Saving Mr. Banks

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

I'm having a hard time hearing Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. In my mind, I'm hearing Tom Hanks speak with a somewhat Southern accent. At least based on that trailer, he does not sound like Walt Disney in the many different things I've seen and heard Walt Disney in. Now, in all fairness to Tom Hanks, there may be other aspects of his full performance that capture Walt Disney very well which cannot be shown in a 3 minute trailer. I'm not going to base my response to this film on whether or not Tom Hanks sounds like Walt Disney.

I plan on seeing the movie and look forward to seeing it.

[Donald Duck]

Yeah, he doesn't really sound like Walt. The look is quite similar though. I'm sure when I watch the movie, I'll forget it's Walt. I feel like Tom Hanks is really the only actor that could do him justice.

[icyheart16]

Tom Hanks does have the look for the character... So I do feel they did a fine job there!!! And he has a knack of pouring himself into a character... So I don't believe I'll have any problems getting the Walt vibe from him!

[Spiritgal304]

One of those MUST SEE movies for me. I freaked out the first time I saw the trailer. <3 Though I have to say it was just a little hard for me to get use to seeing Tom Hanks as Walt. Then again when you're use to seeing Walt himself it's only natural to find someone else playing him weird.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

Many, many people grew up watching Walt Disney on television every week via The Wonderful World of Disney, The Wonderful World of Color, or the Disneyland TV shows that aired in the 1950s and 60s. When you factor in that a lot of Disney fans have heard him speak on those old TV shows and/or the bonus features on DVDs from his era, a good number of the potential audience for this film know what Walt Disney looked and sounded like. How does Tom Hanks fare in capturing a person that many in the target audience are already familiar with how he looks and sounds?

There are so many movies coming out that I want to see that I may have to pass on this one from a big screen perspective. It's the kind of film that probably will not lose much, if anything, when it comes to my TV set. Barring horrendous reviews, I will see it. It may just take longer.

[Little_Cassie]

This hasn't been touched in a while, so I thought i's ask if anyone has been reading the early reviews? They are all actually quite positive and this film currently holds a 90% on rotten tomatoes (I'm sure it will drop though as we get closer to the release date).

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

There has been a change in my plans. Best Buy stores in the U.S. are giving away $10 movie money to see Saving Mr. Banks with the purchase of Mary Poppins on blu-ray. Since this movie just got a whole lot cheaper for me to see, I plan on catching it in theaters.

[Shenzi]

I've been seeing the trailers but had not understood what it was at first. The line "Mary Poppins was a real person?" made me believe that the film would portray exactly that, an account of a real Mary Poppins. Before that I believe there was slight speculation in my mind that it was a biography of Disney himself.

Sounds like something my best friend would see so perhaps we will when she is home from grad school for the holidays.
I very much enjoy both Tom Hanks who is portraying Disney and Emma Thompson who is portraying the stubborn author (and has slight history with Disney productions as Captain Amelia in 'Treasure Planet', one of my favorite female Disney characters).

Briar Rose: I'm speculating it must have been Hanks' look the casting director liked about him which I'd say is slightly more important than his voice since this is a live action role. It's not possible for anyone to perfectly mimic another anyway. It pleases me however to see you being open enough not to base your entire opinion on a trailer. Trust me trailers rarely do their films justice. I used pass such judgement all the time and ended up very much enjoying most of the films I did so on after being forced to see them, in fact some have come to be among my favorites. So now I have learned and never judge trailers anymore.

[drpepper]

It looks somewhat interesting, but I don't know if I want to see it in the theaters.

[Silver]

It's confirmed. Emma Thompson has recieved a Golden Globe nomination for Bets Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Tom Hanks has recieved a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Way to go!

[Skeleton Grin]

I saw this recently as I received a Screener for it.

It's a good film, but it took me a couple of viewings to get to that stage. It's a difficult film to watch if you know the story already as Uncle Walt is very much the villain of the story - but of course Disney would never portray him as such. So the lighthearted moments and lighthearted spins are a little hard to handle when you know P.L. Travers openly wept throughout the Premiere screening as she was so upset with finished product (she cries for very different reasons in the film).

On second viewing, I enjoyed it a lot more, perhaps because I was taking it a little less seriously. To see this kind of film, and to see Disney recognised as an iconic Historical figure is very reassuring - though I really don't think Tom Hanks deserves the Supporting Actor nod - having watched EVERY film nominated for the Awards season I can assure you, there are many more deserving actors. Though it isn't Hanks' fault - I love Tom Hanks and am actually rooting for him to win Best Actor for Captain Phillips - it's the writing that let's him down. Obviously as it's by the company which Walt founded, it was never going to tarnish his reputation, but his character is too sterile, too on the level without any shade of colour (in my opinion). Emma Thompson however, is simply wonderful and creates a brilliantly realised character (maybe a little overly Stereoptypical of us Brits, but nonetheless, a lady of her time).

All in all, as Disney fans, I implore you to see the film to make up your own minds. If nothing else, it's fantastic to see the Industry taking something like this seriously in its subject matter.

Who knows, could we see a Saving Uncle Remus in the future? (Not likely but I can hope!).

[Silver]

My mistake. Tom Hanks was not nominated for Best Supporting actor for the Golden Globe awards. I was looking at the wrong list.