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A magical nanny takes the two young children of a wealthy London banker on a journey into playful worlds and eccentric characters, eventually showing them and their cold-hearted father the power of love over money.

This lovely family musical seems to bear watching over and over again. Julie Andrews is absolutely right for the title role and Dick Van Dyke is also excellent as the chimney sweep. Although basically a children's story, the music and dance routines have an ageless appeal. The film also has a very attractive passage where animation is combined with live action, and I am not sure if it was the first film to use this, but it was certainly early days for it.

There is only one word that comes close to accurately describing the enchanting Mary Poppins, and that term was coined by the movie itself: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even at 2 hours and 20 minutes, Disney's pioneering mixture of live action and animation (based on the books by P.L. Travers) still holds kids spellbound. Julie Andrews won an Oscar as the world's most magically idealized nanny ("practically perfect in every way," and complete with lighter-than-air umbrella), and Dick Van Dyke is her clownishly charming beau, Bert the chimney sweep. The songs are also terrific, ranging from bright and cheery ("A Spoonful of Sugar") to dark and cheery (the Oscar-winning "Chim-Chim Cheree") to touchingly melancholy ("Feed the Birds"). Many consider Mary Poppins to be the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's career--and it was the only one of his features to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award until Beauty and the Beast in 1991. --Jim Emerson

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