MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN
US, 2018, 114 minutes, Colour.
Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgaard, Colin Firth, Cher, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Jeremy Irvine, Andy Garcia, Josh Dylan, Hugh Skinner, Celia Imrie, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Omid Djalili.
Directed by Ol Parker.
Actually, the title might have been better with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Before. While the core of the plot takes place in the present, 10 years after the original film, most of this story is in flashback.
We get an initial shock to hear that Donna (Meryl Streep) has died the year before. There are a number of pictures of her in the house on the Greek island, but she doesn’t appear herself until the end of the film, singing a plaintive ballad, but joining in the exuberance of the final credits choreography. Her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), is planning the opening of the home as a hotel, Bella Donna, in her mother’s memory.
So, this is Donna’s story, but Donna back at the end of the 1970s. She is played with exceeding vim, vigour and vitality, as well as charm, by Britain’s Lily James (Downton Abbey, Cinderella, The Guernsey… Literary Society). And we see her first at her university graduation in the UK, the valedictory speaker, but suddenly bursting into song and taking over the whole ceremony, upstaging the vice chancellor at first (Celia Imre) but then she joining in with enthusiasm.
There are some references to Donna’s mother, a travelling singer, Ruby. Ruby, not invited to the opening of the renovated hotel, turns up and takes control of the whole show. She is played by Cher, a strikingly commanding and glamorous presence.
But, back in the past, Donna has a yearning to go to Greece. And, on the way, she encounters three young men (whom devotees are familiar with from the first film), the three potential fathers of her baby. Harry is a student in Paris. Bill is a sailor from Sweden in Greece. Sam is on a kind of Gap Experience in Greece.
While there are lots of ABBA songs, quite a number of the favourites which have become part of our psyche over the last 40 years, there are a few less familiar songs, some ballads, sung by the young Donna with the young men, some by Sophie to her absent husband Sky, doing a business course in New York (Dominic Cooper).
And, so, the screenplay involves us in the present and the preparation for the opening of the hotel, challenged by devastating storm, Sophie upset that Harry and Bill cannot come, is Sky will be absent… However, thank goodness, Christine Baranski, especially, and Julie Walters turn up as Donna’s old friends, Tanya and Rosie) and contribute to the humour of the interactions, with some Christine Baranski wisecracks.
And while the casting of the three suitors in their young days are credible enough for the older Sam, Harry and Bill, the actresses who portray the younger friends, Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies, are spot on. (And Pierce Brosnan singing has not improved – that he does get to do some dancing. Colin Firth is still averse to dancing. And there is a funny joke with Stellan Skarsgaard in a fat suit as his twin brother.)
Not to forget the presence of Andy Garcia. Whether the writers wanted to have Fernando being sung in the new film or whether they wanted to give a back story to Cher and her younger days, they have been planted a plot detail to enable Cher to do a show-stopping rendition of Fernando.
As with the first one, the film is rather slight and, at times, silly. But, this will not matter too much to the potential fans, eager to hear the ABBA songs (yet again), to enjoy the story of Donna and her suitors and, nice climax, Sophie being pregnant and everybody assembling for the baptism.
(And, as a reward for those who sit through the credits, there is a joke, continued from the film, with comedian Omid Djalili at passport control.)
One local enthusiast in a Catholic paper thought that the film was ABBA-solutely wonderful, while an ABC radio reviewer said it was a terrible film – but later added “but you’re going to go out and see it anyway�. And that will probably be it all around the world.
1. The popularity and success in the original film? ABBA songs, the cast – high-powered? The light touch, the Greek islands and the sea? The plot and the focus on Donna, Sophie, the three potential fathers? Sophie and her getting married to Sky?
2. The wait of 10 years for the sequel? Audiences ready? The surprise that Donna was dead? Her pictures in the hotel? People talking about her fondly, Rosie weeping? Sophie wanting the hotel in her honour?
3. The visuals and locations, Greece, the islands, sea? Oxford, the University, the graduation? Paris, the landmarks, the romance? Sequences in Japan for Harry? Sequences in Stockholm and the joke about Bill? Sky in New York and his course?
4. The songs, the lesser known songs, the well-known songs? The occasions for insertion? The teacher song and Oxford? The ballads for the relationship between the young Donna and the men? Sophie and Skye and their separation? The ballad for Donna at the end? The incorporation of the well-known songs and audiences enjoying the repetitions? Of Mama Mia, Dancing Queen…? And the invention of the story of Ruby and the opportunity for introducing Fernando?
5. The situation in the present, the opening of the hotel, Sam and his continued presence and support of Sophie, Fernando and his work, the various members of the staff? Tanya and Rosie to arrive? Harry, Bill and Sky being absent? The storm and the devastation? Sophie’s loss of spirit, Sam encouraging?
6. The past, Donna as young, the mentions of her mother being absent, singing tours, studies in England, Donna and her friendship with the young Tanya and Rosie? The graduation, speech, turning it into song and dance, the principal joining in the spirit and singing? The three friends and their separation, Donna and her dreams, their support? Going to Paris, the encounter with Harry, his awkwardness, the time together, the night together, the song? His attempt to find her in Greece, his absence? Her going to Greece, her needing a boat to the island, Bill and his skills, the sailing, the experience together? The competition, his sailing away? Sam, touring on the island, his giving her a lift, the time together, the attraction? Discovering that he was engaged? His leaving?
7. Donna, on the island, the ruined building, the audition for singing, charming everyone, having a job, the mother and her letting her have the house, her renovating? Her being pregnant, the effect? Support of her friends? Sophie’s birth? Donna staying, putting on the dungarees and the link between the younger Donna and the older Donna?
8. Harry in Japan, business deals, Japanese efficiency, wanting to go to Greece? Bill, in Stockholm, the award, his increase in size and the fat suit, the joke about this being his twin brother? Arriving in Greece – and the jokes about weathering the years from the passport control officer? Their all being reunited, with Sam? Joy, memories?
9. Sky, his getting back, reunited, Sophie and her pregnancy?
10. The renewal of the celebration and the opening of the hotel? All the songs and dances? The choreography?
11. Sophie and the invitations, tearing up the one to Ruby? Ruby arriving, Cher and her imposing presence, white suit, face and make-up, manner, dominating? The interactions
with Sophie? With Sky? Discovering Fernando? The occasion for the duet with Cher and Andy Garcia?
12. Tanya and Rosie, the characters, comedy, songs and dances, Tanya and wisecracks?
13. Donna reappearing, the impact of Meryl Streep, her song?
14. Everybody in the church, the presence for the baptism, Sophie and her joy, everybody supportive? Donna appearing?
15. The finale, exuberant song and dance, including both Donnas, a climax to the Mama Mia film experience?
