Sixteen Old Italian Blocks

While we enjoyed Mary Poppins Returns on the big screen last week it occurred to me that nearly every song in the new movie has a twin in the old one. In Spoonful of Sugar and Can You Imagine That? the nanny teaches her proteges a new perspective can make a dull job fun. Jolly Holiday and Royal Doulton Music Hall encourage the children to immerse themselves in art. Supercalifragilistic and A Cover Is Not a Book are tongue twisters to tackle timidity. In I Love to Laugh and Turning Turtle, we’re introduced to relations who have trouble with gravity. Chim Chim Cheree/Step in Time and Trip a Little Light Fantastic each have a platoon of dancing blue-collar workers. Let’s Go Fly a Kite and Nowhere to Go But Up prove that side by side is the best way to fly. I’m not complaining that the new movie is derivative. I actually believe imitation’s the sincerest form of flattery.