Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again : Movie Review


Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) - Movie PosterThe glistening sunshine pop stylings of Swedish music group ABBA run far and wide, having inspired a long-running, Tony-nominated Broadway musical, a big-screen adaptation (2008's frequently-shark-jumping-but-who-cares-because-it's-so-dang-infectious "Mamma Mia!"), and now a ten-years-later film sequel. "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" is even thinner than its already-slight predecessor, a veritable cotton-candy clothesline upon which to hang a huge ensemble and an array of musical numbers, this time a mix of beloved hit singles and worthy but less well-known B-sides. Writer-director Ol Parker (2006's "Imagine Me & You") brings undoubted showmanship to his performance set-pieces, but also an underlying melancholic tone to a script touching upon the ever-fluid passage of time. The lack of substantive conflict, however, is certainly felt here, leaving one less engaged in between the sweet and rollicking songs.

It has been a tough year of change and healing for Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is preparing for the grand re-opening of Hotel Bella Donna without the aid of mother Donna (Meryl Streep). As she, new manager Fernando (Andy Garcia), and dad Sam (Pierce Brosnan) make last-minute preparations while awaiting the arrival of their guests, the hands of time turn back to 1979, when new college graduate Donna (Lily James) experienced a life-changing summer that led her to her future home on the Greek island of Kalokairi. The three potential suitors she met on her travels—beguiling, virginal Brit Harry (Hugh Skinner); coolly flirtatious Swedish sailor Bill Anderson (Josh Dylan); and sensitive Irish-American architect Sam (Jeremy Irvine)—would eventually lead to Donna's pregnancy with Sophie. Any one of them could be her father and, as she came to discover in the first picture, she didn't really care which one because she loved them all.


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Author : Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com.