What I’ve come to realize, is how a person feels about a particular film, has nothing at all to do with whether it’s good or bad, whether the critics love it or hate it, or what your friends say about it.

It’s your own personal experience. Some films just work for you and others don’t. It’s the same with art, music, theatre and no matter how much you argue with someone over the merits of a certain film, it’s not going to change the kind of experience you had.

Which brings me to the film ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ directed by John Lee Hancock (‘The Blindside’). Simply put: I absolutely loved every second of this movie…from the brilliant performances by Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell, to the beautiful story about the creative process, to the relationships between the characters, this film worked for me on every level.

‘Saving Mr. Banks’ written by Sue Smith and Kelly Marcel is the story about two real people and one fictional character. The real ones are Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and P. L. Travers (the brilliant Emma Thompson) and the fictional one that she created, is Miss Mary Poppins, nanny extraordinaire.

For 20 years, Disney tried unsuccessfully to get the rights to the Mary Poppins books from its author P. L. Travers. Miss Travers absolutely hated Mr. D along with every cartoon character his studio ever created. On top of that she despised musicals.

But in 1964, Travers finds herself in dire financial straits and if she doesn’t do something quickly, she will lose her beloved home. The author has no choice, but to travel to Los Angeles and meet with Disney.

‘Saving Mr. Banks’ is not only the story of Travers and Disney’s difficult relationship, but it’s also a movie about making a movie….The Mary Poppins movies which starred Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews.

Oh and besides hating cartoons and musicals, Travers also hated Dick Van Dyke.

Throughout her stay, Travers treated Disney and everyone involved with the production, including Bradley Whitford, Jason Schwartzman and B. J. Novak, who play the Sherman brothers, who wrote all those wonderful songs for the movie, with utter disdain and disrespect.

The only person, Travers was halfway civil with, was her chauffeur, Ralph (Paul Giamatti) who is also a fictional character. It’s with Ralph, that we finally get to see Travers’ vulnerable side.

‘Saving Mr. Banks’ cuts between Travers’ past and present. She grew up in Australia, where she lived with her mother and her alcoholic father, who she deeply loved and who was always disappointing her.

We come to understand that it because of her traumatic and painful childhood, she was able to write all the Mary Poppins books and why she was so fiercely determined to hang on to them.

This is one of the best films of 2013 and I gave ‘Saving Banks’ which opens in theatres, Friday December 13, 2013 five bagels out of five.

John, believe it or not gave it the same score.