At the center of Saving Mr. Banks, the fascinating back-story of how Disney’s beloved classic Mary Poppins made its way to the big screen, is the relationship between the book’s prickly author P.L. Travers and Walt Disney himself -- a relationship that could be described as bluntly disagreeable at best and downright acrimonious at worst.

It’s widely known the author was less than happy with the dreadful thought of having her book adapted to a movie, and the notion of signing the rights over to Disney’s team – which wanted to turn it into a musical with animation – seemed even less appealing.  “I won’t have her (the Mary Poppins character) turned into one of your silly cartoons,” snaps Travers. But low book sales and declining income force the author to reluctantly hear Disney’s pitch.

We discover the root of Travers’ (Emma Thompson) trepidation via a series of flashbacks that intersplice the main storyline, which takes place during a two-week period, mostly in the rehearsal room on the Disney campus.

Travers’ imaginative story of Mary Poppins grows out of her childhood in Australia and the troubled relationship with her father (Colin Farrell) who was an alcoholic and struggled to keep his job as a banker. The pain of watching her father die a slow death spawned the Mr. Banks character of the Poppins story and allowed the author to keep his memory alive forever.

Watching Disney’s team eventually chip away at Travers’ tough facade to win her trust provides just one of the film’s many joys as Disney (Tom Hanks), Mary Poppins screenwriter Don Digradi (Bradley Whitford), and song-writing brothers Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak) bring the children’s movie to life before our eyes while providing delightful behind-the-scenes insight into many of the iconic film’s most memorable moments.

Via honey-hued segments of Travers’ formative years, we learn why the color red is absent from Mary Poppins, and how sugar can help calm the nerves of an apprehensive child. As for the Poppins character, the inspiration comes from Travers’ great-aunt Ellie (Rachel Griffiths) who, clad in classic schoolmarm dress and clutching the iconic bird-headed umbrella, swoops in to nurse Travers’ ailing father.

These revealing scenes are certain to give Mary Poppins fans a greater appreciation of the film and even those unfamiliar with the material will get a playful kick out of our fly-on-the-wall view of a Disney film in the making. 

Director Hancock’s handling of the bitter back-and-forth between Disney and Travers is always entertaining while also lending a face-palming insight into the author’s notorious outlandish and uncompromising demands. Travers reportedly insisted that the entire two-week Poppins scripting process be recorded on audio tape, and an after-the-credits sequence of some of the actual recording leaves us wondering how any progress was made getting the books adapted with the author involved in nearly every step of the process. Disney was a great pitch man, so we get a revealing sense of that trait as he becomes something of a therapist to Travers, laboriously uncovering the reasons behind her reluctance to turn over the story.

Saving Mr. Banks ends up as a wonderful piece of art that touches all emotions while offering a penetrating view of the creative process as well as the value of teamwork. In this first film to depict Walt Disney, Hanks’ folksy charm is captivating and Thompson delivers an Oscar-worthy turn. Her curmudgeonly Travers drives nearly every frame of the film. Paul Giamatti appears – again -- at the top of his game in the role of the chauffeur hired to drive Travers around Hollywood – and one of the few to tap into her tender side.

We know how it all ends, of course, for Disney’s Mary Poppins eventually went on to widespread acclaim, with Julie Andrews winning a Best Actress Oscar. But curiously overplayed is a thawing of the author’s icy resistance which never really happened. So fervent and long-lasting was her hatred for the adaptation that she would never again agree to another Poppins/Disney collaboration. But in true Disney fashion, seeing Travers attend the film’s premier on the arm of Mickey Mouse is giving the story an ending any true Mouse House fan would expect.

Review also posted at www.franksreelreviews.com.

(Released by Walt Disney Motion Pictures Studios and rated “PG-13” for thematic elements including some unsettling images.)