Hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since the producing team of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson successfully brought one of today’s most popular musical romantic comedy plays to the big screen…
MAMMA MIA! would go on to earn in the neighborhood of $610 million in worldwide ticket sales.
So you just knew that their had to be a follow-up—and it arrives in theaters this weekend.
MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAINis a sequel. But it is also a TWIST IN TIME PREQUEL giving us the backstory of Donna, the possible three dads and how she ended up on that Greek island.
The good new, of course, is that the ENTIRE original cast is back including Meryl Streep (well sort of), Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Waters, Christine Baranski, Dominic Cooper, Stellan Skarsgard—EVERYONE!
The film begins in the late 70’s with Lily James as a young, pretty and free-spirited Donna Sheridan leaving school (and ‘The Dynamos’) for a great big world adventure—with some romantic hook-ups along the way.
Fast forward to the present where we find Sophie having just upgraded the old Greek hotel. It’s now called the Hotel Bella Donna and everyone is attending the grand re-opening.
Oh, and Sophie is expecting.
SPOILER ALERT!
Donna is no longer around. The mother character has died.
But not to worry as Meryl Streep is still very much part of the picture.
And so it goes. Back and forth to flashback scenes and right back to current goings-on and beyond.
It’s all a bit overdone for my taste.
And let’s not forget the musical glue that holds it all together; the music of ABBA!
Only problem is that much of the super group’s hits-catalogue was used in the original smash hit movie in 2008.
Now what?
Easy—rinse and repeat with some of the major ABBA tunes while supplementing the rest of the soundtrack with lesser known Abba songs like When I Kissed The Teacher.
But the showstopper is Cher appearing near the end of the film as Ruby Sheridan, Donna’s mom. She hits the screen with a rousing rendition of Fernando which she dedicates to the new hotel manager played by Andy Garcia.
The bottom line: it’s a bit more reflective, thought-provoking and personal.
But let’s not get tear jerky here. After all this is MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN which grades out a solid B in my Abba playbook.
Catch JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings at 9:50 a.m. during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.
