SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
And I have seen…‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’!
(laughs) So…yeah! Why? Why?! Simply, just why? Why was this movie made? Did it have to be made? There was no reason to. I mean, yes it’s supposed to celebrate 10 years of the first ‘Mamma Mia!’ movie. But did that justify for a sequel to get made here? Why was this movie made? Why? Just why?!
Also, how can they make this movie when it’s not based on any stage play? Yeah! The first film is based on the ‘Mamma Mia!’ stage play, which I saw in London before Christmas 2010. But what about this film? There was no stage play for the film to be based on. It was an original script written for this film.
Granted this film takes elements from the ‘Mamma Mia!’ stage play by Catherine Johnson and she also contributed to the sequel’s story as well as Richard Curtis (what?!) and Ol Parker who directed the film and wrote the screenplay. But again I do reiterate! How and why was this ‘Mamma Mia!’ film made?
I saw this film with my Mum at a cinema where it was packed. Yeah, my Mum and I sat in the third row when we saw this movie. This film seems to be really popular. But did I enjoy it? Yes I did. I thought this movie was fine. The ABBA songs were good, the singing was okay and there were funny moments.
But if I was to be brutally honest, I don’t think this film is as good as the first one. That’s only because I know the first film so well and I’ve seen the stage play. This film features two stories running parallel to each other. One story is set in the modern day and the other is set in 1979 featuring a young Donna.
Essentially the film tells the story of Lily James as the young Donna meeting the three men in her life who might be her daughter’s dad before she becomes pregnant and has her daughter when she decides to live and run a hotel in Greece. Lily James played ‘Cinderella’ in the live-action Disney movie.
The modern day story with Amanda Seyfried as Sophie mirrors the young Donna story in 1979. In the modern day, Sophie is preparing to re-open her mother’s hotel and invites everyone she knows to attend. By the way, if you’re expecting Meryl Streep to return as Donna, you will be sadly disappointed.
In fact, as the film begins in the modern day, Meryl Streep’s character is dead. Yeah. Sophie’s mother, Donna, is already dead as the film begins. I didn’t expect that. Meryl Streep does make an appearance as Donna during the film’s closing scene and I admit it was touching and so sweet to watch in the film.
The combination of two stories mirroring each other in the movie works on varying levels. It was interesting to see how young Donna met the men in her life before she had the baby. But it often gets confusing when you are shifting from the 1979 storyline to the modern day and back again sometimes.
I think this film would’ve worked better if we just focused on the young Donna storyline for first half of the film before we get to modern day storyline in the second half. My Mum did get confused whilst watching the film and did not realise Lily James was the young Donna until we had left the cinema. 😀
It was nice to see the cast back from the first film. As well as Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep, there was also Christine Baranski as Tanya, Julie Walters as Rosie, Pierce Brosnan as Sam, Colin Firth as Harry, Stellan Skarsgård as Bill and Dominic Cooper as Sky. There were also new cast members for this movie.
As well as Lily James, there was Jessica Keenan Wynn as young Tanya, Alexa Davies as young Rosie, Jeremy Irvine as young Sam, Hugh Skinner as young Harry and Josh Dylan as young Bill. There was also Andy Garcia as Fernando Cienfuegos and Cher (this was the first time I saw her) as Ruby, Sophie’s grandmother. I also saw Celia Imrie (from ‘Doctor Who’) and Naoko Mori (from ‘Torchwood’) in this.
I enjoyed the ABBA songs featured in the movie too. There were ones I recognised including ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’, ‘Waterloo’, ‘The Name of the Game’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Super Trouper’ and of course ‘Mamma Mia’. I have to get back into listening to these songs I haven’t heard in a long time.
The film’s end credits sequence was pretty bizarre. Not only did they have the modern day characters appear at the end to sing ‘Super Trouper’ but the 1979 characters as well. It was surreal for Meryl Streep and Lily James to interact with each other. My, the time continuum is going to get pretty messed up. 😀
So yeah, ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ was okay as a film. There was no reason for it to be made, but I guess it was good to watch especially for ABBA and ‘Mamma Mia!’ fans. It’s not as good as the first film in my humble opinion, but it was very entertaining with humour and the ABBA songs to enjoy.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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