Mary Poppins is Disney's crowning achievements! It is amazing a family film that will be forever remembered. The film is truly practically perfect in every way, from the story, to the sets, to the catchy music, and to the great acting (Andrews giving the best performance). So to put it shortly, Mary Poppins is the perfect family film, were you can't help but fall in love with!
I really liked this movie a lot. Some oldies TV shows and movies really feel like the puppet show I really miss because I really want to see a lot of shows or movies pretty similar to that puppet show by watching this movie. When I wanted to watch this movie again right after I saw the whole thing, my friend said "Already?" and also when I wanted to record myself do Step in Time dancing, my friend said "You don't need to do that," and this made me feel pretty iffy when my friend didn't let me do stuff like that. This movie is really fun, and not important.
I loved this movie as a child and couldn't wait to share it with my girls. Ages 3 & 5, they both loved this movie. I rated it 3 and up only because I'm not sure the younger children have the attention span it requires to get through this one. My 5 year old can sit through the entire thing. My 3 year old will get up and want to do something else about halfway through. The music is great!
My 4-year old has a great attention span, and so this movie (which is a bit long and can seem slow in places) worked well for him. He just delights in the songs and animation/live action sequences.
Kids at a very young age will enjoy this magical classic. Our child loved watching this movie soon after he turned 4. He is sensitive to tense scenes and conflict, which are scarcely seen in this film, so we often chose this movie over so many others deemed acceptable for young ones.
This was one of my favorites as a child and now my daughter (age 5) has been enjoying it for over 2 years now. The only parts that were kind of iffy as far as her being able to understand and not be scared was the scuffle in the bank and the kids running scared through the alleys before Burt finds them. Otherwise it's still the best!
I would watch this all the time when I was little. Me, my Mother, and my Grandma would sing her song about a really long word they made up that I forget. It's for all ages. There is nothing innapropiate in this classic film. :D
My two year old loves this movie. He loves the singing and dancing numbers, but also seems interested in the dialogue. I don't think there is anything scary or inappropriate in May Poppins. I love watching it with him.
Excellent for most ages, though long for very young kids
My kids -- 7 and 10 -- quite enjoyed this. While some of the cinematic effects are a little dated, they were state-of-the-art of their day -- though the songs and performances all hold up perfectly.
My only comment for parents is that while "Mary Poppins" features plenty of kid-friendly singing and dancing and music and animation, it is a good bit longer than most typical kids' movies (139 minutes, rather than the 100-minute average of today). And, it's underlying themes of class and parenting are quite adult. I don't mean inappropriate but sophisticated. Witty songs on women's suffrage, the influence of the British Empire, and compounding interest will go way over young kids' heads.
So, your preschoolers might get a tad bored. Your tweens and beyond, however, will enjoy it all the more. (My favorite joke: In reference to the Boston Tea Party, "Colonists boarded a British ship and dump crates of tea in the harbor, making it unfit to drink... even for Americans.")
-- mm
LOve this! My 3 year old son has been watching this movie since a baby.. It was the ONLy one we introduced due to its magical, sing song, feel good, imagination building ways. My son now dances, with a cane and a hat like Bert, sings all the songs, and believes in magic.
We let our 4.5 year old watch this in 20 minute installments over a few weeks. She's never watched a full length film and I have to admit, I turned it on more for me than her - I needed a Julie Andrews fix! It's a wonderful, magical movie. She enjoyed the singing and dancing, but the details of the storyline were a bit over her head. We stopped it every so often to explain what was going on (what's a chimney sweep? what's a fox hunt? why is the father in a bad mood? etc), but I think that children who are slightly older would not need this decoding.
We tried not to let our son watch any tv until two but ended up caving in when he was 18 months old and stuck inside sick with snow on the ground outside....He has been watching this movie since then (he is now 22 months old). He LOVES it, we all do. The cannon shots are a little jolting but other than that there is nothing but goodness in this fun movie with animation/real actors/real singing. He loves saying "up up up" like Mr. Banks and singing "let's go fly a kite, UP..."
There is nothing inappropriate in this movie what so ever. One really brief alley scene where a scary looking old woman says "Come with me my dears Granny will hide you." to Jane and Michael may startle little ones, but this is very unlikely. A fantatastic Julie Andrews musical!