Mary Poppins (film) Banks as a junior partner. With her work done, Mary Poppins flies away, with Bert bidding her farewell, telling her not to stay away too long. The first novel in the "Mary Poppins" series was the film's main basis. According to the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Disney's daughters fell in love with the "Mary Poppins" books and made him promise to make a film based on them. Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to "Mary Poppins" from P. L. Travers as early as 1938 but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a
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