Rating: PG-13
Director: Ol Parker
Having been listening to the music of ABBA since 8-track tapes existed and the only way to record songs was off the radio (cursing when the deejay would talk over the intro music), when Mamma Mia! was released in 2008 watching the film was almost two hours of nothing but blissful memories for me. I already knew the lyrics to every song, singing along to myself like a kid, and the presence of Meryl Streep (one of my favorite actors, and perhaps one of the few actors working today still deserving of the moniker "star") was only putting chocolate syrup on the sundae. Engaging, fun, lighthearted and endearingly goofy, Mamma Mia! was the ultimate summer film, and I loved it. Flashing forward nine years, I hadn't read much about the sequel going in - maybe giving a cursory look to the trailer, which appeared to be more of the same cotton candy from the first film, plus Cher (!) - so my disappointment was nothing less than bone-deep to discover a joyless, boring, unoriginal, corny, B-side song-filled mess I found myself barely able to sit through until the end. The sequel, set five years after the first film, follows two timelines: Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is frantically prepping for the grand reopening of the Hotel Bella Donna, her mother's pride and joy ... and, in flashback, the story of a young Donna (Meryl Streep's character, here played by Lily James in the past), who - after graduation (and a horribly uninspired musical number revolving around the graduation) - decides to chuck it all and travel. See the world, find her destiny - and of course, boff three guys in a short enough span of time, any of them could be Sophie's daddy. There's very little going on in the present (Sophie and Sky's marriage may be in trouble, yawn), which exists only to frame the story of Donna's past, and how alike she and Sophie supposedly are. The dance/musical numbers, meanwhile, all come off lifeless or as if staged by a high school drama teacher, many of the ABBA songs used being lesser-known or B-side tunes that make the film feel even more off-kilter than it already does. Not even the presence of Cher, brief as it is, saves things, and to keep this post spoiler-free I will just say don't even get me started on what the filmmakers did to Donna/Streep here; let's just say that finding it out early on in the film is what let me know I was on a slippery slope to Disgustedville from scene one. To me, the more you liked the first film - its sense of joy and fun and unashamed cuteness - the more reason to steer very clear of this one, which has little to none of those qualities. 2/10 stars
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