Composing Greatness: #5. Oscars 2019 Edition - "Mary Poppins Returns"

Scene from Mary Poppins Returns

Welcome to a very special edition of Composing Greatness. In this limited series, I will be looking at the five scores nominated for this year's Best Original Score category. To avoid favoritism, the list will be done in alphabetical order of composers and feature the same guidelines as the original series. This is meant to explore the music behind the great films of 2018, and provide insight into what makes each of them special and whether or not they deserved to be nominated at all. Join me all week as I listen to the  music, leave some thoughts, and hopefully sway you to check out these wonderful, wonderful scores.

Series Composer: Marc Shaiman

Entry: Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Collaborators (If Available): N/A

Nomination: Best Original Score

Other Nominees:
-BlacKkKlansman (Terence Blanchard)
-Black Panther (Ludwig Goransson)
-If Beale Street Could Talk (Nicholas Brittell)
-Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat)

Note: Listen to the score here.

Exploring the Music

The area of the column where I will explore the music in as much detail as I see fit for each entry.

What's So Great About It?

By every means, this is an impeccable adaptation of the Mary Poppins aesthetic for its remake. With giant pomp and circumstance, it feels just as big and energetic as it should and takes many of the songs' great melodies and blends them perfectly. The recurring melody, taken from "Can You Imagine That?," is a nice touch and gives the overall score a nice grounded center. As far as peppy musicals go, this is a pretty strong accompanying score and evidence that Marc Shaiman is more than worthy of the nomination. While there's an element that feels photocopied, it's not too distracting from the largely original take on the P.L. Travers character. As the third score nominated for this franchise, it manages to not rely too heavily on the crutches of the past, and it's all the better for it.

What's So Bad About It?

As mentioned before, this is a score that feels photocopied. It has to follow a certain rhythm in order to be a legitimate Mary Poppins sequel (whether or not it was necessary is not being debated here). It also borrows a few light motifs from the original film that should disqualify it from being a fully "original" score. To be fair, this movie was always going to live and die on the song compositions (also done in part by Shaiman), and the songs are honestly superior to what this score is offering. You're more likely to sing along to any of those before you remember this score. It's not a bad thing, but it does give the score the notion that it never should've been nominated in the first place. It's not bad, just entirely secondary to the bigger picture.

Did This Deserve an Oscar Nomination?:
Yes

My gut instinct going into this was to say that it didn't deserve the nomination. It sounded like a random nomination meant to get Shaiman to that EGOT before Lin-Manuel Miranda (you monsters). I wanted to also blabber and say that Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli's work on Christopher Robin was the superior "live action Disney remake" of 2018. I recognize that they're going for different things and I do think that Christopher Robin is still more satisfying cumulatively, but what works about this score as more than yet another filler Mary Poppins nomination (remember Saving Mr. Banks?) is that it feels purposeful to the bigger picture. It's fun, upbeat, and the melodies are perfect for this type of whimsical score. I still don't know if I'd call it the best piece of the puzzle, but I do think it gets an unfair reputation for being here. It's fun in the way that Disney's classic musicals are, and that's fine by me.

Up Next: Composing Greatness will return later this year with a new regular series.

Rank the Nominees

1. Nicholas Brittell - If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Ludwig Goransson - Black Panther
3. Terence Blanchard - BlacKkKlansman
4. Marc Shaiman - Mary Poppins Returns
5. Alexandre Desplat - Isle of Dogs