First look at Emily Blunt as the beloved nanny in "Mary Poppins Returns" #book2movies

The first image of Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins hit the net Friday and had everyone gushing. EW called it “a dazzling first look at Mary Poppins Returns’’ and Emily Blunt “correspondingly magical.’’ A bit much, don’t you think? I’m as big a fan of actors as anyone, in fact, no one is a bigger movie actor fan than me, I'm the biggest movie fan there is, and consider Emily Blunt one of the finest. I hope to hell I haven’t been reduced to babbling like a twelve year old when I write posts here. Do me a favor? If I do, call me out on it. Tell me to calm down. Really, everyone, it’s only a movie.

Then again, it is Mary Poppins, originally played by the practically perfect Julie Andrews. Blunt has a lot to live up to. She better look, act and be supercalifragilisticexpealadocious.

The sequel was crafted by David Magee from other stories in P.L. Travers’ series about the Banks kids and their magical nanny. Titled Mary Poppins Returns, the movie is set in Depression-era London and sees Poppins rejoining the children, now all grown up, (Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw) to help them overcome a personal loss. 

In addition to Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, the film’s cast includes Angela Lansbury as a maniacal balloon vendor, Lin-Manuel Miranda as a musical lamplighter named Jack, Meryl Streep as Mary’s cousin Topsy, Colin Firth as banker William Weatherall Wilkins, Julie Walters as housekeeper Ellen, and a trio of newcomers filling the roles of Michael Banks’ children. Dick Van Dyke, the beloved chimney sweep in the original will also make a featured appearance.

Mary Poppins and her iconic carpet bag

Which brings us to today’s Saturday Matinee: Mary Poppins. Released in 1964 the film was nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars including Best Picture. Like this years La La Land, Mary Poppins did not win in the Best Picture category but did win for Best Song and like Emma Stone, Julie Andrews took home the Best Actress Prize.

Anyone else have a Mary Poppins doll? 

This white dress with the pink waistband was my favorite outfit.

Mary Poppins Returns is due in theaters a long, long time from now —December 25, 2018—plenty of time to read the books to your kids, grandkids (or yourself) and to catch up with Disney’s classic. It’s available to stream for about $3 on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu and GooglePlay.

Here’s the vintage trailer...about four minutes long. I guess we really did have longer attention spans back then.