If you were a fan of the first ‘Mamma Mia!’ movie released in 2008, then ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ has so much more to offer and so much less as well. The sequel (which is also a prequel) has a bigger cast, longer running time, more subplots, and more romantic relationships. But it’s weaker than its predecessor and has even lower stakes. It’s less entertaining and, for all its frantic energy, it manages to do absolutely nothing. Once more inspired by the music of ABBA and taking place on a beautiful Greek island, the second Mamma Mia! is as light as the most delicate piece of Swedish pastry with the sweetest chunk of Baklava on the side. And while that may feel appetizing, it is likely to cause you a toothache (as well as a headache). At one point, during an especially awkward musical number, I noted this down: “I am so uncomfortable right now.” But the goofy imperfection of this song and dance bonanza is part of what is charming about it. As gracious as it may be, it does tend to grow repetitious and wearying rather quickly.
You’ll not find joy that can be compared to the one caused by Meryl Streep wailing in the barn while dressed in overalls during the film’s title song, or to the emotional heights of her voice while signing “The Winner Takes It All” for Pierce Brosnan. And speaking of that, Streep does not flaunt her playful and musical side in the movie, so if you were looking forward to that, you’re in for disappointment. Even after Streep’s great presence in the film’s marketing materials, she is barely present in the film.
This is because free-spirited Donna Streep has unfortunately passed away, which is something we learn at the beginning of the film. We however learn that she is still alive in spirit. Her Daughter Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, is re-opening the inn her mom ran and taking her to new heights by renaming it to Hotel Bella Donna. She does this on the same beautiful, yet made up, Greek island of Kalokairi that served as the setting for the first film. Co-writer and Director Ol Parker, who also wrote the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies, bounces back and forth through time. In one sequence, he shows Sophie nervously working on the party she is throwing, while in In the other, the story also tells how her mother arrived to this remote part of land in the Mediterranean and ended up getting pregnant with Sophie somewhere in the late 1970s with little knowledge of who the father was.
James in this scene, shines with a curly blonde Ombre hair that reaches her waist and loves wearing sky-high platform boots. In this scene, we watch her ‘friends’ Tanya, who is Christine Baranski’s doppleganger and clad in my favorite Comics, and Rosie, who impersonates Julie Walters, who is the better Julie. Meanwhile, we also witness her requesting a blend of threesomes from her ex boyfriends that she conquered the summer after her college graduation with a rash of her memory-filled flings with.
First on the agenda is zoning out on Paris with the petite Harry, who hooks up with French speakers, Hodge Skinner. The next competitor is the hot-blooded romantic and self-absorbed Bill, played by Joshua Dylan, who drowns his lover on a luxury yacht that directly takes her to an exotic island. Finally, on top of my favorite, tricking my axing esthetic wannabe Jeremy Irvine into thinking the place is this tropical paradise called, Kalokairi out in the great green ocean with his friends Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Brosnan who for some odd reason are forced to sing overplayed ABBA songs ‘Mamma Mia!’ while we stare into the ocean together.
Oh yes, the ABBA songs. Their music acted as the sweet glue that brought cohesiveness to both the film and the widely popular musical theater. The most breathtaking of the Swedish super group’s songs that are played during the stage performance are also from the first installment: the group of fishermen who are dancing and singing “Dancing Queen,” or the eye catching “Super Trouper,” where the entire cast comes together in “Super Trouper“. The rest of the tracks are from unknown performers, and the uninspired way those numbers are staged and set to dance does not let them take off.
Yet again, these thespians are such professionals that, despite being dealt a weak hand, they could not resist making a strong play out of it. Baranski and Walters in particular have x-ray chemistry once again. The times in which the refreshingly out of place Firth, Skarsgard and Brosnan shared a laugh as Sophie’s dads made me wish to see them somewhere else together. Strangers on a porch under hot Greek skies, for example, making a documentary.
And now Cher appears. This outspoken diva does not seem like someone that can ever get restrained. However, as Sophie’s chronically missing grandmother, Cher does appear rather weirdly. Once more, it’s the choreography’s clumsiness: Vivian just stands there singing ‘Fernando’, and then mechanically walks down some stairs to the person that she is singing to. (Andy Garcai, the desirable gentleman who Andy Garcia happens to play the hotel’s caretaker, conveniently plays a character named Fernando. That is quite funny.)
What about the stoned A-list stars who were forgetting the insanely catchy songs from four decades ago? For all of the willing souls out there, people who are ready to accept the ideas surrounding love’s ability to alter reality, and to those who crave a mindless summer getaway, so long as it isn’t “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” Do not assume and hand over the ouzo.
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