The Cat That Looked at a King (2004) (V)

Director:

Dave Bossert

Writers:

Shirley Pierce (writer)
P.L. Travers (book)

Release Date:

14 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Animation | Family | Short

Plot:

Mary Poppins takes two children into a chalk drawing to show a tale about how a cat challenged an intellectually arrogant king.

Plot Keywords:

Chalk Painting | Art | Books | Boy | Cat

Cast

Julie Andrews	...	Mary Poppins
Dylan Cash	...	Boy
Olivia DeLaurentis	...	Girl
Sarah Ferguson	...	The Queen (voice)
David Ogden Stiers	...	The King / The Prime Minister (voice)
Tracey Ullman	...	The Cat (voice)

Runtime:

USA:10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Company:

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Bit of a shameless 'cash in' but good for the kids.

After 40 years the wonderful, talented Dame Julie Andrews, all but recreates her most famous role of Mary Poppins.

Although the live action sequences take place in the modern day, with American kids with god awful British accents, Andrew's none the less quotes from the original film, jumps through chalk pavement drawings on a recreated Poppins set and into the animated story of The Cat That Looked at a King.

Among the voice talents of this colourful and possibly educational ten minute yarn are Tracy Ullman as the Cat and none other than Sarah Ferguson AKA The Duchess of York and one-time member of the British Royal Family, who rather wishfully voices The Queen.

This was merely a bonus feature on the Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary DVD, but given the right handling I'm sure, should Disney studios decide, they might be able to turn these into a successful series of shorts.

The story is penned by P.L. Travers herself and I hope should this series materialise then I hope they exhaust the original stories first before trying to conjure up new ones of their own.

Andrews herself is credited as Mary Poppins despite her modern dress, but it is not until the very end where we see her familiar silhouette complete with flowered hat is it confirmed she is the well known Edwardian nanny.

Some may argue that to play Mary Poppins she must dress like Mary Poppins, but if Poppins is some sort of guardian angel, as we have been led to believe then it's good that we can see her in 21st Century dress because it adds depth to the magical myth.

It tells us that throughout the generations she has been doing, and continues to do what she does best, caring for children and making them wiser and stronger and happier.

Sure it's a bit of a shameless 'cash-in' and they may be trying to make a fresh salad out of 40 year old lettuce, but Mary Poppins helps to keep the dreams of the young alive, just like she did forty years ago, and at the end of the day, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.