I took my almost 13 year old daughters with me to see Saving Mr. Banks this week. They liked it okay, but I had to do a lot of explaining: alcoholism, tuberculosis, attempted suicide. We talked a long time about why the film makers put that in. We talked about alcoholism and what it is like for the people around the alcoholic. We talked about the smoking. We talked about people.
While they would not say it was a fabulous, must see movie. They learned from it.
I LOVE it.
What I wish had been in it was something about how Robert Sherman was shot in WWII. Wasn't he part of the team that liberated Dachau? It wasn't just some petty "drama" in his life. That bothered me.
And yes, Paul Giamatti was just so warm and friendly, and ...wow. What happened to the daughter?