Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A DVD review
This is a 5-star movie crammed into a 1-star DVD. If you're renting a movie, you only plan on seeing it once... when you buy a movie, you have bought the right to see it whenever you please for as long as you want. This DVD has FORCED COMMERCIALS! You can not skip them and you are forced to fast-forward through them. Instead of endearing you to the movies featured in the trailers, you eventually get so mad that the thought of those films makes your blood boil... especially if you already have purchased those films on DVD and you don't need to be coerced into buying them in the first place.There is no excuse for this. Disney should offer refunds and/or replacement discs to those who purchased them on good faith. In addition to the forced commercials, the tech specs are misleading and plain wrong. While the film is widescreen, it is NOT anamorphic as is claimed... this means that while it is in letterbox format, it is not in proper proportion and the images are slightly distorted. Just throwing a movie on a round disk does not a DVD make and this is proof. The movie is fantastic despite these shortcomings... but as the title of this review states - this is a DVD review, not the film. I'd advise waiting until a collector's edition comes out. A collector's edition is likely to contain more features such as interviews with the cast, out-takes and scenes from the Oscars for that year... and (one can only pray) no forced commercials.
Rating:  - It's a Jolly Holiday With Mary
Julie Andrews won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actress in this delighful musical adaptation of the popular British children's books. And deservedly so. From the moment she descends from the sky as Poppins and lands on the front steps of Jane and Michael Bank's home, there's absolutely no stopping her. Here, as in the many films she would make over the next five decades, Andrews graps hold of a part, takes it that extra mile and never once disappoints. As Poppins, she is magnificent. But there's more to the part than just singing about tea parties on the ceiling, popping in and out of chalk pavement pictures or spoonfuls of sugar. Sure, she's the nanny we'd all love to have. But in the story, her character arrives just in the knick of time to put a dysfunctional family back together in true Disney fashion. The songs are great. In particular, "Chim-Chim Cheree," "Spoonful of Sugar," "I Love to Laugh" and "Supercalifragilisticexpalidocious." The rest of the cast, Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice, Glynis Johns, David Tomlinson, Matthew Garber and Ed Wynn, also add to the fun. Hard to believe that it's been 37 years since this film was first released. Nontheless, it's just as entertaining as it was way back when. It's also fun to sit back and watch a whole new generation of kids and their parents discover the magic and wonder of this terrific Disney film. Rent it today. Or Buy it. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: - Mary Poppins Gold Collection DVD
I can't believe that I hated this film when I was a kid, you would think that I would have liked it more back then. But about 3 months ago, I bought this DVD and saw the film for the first time in around a decade. I cannot believe it's the same movie, in fact, I started to wonder if I was even paying attention to it back then as it was playing.The film is nothing less, and probably a lot more than a classic. Julie Andrews completely submerges herself into the character. She definitely deserved the Oscar that she got. The song's are strong, but a few stand out above the rest. Such as, "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "``Chim-Chim-Cheree". I hope a Special Edition DVD will be released in the future, becuase I am very interested in seeing more behind the scenes documentaries, detailing the Visual Effects that were created for the movie. The Gold Collection DVD, does offer a good documentary that gives a lot of insight, but there has to be a lot more, and I would like to see it. The "Hollywood Goes to a World Premiere" featurette, is a great extra. I do agree that this was Walt Disney's greatest LIVE ACTION film, but I do not think it's his greatest acheivement. That goes to "Snow White", which influenced motion picture history a lot more than "Mary Poppins" did (and I'm not trying to lessen this film, in anyway).
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