History YMMV / SavingMrBanks

* CriticProof: Many critics, most notably author Creator/HarlanEllison, savaged the picture for its HistoricalHeroUpgrade of Walt Disney, as well as its treatment of P.L. Travers as an aloof and superior old biddy (Ellison, who had met Travers while she was still alive, was furious that "they took a warm, conscientious, empathic woman and turned her into an Ice Queen"). Many other critics savaged it for its HistoricalHeroUpgrade of Travers, particularly in how it ignored the entire existence of her stepson whom she had a troubled relationship with, or her lesbian lover. Despite all this, the movie was well received by audiences.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/EmmaThompson and Creator/TomHanks are both very convincing as P.L. Travers and Walt Disney, but B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman seem sorely miscast as the Sherman Brothers, since they do not look or sound anything like them.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: While the songs preformed in the movie are faithful to the original movie, a couple stand out:

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: While the songs preformed in the movie are faithful to the original movie, it's The Sherman Brothers performing "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" for Mrs. Travers that takes the cake. What makes this awesome is that, at the same time, there was a flashback of her father making a speech about the bank. As a result, the two scenes bleed into each other, with the Shermans and Goff finishing each other's sentences and the latter even getting involved in the singing.

* NarmCharm: Walt Disney's speech about having to deliver coal in the snow as a child. It can come across as the most pretentious {{Oscar Bait}}y scene imaginable, but Tom Hanks makes it work.

%% * UnfortunateImplications: [[http://www.avclub.com/review/disney-celebrates-selling-outand-its-own-victories-200630 The AV Club criticized the movie]] for portraying Travers as having held out on selling the story rights for so long because of "daddy issues".

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Travers' mother's attempted suicide by calmly walking into a river and trying to drown herself.]] [HarmfulToMinors Which the young daughter had to watch.]] What makes this even worst is that [[spoiler:this really happened, except Travers did not watch but knew her mother was suicidal.]]

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Travers' mother's attempted suicide by calmly walking into a river and trying to drown herself.]] [[AdultFear Which the young daughter had to watch.]] What makes this even worst is that [[spoiler:this really happened, except Travers did not watch but knew her mother was suicidal.]]

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Meryl Streep turned down the role of P. L. Travers. She would later star in ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'' as the character Topsy.
** Emma Thompson playing the lead role instead of Meryl Streep is reminiscent of ''Film/TheRemainsOfTheDay'' - which is one of only four films for which Meryl has been turned down.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Travers' mother's attempted suicide by calmly walking into a river and trying to drown herself.]] [[AdultFear Which the young daughter had to watch.]]

* FridgeBrilliance: Walt being able to join Richard Sherman in singing "A Man Has Dreams" despite it being the first time he heard it makes sense: considering the many musical films that came before ''Mary Poppins'', Walt obviously picked up on reading sheet music.

* MemeticMutation: "Saving Mr. Banks is an [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU movie]]."[[labelnote:Explanation]][[WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera Tony Goldmark]], in his ''One Movie Later'' episode on ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'', postulates the idea that since ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' reveals that the movie ''Mary Poppins'' exists in the MCU, ''Saving Mr. Banks'' is an MCU movie.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "Saving Mr. Banks is an [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU movie]]."[[labelnote:Explanation]][[WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera Tony Goldmark]], in his ''One Movie Later'' episode on ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'', postulates the idea that since ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' reveals that the movie ''Mary Poppins'' exists in the MCU, ''Saving Mr. Banks'' an MCU movie.[[/labelnote]]

* BrokenBase: The ending depicting [[spoiler: Travers weeping at the premiere. Some people dislike the idea that it implies Travers was moved by the film, as she reportedly hated it and wept because her book had been transformed into something unrecognisable. Others point to some merit to the idea of it happening - as Travers did say in an interview some ten years later that it was a good film in its own right, but far too different from her books (one person who watched it with her years later said there were some parts of it where she became very excited). This same camp points to Travers looking mortified at the "Jolly Holiday" sequence, which does indicate she didn't think the movie was wholly good.]] It all depends on how willing you are to stretch ArtisicLicenseHistory by ten years to allow the scene to work.

** Emma Thompson playing the lead role instead of Meryl Streep is reminiscent of ''Film/RemainsOfTheDay'' - which is one of only four films for which Meryl has been turned down.
%% * JerkassWoobie: Mrs. Travers is portrayed as one.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Travers' mother's attempted suicide by calmly walking into a river and trying to drown herself.]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: With Disney's epiphany that Mary Poppins was trying to save Mr. Banks rather than the children, it makes her interactions with Michael and Jane in ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'' all the more sweeter, as they're laced with the implications that she's helping ''them'' more than she's helping their children.

--> '''Anabel Banks (their daughter):''' Us?

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: While the songs preformed in the movie are faithful to the original movie, it's The Sherman Brothers preforming Fidelity Fiduciary Bank for Mrs. Travers that takes the cake. What makes this awesome is that, at the same time, there was a flashback of her father making a speech about the bank. As a result, the two scenes bleed into each other, with the Shermans and Goff finishing each other's sentences and the latter even getting involved in the singing.

** Meryl Streep turned down the role of PL Travers. She would later star in ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'' as the character Topsy.
** Emma Thompson playing the lead role instead of Meryl Streep is reminiscent of ''Film/RemainsOfTheDay'' - which is one of only four films Meryl has been turned down for.

* SpoiledByTheFormat: TheReveal that "Travers" is not in fact P.L. Travers's actual real name, but instead the first name of her father, is spoiled by the closed captioning referring to her father by name in every line of dialog he utters.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Some of Creator/JulieAndrews' fans felt a little upset that she had no lines in the movie about the making of her first Hollywood film, aside from the ''Mary Poppins'' clips shown during the premiere scene. At the very least, the omission of Mrs. Travers' initial reaction to the casting of Andrews feels like a missed opportunity for a Heartwarming Moment, since she had (slightly) nicer things to say about her than she did Creator/DickVanDyke.[[note]]Mrs. Travers told Creator/JulieAndrews that [[AdaptationalAttractiveness she looked too pretty compared to the books' depiction of Mary Poppins]], but did have "the right nose".[[/note]]

* JerkassWoobie: Mrs. Travers is portrayed as one.

* {{Narm}}:
** Travers Goff's dead serious shouting of "SHE'S LAYING!" was this for some.
** Colin Farrell’s performance as a whole can be described as this. He’s usually singled out as the weakest actor to even those who loved the movie.
** ''Again'' related to Travers Goff - the scene where he is drunk and saying many of the ''exact'' lines from the Bank Song, which constantly cuts back to the Shermans reciting said song. What are the odds that he would have said those things and that the Shermans would later end up coming up with them as lines for a song, just in time to trigger Pamela?

* UnfortunateImplications: [[http://www.avclub.com/review/disney-celebrates-selling-outand-its-own-victories-200630 The AV Club criticized the movie]] for portraying Travers as having held out on selling the story rights for so long because of "daddy issues".
* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/TomHanks is a great actor. He seems to be a good fit for Creator/WaltDisney. But, then Hanks starts saying his lines, and his voice is seriously at odds with the real Disney who had a much deeper voice than that. Actually acknowledged in interviews [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbA_5KRiLAk&feature=youtube_gdata by the man himself]]. Tom is not trying to do an imitation of Walt, recognizing that such an attempt would be DOA, rather capturing the ''essence'' of who he he was, how he interacted with his friends and co workers, portraying the wholly realistic human who was Walt Disney instead of trying to copy it.
** Colin Farrell is often held as one of the weakest members of the cast. It doesn't help that he usually does comedies or blockbusters, and this is a serious bio film.