Mary Poppins

Combines supremely catchy songs, the forward and sarcastic dialogue of the unsurpassable Julie Andrews, and a psychedelic plot.

The animation sequences suffer from Disney's animals-are-just-like people coyness, and the plot is too goody-good for words. But even the worst parts are saved by an air of innocent enjoyment.

I think it's arguable one of the best family films ever made.

Mary Poppins is a picture that is, more than most, a triumph of many individual contributions. And its special triumph is that it seems to be the work of a single, cohesive intelligence.

As the magical nanny who turns life upside down for her charges in Edwardian England, Julie Andrews maintains a stiff upper lip that dries out some of the Disney schmaltz.