“Mary Poppins Returns” (** out of four) was a bland sequel to the 1964 children’s classic about the return of Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) who comes back decades after her original visit to help the Banks siblings (Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer) and their family through financial and personal turmoil involving the evil president of the local bank (Colin Firth). Neither the music nor the staging nor the characterizations are anything special or memorable and result is sugary and forgettable as film stubbornly refuses to take flight. Even Blunt just seems to be going through the motions in the lead role. A disappointment from director Rob Marshall who previously directed the smashing musicals “Chicago” and “Nine”