Mary Poppins

Movie · 1964

A warmly beloved musical fantasy about a magical nanny who helps a buttoned-up Edwardian family rediscover joy together. It is overwhelmingly gentle, but a few moments of mild peril, some startling cannon blasts, a passing reference to suicide, and two uses of a racial slur that prompted the UK to upgrade its rating to PG are worth knowing about ahead of time.

Most children from about age 4 or 5 will delight in it, though the 2-hour-plus runtime and occasional surreal imagery may test the youngest or most sensitive viewers.

Scary imageryPeril & tensionViolenceLoss & griefBig emotionsBehavior modeledLoud or startling soundsDrinking, drugs & smokingOld-school gender rolesRacial & cultural stereotypes

If you’d rather skip

Racial & cultural stereotypesearly in the film, Admiral Boom's first appearanceModerate

Admiral Boom uses the slur 'hottentots' for the first time when asking a Banks child about going on an adventure; the word is presented without comment or correction.

Racial & cultural stereotypesthe 'Step in Time' rooftop sequenceModerate

Admiral Boom looks through his telescope at the soot-faced chimney sweeps dancing on rooftops, shouts 'We're being attacked by Hottentots!', and orders his cannon fired at them; the slur is again unchallenged by the narrative.

Loud or startling soundsthe 'Step in Time' rooftop sequenceMild

Admiral Boom fires a cannon and launches fireworks toward the rooftop dancers; the blasts are sudden, bright, and loud.

7 more moments are in the full report. See all of them, checked against your own family’s settings, in Little Longer.