DVD review: "Mary Poppins 45th Anniversary Edition"

A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

“Mary Poppins 45th Anniversary Edition”

One of Disney’s most charming and beloved live-action musicals, “Mary Poppins” celebrates another anniversary with yet another two-disc special edition.

Set in 1910, the film introduces a magical nanny into the unhappy Banks family. The Banks children, Jane and Michael (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber), run wild because their banker father (David Tomlinson) and suffragette mother (Glynis Johns) are too busy with their own pursuits to pay their offspring any mind.

When the family’s nanny quits, Mr. Banks searches for a strict replacement, but the children wish for a kindly caregiver. A changing wind blows away all the candidates lined up outside the Banks home and brings Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) flying in with her magic umbrella and carpet bag.

At once fun-loving and no-nonsense, Mary and her jack-of-all-trades pal Bert (Dick Van Dyke) take the children on enchanted adventures, introduce them to colorful characters and gently teach them to be caring.