Family Movie; Fantasy; Musical

First off, this is a family movie. Why? Because no one uses four-letter words, sets anyone else on fire, or creates terrifying and lethal booby traps.

Oh, oops. We just described another family movie—albeit one about an abandoned budding sociopath—Home Alone.

But Mary Poppins doesn't go as dark (or as Christmas-y) as Home Alone does. This movie's all about whimsy, joy, and a message that empowers kids and cheers people up—unless you're Bambi's Mom or Mufasa in The Lion King...in those cases, it's funeral time. Fortunately, Mr. Banks winds up flying a kite instead of rotting in a coffin. Good job, Banksy!

The animated sequences and adventures with floating uncles and flying nannies make Mary Poppins a perfect family movie, rated G and suitable for all ages. But they also make it a fantasy. Alas, we can't enter into chalk drawings or laugh ourselves into floating or clean up rooms through magic. And nannies can't actually fly. We know: shocking.

This puts Mary P. in fantasy territory—though not the kind of fantasy with elves and orcs.

Finally, it's a musical. Not too hard to figure out why—check out all those musical numbers where the characters start spontaneously singing. That's also, sadly, not the kind of thing that actually happens in everyday life…unless you have this misfortune to be surrounded by a flash mob.