New York — She takes on a beloved movie character and dances with penguins, but what really terrified British actress Emily Blunt was descending slowly from the clouds as the new Mary Poppins.

More than 50 years after it first charmed audiences worldwide, Blunt stars in the sequel "Mary Poppins Returns" as the magical English nanny with a no-nonsense demeanor but a twinkle in the eye.

The Walt Disney Co movie, starting its global roll-out this week, is set 20 years after the musical fantasy that made Julie Andrews a star.

Despite new music, a new cast and new director Rob Marshall, "Mary Poppins Returns" pays homage to the original 1964 film, including the arrival of the singing nanny from the skies above London.

This time, however, Poppins floats down holding a battered kite rather than her parrot umbrella but with her signature carpet bag still in hand.

Blunt said she was "terrified" filming the scene while hoisted high up on a crane. "It's very high. Rob (Marshall) wanted to do one shot where I start in the air and I come down and the cameras are here and I walk straight into my close-up."

— Reuters