D votes for Mary Poppins as the best movie to show sensitive kids. This was one of the first full-length movies she ever saw and one of my all-time favorites—the start of my lifelong love of Dick Van Dyke (who plays Bert) and Julie Andrews (who plays Mary Poppins).

Before rewatching this with D, I still vividly remembered from my childhood the magical scenes in which animated characters mix with live-action characters. And from watching D’s face and hearing her laugh, I saw that this whimsy translates to today.

One of this movie’s greatest gifts is that through this intermingling of animation and special effects with live action, the film is one of the most successful at suggesting to viewers that magic and adventure may actually reside in the everyday—and that’s a great message for any age. Oh, and the music is amazing.

Here is D’s audio review of the movie:

And here are some of my notes about watching Mary Poppins with your sensitive kid:

• This movie is long by today’s standards—it’s more than two hours. If your child will have trouble sitting through it, break it up into two sessions. The end of the lullaby scene after the children return from their adventure inside the chalk painting may be a good spot to end the first half.
• The movie starts a bit slowly, with much of the first third of the story taking place in the children’s house.
• At the start of the movie, the children seem unwanted by their father; the slew of nannies who come and go; the household help; and to some extent, their mother, who is preoccupied with fighting for women’s rights. This may be difficult for some kids, but let them know that things improve for the children.
• On this same note, if your child doesn’t have man from the 1950s or earlier in his or her life, you may have to explain that at this point in time, men were not necessarily expected to interact with or show affection to their children.
• You may have to explain other concepts and events, like the women’s suffrage movement, noblesse oblige, the Boston Tea Party, and so on. The movie’s historical context and what that introduces to viewers is another great aspect of this film.
• You may get some questions related to economics and poverty, such as, Where does Bert live? Why does Bert have so many jobs? And one of D’s questions, Why doesn’t the bird lady just buy a bunch of bread and feed the birds herself?
• The movie contains no major violence, and the language is suitable for kids—if anything, you’ll all expand your vocabulary watching this. There may be some language you’ll want to discuss though. For example, toward the end of the film, the children’s father refers to “red Indians”; in a line in the song “Sister Suffragette,” the children’s mother says that men are “rather stupid”; and the Banks’s neighbor refers to being attacked by Hottentots, a racist reference to a group of people from southern Africa.
• Finally, toward the end of the film, there is a suspenseful scene that may frighten sensitive viewers. It starts inside the bank where the children’s father works and ends with the children running away into the streets. The children run into a menacing old woman, a fierce dog, and then Bert covered in soot, so at first, he’s unrecognizable.

This is the type of suspense that kids will eventually need to learn to deal with to view movies. Considering this is a pretty short scene of just a few minutes, this may be a good practice scary scene. You may want to let your child know that something a bit scary comes after the kids run out of the bank, but it’s just for a moment, and everything turns out OK.

Happy viewing!