Review: Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

Posted on 2 August, 2018

Last Wednesday, in a cinema that had a total audience of four people, I had one of the best movie experiences of my life.

My soul-sister Ros Hull asked me to write this week’s film review after I messaged her, saying, “Sure the plot is an excuse to string songs together, but if that’s good enough for opera than it’s good enough for ABBA!”

We’ll get to details about the story and the performance, but I really want to tell you why it was so special. During the Waterloo dance number (as if having just one of those wasn’t awesome enough), one of the dancers is in a wheelchair and performs some great moves. In the movie theatre there was me, my mum and two men a few rows behind us. One of the men was in a wheelchair and when this lovely dancer came on in her chair he cheered, laughed and clapped. His delight is honestly one of the best things I have heard all year.

And there was the fact that mum and I, emboldened by the near empty cinema, were singing our hearts out along with the cast, which encouraged the two men to join in. And that’s how we ended up with a spontaneous Mamma Mia sing-along.

Which brings me back to the review, because I defy anyone NOT to sing and dance in their chair while watching this wonderfully joyous, charming musical. There have been some lukewarm comments about how all the best songs were used up in the first film, but I say to those people they don’t know ABBA. When I Kissed The Teacher, One of Us, Kisses of Fire, Angel Eyes and Knowing Me Knowing You are just as much part of the classic ABBA catalogue as Mamma Mia itself. Most come from the ABBA Arrival and Super Trooper albums, and show just what a range the Swedish group had, sliding between upbeat pop, heartrending break ups, and beautifully pitched love songs.

And the movie covers all of those things too. It’s actually sadder than the original and picks up 10 years later. It’s not a spoiler to tell you Meryl Streep’s Donna has died a year before the movie starts and her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is determined to live up to her memory by rejuvenating the Greek hotel she loved so much. Sophie’s longing for her mum is completely relatable and I strongly suggest you pack tissues for some scenes.

Don’t worry though, you won’t leave feeling depressed because love and joy flows through this film. A lot of that has to do with a golden performance by Lilly James as the young Donna. I swear Lilly James cannot put a foot wrong on screen, I love her in everything she’s been in, from Downton Abbey to Cinderella to Baby Driver and most recently the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Here she lights up the screen as we see how she meets the younger versions of each of the three dads. All the younger versions of the characters we know are so well cast, even if I was a tiny bit disappointed that Stellan Skarsgard’s incredibly handsome sons are all a bit too old to play the younger Bill.

Hugh Skinner as the younger Harry (Colin Firth’s character) is particularly good, being adorably and endearingly awkward. He reminds me of Matt Smith, which I wonder was a deliberate choice given that’s who Lily James is involved with.

The older cast members you remember and love are back, and Christine Baranski is by equally measure effortlessly graceful and wittily biting. One of the things I love about both films is the strong friendships between the adults, here there is a lovely moment when Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard recreate an iconic Titanic moment on the bow of a Greek trawler.

And of course there is Cher…what can I say? There’s really no reason for her to be there but hearing her extraordinary voice belt out Fernando makes me so happy she is. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that production meeting, “We’ve had a call from Cher’s agent, she wants to sing ABBA songs. Any objections? No? I didn’t think so.”

And don’t despair that you won’t see Meryl Streep, you will definitely need those tissues for the rendition between she, Lilly James and Amanda Seyfried of My Love My Life.

If you need a lift, this is the film for you. Yes, there are some tears along the way but that just makes the final number with the whole cast performing so much more joyous. I hope you get to do like I did in that almost empty cinema, as the end credits rolled I sashayed down the stairs and danced in front of the screen to the encouraging cheers of my private audience. Thank you for the music ABBA!

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is playing in cinemas around Canberra.

Feature image: facebook.com/pg/MammaMiaAlbum