Movie review: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
For those who treated musical romcom Mamma Mia! from 10 years ago like a big karaoke fest, it is time to bust out your imaginary mic, glittery jumpsuit and platform boots for another go-round.
Bursting with fan service and brimming with joyful energy, it makes no apologies for being a fluffy chick flick, so grouches need not apply.
Some sections do feel forced. Both movies are, after all, an exercise in how to go from one Abba song to another with hopefully a decent storyline being born.
Young Donna's (Lily James) graduation sequence set to When I Kissed The Teacher is even downright inappropriate in an era of MeToo and Time'sUp.
And one gets the feeling that the entire sunkissed cast signed on for a free holiday, easy pay cheque and summer wardrobe.
Still, it is a sequel that surpasses the original, with a new blonde beauty overshadowing the previous one.
Sorry Amanda Seyfried, but James is the real star of the show, lighting up the screen with her infectious charm.
I have never seen the English actress look so luminous, and we are talking about the woman who played Cinderella.
With golden locks, bronzed skin and boho outfits, it is totally believable that three cute guys (Jeremy Irvine, Hugh Skinner and Josh Dylan as the younger versions of Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard are deliciously spot-on) fall for her at first sight.
Seyfried may have dimmed a little, but she gets to shine at the end in a poignant, almost heartbreaking moment, when the spirit of Donna (Meryl Streep) shows up and they duet on My Love, My Life, a tribute to their mother-daughter bond that will leave you reaching for a tissue.
Most importantly, Abba fans will get to enjoy tracks that did not feature in the first movie, like One Of Us, Fernando, Angel Eyes and Knowing Me, Knowing You, as well as encore of those that did (Dancing Queen, Super Trouper, I Have A Dream, Waterloo and, of course, Mamma Mia).
So many decades have passed, yet the toe-tapping hooks of the Swedish supergroup are as catchy as ever.
Thank you for the music, indeed. - 3 ticks
MOVIE: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
STARRING: Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Cher, Dominic Cooper
WRITER-DIRECTOR: Ol Parker
THE SKINNY: Set after the events of the first film with flashbacks to the 70s, the story of young Donna's (James) arrival on the island of Kalokairi and her first meetings with daughter Sophie's (Seyfried) three possible fathers is interspersed with pregnant Sophie preparing for the grand reopening of her late mum's (Meryl Streep) hotel in present day.
RATING: PG
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