Last night, my Mother in-law & sisters in-law decided to have a girls night, and hit the movies - and of course we picked a movie none of our husbands would go see with us! I've always loved Mamma Mia! the musical, and really enjoyed the film when it came out years ago. I thought the premise of the pre-sequel looked cute, so I couldn't wait to see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. We grabbed some popcorn & Twizzlers, and hit the AMC in Webster to recline for a few hours & enjoy some good ABBA music! Here's what I thought of the movie, in case you were thinking of checking it out this weekend.
MILD spoiler coming up - but it happens literally in the first two minutes of the film, so it's not really a spoiler.
Ready? Okay.
We find out at the start of the movie (in present time) that Donna has passed away. The premise of the movie is that Sophie wants to honor her mother by reopening her hotel, and she plans this grand re-opening party. Unfortunately, two of her three fathers - Bill & Harry - can't make it to the party. This leads into a back-and-forth flashback theme throughout the movie - from the present; Sophie trying to make plans for the party - to the past; detailing how Donna originally met the three men who could potentially be Sophie's biological father.
Here's my main takeaway from the film - it was cheesy, but isn't that what you expect?? The Dancing Queen scene involves a bunch of ships coming into the harbor, coming to save the day & the party, with plenty of people (Harry & Bill included) on board, dancing and singing while Sophie and her "aunts" and Sam dance around with excitement. That said...it was really cute. The music, of course, is great, and I love the addition of Lily James (young Donna) to the cast...she was perfect! Pierce Brosnan still can't sing, but he's not as terrible as he was in the first film...it helps that he doesn't sing as much this time around. The ending of the movie was surprisingly emotional (most of us were crying when the lights came back on), but in a happy sort of way.
The movie has your classic ABBA music from the original - Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Super Trouper, and others, including my fave - Thank You For the Music...plus it's got a bunch of *new* ABBA stuff (meaning it wasn't in the original, not that it's actually new music). It's also got all of the originals - Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, and of COURSE Meryl Streep (don't worry, even though she's dead, they still get her in the film!!). AND they added Cher & Andy Garcia to the cast, so it's a good one.
So the long & short of it is...if you're a fan of the original Mamma Mia!, it was worth $12 to see this one...it was a fun girls night, and it brought back some nostalgia. And it doesn't hurt that young Bill & young Sam are F-I-N-E. The storyline was a bit crazy, but so was the first one's! I'll probably watch it again when it's out on DVD. Two thumbs up.