Saving Mr. Disney

Tom Hanks as Walt Disney

Emma Thompson seems to be getting all the attention for her performance as P. L. Travers, the persnickety author of Mary Poppins, in Saving Mr. Banks, about Walt Disney's decades-long attempt to adapt her book to the screen. Thompson has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance and will probably get an Oscar nod, and rightly so. Pretty much anything she does is Oscar-worthy. However, I was excited to see the movie mostly because of the idea of Tom Hanks portraying Walt Disney. The casting seemed so natural. Hanks is almost the same age Disney was in 1961 and looks a little like the filmmaker. But it's more than that. Both men have a level of intelligence and whimsy that transcends their immense popularity.

Hanks has received no nominations for his performance as Walt Disney and probably won't. He gave a bravura performance as the title character in Captain Phillips, and that movie will generate most of the accolades he will receive for 2013. However, I love watching Tom Hanks bring Walt Disney to life. If you're a fan of Disney movies and Disney theme parks, like me, Walt is bigger than life. Seeing him as a real man, troubled by a difficult woman who unlike everyone else around him won't give in to his overwhelming desire to have his way, provides a clearer image of the master storyteller.

I'm also glad to see the very brief scene where Travers (excuse me, Mrs. Travers) catches him putting out a cigarette. Hanks fought to keep the scene in the picture. The Disney company has a general ban on showing smoking in its pictures, so instead we see Walt stubbing out an apparently unlit cigarette. It made me wince when I saw it, knowing that Disney died from complications associated with lung cancer. Walt himself avoided letting the public, especially children, see him smoking so it seems appropriate that the scene would only briefly allude to it, but it adds another level of verisimilitude to the portrayal. 

Hanks' Disney feels authentic to me. Apparently, others agree. During a panel discussion about the movie at a Disney fan club meeting, former imagineers that worked with Walt said that the movie touched them with its portrayal of their boss. I think it will touch you, too. (3 fries)