Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

The story of Walt Disney’s struggle to make the 1964 classic “Mary Poppins” has often been told during the past 50 years. Author P.L. Travers fought Disney on every word during production and loathed the movie (the latter is outright squashed). This cleaned-up squabble is the basis for “Saving Mr. Banks” which shows how Travers (real name Helen Goff, played by Emma Thompson) was won over by Disney’s (Tom Hanks) charm, and explores why the children’s book author was so harsh -- mainly her haunting Outback youth. This is a Disney film, though, and from the opening logos, it works to make the audience smile and cry, damn the facts. It succeed, mostly. But “Banks” is grossly off point. Walt himself woos Travers with his own uneasy childhood tale, but it’s for naught. Yes, Walt had it hard, many do, but Travers’ parents were non-functioning adults riddled by alcoholism and mental illness that reached the act of suicide. (Worst offense: Mistaking dad’s drunken fatherly doting and kindness for actual doting and kindness.) No talk from a nice old guy or spoonful of sugar can remedy that. Still, the happy tunes and sunny spirit are difficult to resist. Disney magic, that. B-

Brave (2012)

In Pixar’s “Brave,” red-haired and wild Merida is a Scottish lass who must make that terrible choice that seemingly every other Disney Princess has ever faced: Marrying for duty, not for love. She is no wallflower longing for Prince Charming, though, but a huntress who climbs tall mountains that lord over her Highlands home. When iron-willed mother (Emma Thompson) pushes our heroine to choose a suitor, she bolts. “Brave” is, wonderfully, the first Pixar film to focus on a female lead, but it’s also, sadly and oddly, the first of its films to bear a heavy, unmistakable thumbprint from new parent company Disney. From the princess angle to the heavy lessons, the DNA here is as old as “Snow White.” The plot fully kicks off when runaway Merida encounters a witch who promises to “change” her mother with a spell. What trouble magic brings I will not say, but its resolution is so simple and straight forward, I kept waiting for another shoe, any shoe, to drop. More Hesitant than “Brave.” In true Pixar fashion, the animation stuns, and the voice cast (Kelly Mcdonald plays Merida) is flawlessly chosen for talent, not name. B

Dead Again (1991)

“Dead Again” is a pounding homage to Hollywood whodunits of the 1940s/50s, topped with a sly self-aware icing. The film bounces between post-World War II and present day Los Angeles as it follows a gumshoe detective (Kenneth Branagh), a damsel in distress (Emma Thompson), a frantic European composer (Branagh again) and his new wife (Thompson, naturally).

The plot’s 37 dozen cliff-hanger shockers and the scissors-as-weapons obsession get sillier and sillier as “Dead Again” (come on, even the title’s a laugh riot) races and leaps toward a climax that is both wonderfully over the top and a nod to early Hitchcock. No matter. Director-star Branagh stages shocker scenes with perfection – they leave your jaw hanging even as you (most of the time) laugh out loud. Patrick Doyle’s score practically knocks the characters off screen, happily so.

There are nitpicks: Two characters age 50 years, yet appear more covered in moldy cream cheese than elderly. And even by “spoof” standards, Branagh’s American accent is scissors-in-the-eyeball painful. No matter: This is back when Branagh and Thompson were the It Couple of Hollywood, and I dare anyone not to go around barking, “Dese are fer you!” for days on end. A classic thriller, I watched this constantly on VHS while a high schooler. A