Mary Poppins (character) Mary Poppins (character) Mary Poppins is a fictional character and the eponymous protagonist of P. L. Travers's "Mary Poppins" books and all of their adaptations. A magical English nanny, she blows in on the East Wind and arrives at the Banks home at Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London, where she is given charge of the Banks children and teaches them valuable lessons with a magical touch. Travers gives Poppins the accent and vocabulary of a real London nanny: cockney base notes overlaid with a strangled gentility. Julie Andrews, who played the character in the 1964 film adaptation, won the
Mary Poppins Returns era of superhero franchises where sequels to successful movies turn up almost instantly, Mary Poppins’s return shows that sometimes it pays to wait. Half a century on, her allure hasn’t faded at all." Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" deemed the film as a "rapturous piece of nostalgia", lauded Blunt's take on Mary Poppins and described her casting as "practically perfect", while lending his praise on Marshall's direction as well the production design, musical score, songs, and the supporting performances (particularly Miranda, Whishaw, Firth, and Streep). He also drew comparisons of the film's quality and tone to the 1960s musicals as well