The Cat That Looked at a King

I've decided to review the short film The Cat That Looked at a King.  This short film was created for the 40th anniversary DVD re-release of Mary Poppins.  I really love the fact that Julie Andrews came back for this.  Even though there has been some debate over whether or not, her character in this short film is in fact Mary Poppins.  For my money, I do believe that in this version that Julie Andrews did in fact reprise her role of Mary Poppins.   Which we will get to when I talk about her some more.  Also while Dick Van Dyke does not  appear in this short film, there is a callback to Bert as the short film opened on two British children looking at chalk drawings in the same location as where Bert did his drawings.  According to Julie Andrews, the was re-created to emulate the feel of the one of the original film.


The Plot




The plot is rather simple and it is based upon part of the Mary Poppins book, Mary Poppins Opens The Door.    In this  short,  we follow two British children and Mary Poppins as they jump into a drawing as they watch a King who is in love with facts and knowing everything play a game of wits with a Cat that happens to know more then she let's on.  Now after they jump into the drawing,   Mary Poppins (I'm standing by this)   and the children  become side characters who just happen to observe and she becomes more of a narrator.



Characters








The King voiced by David Ogden Stiers

The King is shown to be a well meaning person that seems  to have his nose stuck in books looking for answers for everything.  He believes that everything needs a logical answer and only thin with his brain and not his heart.  Which has led him to ignore his Queen.  His love because he is so caught up in looking for facts for everything.  He's a fun character and if a little silly but well meaning


The Cat voiced by Tracey Ullman

The Cat is a fun character. She at least The Cat is a she but that is neither here nor there. The Cat sees through the King and tries to get to see past the books and see that there is more to life then just looking for facts by asking him in questions in a game, where the answers that can't be found in a book.   The Cat is a rather sly character and that fits in rather well with her. She's not a bad character but she in a way reminds me of how Mary Poppins dealt with Jane and Micheal by getting them to think beyond the facts.  She was really unique.



The Queen  voiced by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

As stated, The King seems to ignore his Queen because he is so caught up in looking for facts.  Alas The Queen stays by his side.  She  doesn't have very many lines in here but she does love The King but just wishes that he would pay more attention to her and that's fair to say.








Mary Poppins played by Julie Andrews

Again as I said while describing the plot,   Julie Andrews really seemed to have some fun reprising her role here.   As I said,  I truly do believe that she once again played Mary Poppins in this and I say this because there were a few personality traits of Mary Poppins that popped up in this short film such as her being stern with the children,  denying the events that took place a la the way Mary Poppins denied the horse race in the first film.  Again,  though  as stated previously after the short jumps from the real world to the picture, she  becomes a bit more of a observer and comments on the events of the story. It's fun and it works, really well.


My Final Thoughts




This short film is cute and a decent follow up to Mary Poppins. Again as I said there is debate as to whether or not that this is Mary Poppins in this but I do think that there is evidence to say that there is.  One last thing to mention, is at the end of the short is that it ends with a silhouette of Mary Poppins' shadow.  It's a lot of fun and cute but of course, it doesn't come close to the film but it wasn't trying to be as grand as the movie.  That would be too hard.   Instead it was just a cute little follow up that felt like a visit for fans of the old film to see what Mary Poppins is up to now.