Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

         
 

20 July 2018| No Comments on Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again     by Sean Chavel

 

Harmless. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again puts together scrap pieces for a story, but what family audiences and summer lovers are really here for is the music and the dance choreography. If you love the cast, let it be shamelessly known the movie is a happy reunion of sorts for a lot of returning actors from the first film (not so much for Meryl Streep, as she’s resurrected for just one scene). Amanda Seyfried has taken over the hotel that sits on a paradise Greek island, and her screen presence holds together the movie when there’s not much plot. Seyfried doesn’t need to do any outstanding acting. She just needs to project confidence, or longing, or winsomeness, or whatever else the scenario calls for. The “three” dads from the first film are back. Pierce Brosnan who is so smooth that he makes you nostalgic for a James Bond return, Stellan Skarsgard as a burly playboy, and the slightly nervous Colin Firth who could use a drink to loosen up.

Lily James plays the young Meryl Streep, showing a girl who decades ago took a chance on a Greek vacation and loved it so much, and fell in love so often, she stuck to the place. She is so giggly and vivacious, bouncy and chipper, that I actually cannot believe the men around her have the energy to want to seduce her. There’s something to be said about my personal disposition, but being around this girl in real life would exhaust me, all that nonstop boisterousness (I guess I prefer the earthiness and mysteriousness of Seyfried). But the actors playing the younger incarnations of Brosnan, Skarsgard and Firth, lay a lot of fast, fancy lines on James. Thank you to screenwriter’s wit, yes?

I confess I would lose patience quite often during “Here We Go Again,” which is striving to not be a rehash, but even so, is kind of a rehash of the romantic comedy formula in general. But some kernels of relationship truths are found here and there, and there are a number of B-side ABBA songs that stir the soul. I was happy anytime Seyfried or James grabbed a microphone. And although I was highly skeptic of Cher stealing the spotlight, who knew that her “Fernando” number duet with Andy Garcia would be so keenly emotive and staged with such visual lushness?

This often extremely dorky but irresistible lark has a lot of good, maybe terrific, bits and pieces in it. Some of them silly, some of them earnest, some of them affecting – but terrific little bits. My mind wandered at times, but I was glad to stay tuned in with “Here We Go Again.”

Note: I’ve upgraded it from 3 to 3.5 stars (with love for some sections that could go past 4). So this was my initial review in the summer 2018, pleased to moderation, unknowing that I would go on and love this paradise-trap Old Hollywood throwback. It sparkles nearly every scene.

114 Minutes. Rated PG-13.

MUSICAL COMEDY / AGES 10 AND UP / WEEKEND FAMILY MOVIE 

Film Cousins: “Summer Lovers” (1982); “Grease 2” (1982); “Mamma Mia” (2008); “Burlesque” (2010).

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Sean Chavel

About The Author / Sean Chavel

Sean Chavel is a Hollywood based author and movie reviewer. He is the Executive Director of flickminute.com, a new website that has adapted the movie review site genre by introducing moodbased and movie experience based reviews.

 

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