, yet still sustained sufficient interest. Here? There's the distinct feeling the opening passage should've been trimmed down a little to prevent audiences - especially children - from getting restless.

One suspects many will be skipping straight to Mary's arrival when they re-visit it on home video.