Director: Ol Parker
Cast: Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan
Running: 113 minutes
Release: 20/07/2018
It doesn’t feel like Mamma Mia was released ten years ago, almost to the day in fact. Mamma Mia was a huge success and grossed over £600 million on just a £60 million budget. It was shown in the cinemas for months with an additional singalong version, it had people singing and dancing in the aisles – I was one of them, and I loved it enough to watch it three times over. It truly was an uplifting film and offered escapism from the credit crunch of 2008.
After such great success I guess it’s only natural a sequel should be made. Except, did Mamma Mia need a sequel? Let’s face it, it probably didn’t but there is no denying that ABBA have got a repertoire of catchy, feel good songs.
Five years after the events of Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again sees Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) preparing for the reopening of the Hotel Bella Donna with potential dad number one Sam (Pierce Brosnan). Sophie’s gone upmarket and hopes lots of rich people will attend. Whilst preparing for the reopening, Sophie is in a sombre mood as Sky (Dominic Cooper) is living in New York and has just received a tempting job offer whilst her other two dads Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) are both working abroad. It leads Sophie into thinking about her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep) and the hardships she faced when she left school for Greece in the 70’s.
Cue Lily James playing a young Donna as she bursts into an energetic performance of ‘When I Kissed the Teacher’ (featuring a cameo from Celia Imrie). Whilst it has to be said you won’t know every song they sing, it doesn’t matter because they’ll still have you humming along. The flash back scenes feature a young, energetic Donna who begins her journey to Europe. On her way she meets each of Sophie’s future fathers, first an awkward encounter with Harry (brilliantly portrayed by Hugh Skinner), next Bill (Josh Dylan) and finally Sam (Jeremy Irvine). It’s a shame these scenes are woven in between a sad and stressed out Sophie which dampens the film as you eagerly await the next flashback where all the fun is happening.
Luckily, the Dynamos have returned AKA Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters) with their younger counterparts (Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies) who add a much needed comic relief to help brighten the mood as they both try to chat up the new hotel manager (Andy Garcia).
Thankfully everything comes together for the climatic end scene with a reprisal of an ABBA favourite, the return of Harry and Bill and the entrance of Cher. This helps lift Sophie’s spirits and indeed the audiences who clapped and cheered to the ending sequence. After all, this is what Mamma Mia is all about, it’s silly, it’s funny and it makes you feel good.
All I can say is that I hope a singalong version will be released soon and no, Pierce Brosnan’s singing doesn’t get much better.
