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| Image credit: Wikipedia |
‘Here we go again’ is the tagline and while it does rehash a few classic
tracks from the first film, as a sequel Mamma
Mia 2 leaves a lot to be desired. The other day I bought into the hype and
took myself to the movies to see it and despite the soundtrack selling out like
crazy, sales of the first movie going through the roof, and the endless stream
of customers I’ve had raving about the film, I have to say that I was (again)
disappointed. If I take away anything from this experience, it’s that I really need
to stop buying into hype; first TheGreatest Showman and now this…
Set five years after the first movie, Mamma Mia 2 chronicles Sophie’s remodelling of her mother’s hotel
and putting on a spectacular party for its grand re-opening. Sadly, things
start to fall apart as she and Sky have relationship problems, two of her three
fathers say they can’t attend the party, and a great storm destroys most of the
décor. Running parallel to Sophie’s story is a flashback story that chronicles
a young Donna’s travels to Greece and the three romances she had before
discovering she was pregnant.
The get the nastiness out of the way, this is a badly written film. Most
of it is just lazy with unstimulating dialogue and shoddy tie-ins to the first
film. But my major problem with it is the consistency issue: Cher’s character.
No spoiler warning as the trailer gives it away, but Cher plays Sophie’s
grandmother, Donna’s mother. Now, in the first film Donna herself, while
admittedly never really saying, heavily implies that her mother is dead:
“someone up there has got it in for me, I bet it’s my mother.” Descriptions of
Donna’s mother in the first film also lead us to believe that she’s a
conservative woman. Cher’s character is a glamorous singer who travels the
world, no doubt has had many romances
herself, and is definitely not the
woman we’ve been lead to believe that Donna’s mother is. More to the point, she shouldn’t even be in the film!!
Unless she’s an incredibly well preserved corpse (which would explain why she
looks younger than Meryl Streep) there is no way she could be around for a
party five years after Meryl said line. While I really do love Cher, her
character was the entirely pointless and a classic example of people writing in
characters because they wanted big names in the cast.
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| Image credit: Mirror |
But, despite the lazy writing, the lack of drama, and the massive
consistency issue, I have to get credit where credit is due. The performances
are all wonderful. Lily James as a young Donna is such a pure and free spirit,
impossible not to fall in love with, and Alexa Davis, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Hugh
Skinner, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine, who played a young Rosie, Tanya, Harry,
Bill, and Sam all did incredibly well.
The overall feel of the film is bubbly and full of life. Classic ABBA tracks
that didn’t make it into the first movie are given their chance to shine and
everyone does a wonderful job of them. The costumes are a triumph too with
bellbottoms and jumpsuits for days! And despite being angry about some things I
found myself enjoying others; I chuckled, I teared up, and yes I even sang
along with a few of the songs. While it’s not critically or even cinematically
exceptional, Mamma Mia 2 is fun and
while it doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of the first film, it’s not entirely terrible.
Director: Ol Parker, 2018
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Dominic
Cooper, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan, Alexa Davis, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Hugh
Skinner, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Andy
Garcia, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Cher, and Meryl Streep
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