Pierce Brosnan has said that Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is the antidote the world needs right now and as the credits start to role and you’re sat there beaming and dancing along to yet another ABBA hit, it’s impossible to disagree.
It’s almost ten years to the day that Mamma Mia! hit our screens, but for the characters only five years have passed and it seems to have been quite the eventful period for them. The whole original gang is back plus there are some new faces in the crowd too: Lily James takes on the role of young Donna and the singing sensation that is Cher joins the cast as Donna’s mother.
While the cast is reunited, the film has found a new writer and director in Ol Parker who manages to perfectly capture everything that audiences loved from the first film. ABBA’s Benny Andersson is on board with this film too, even making a quick cameo as a piano player in a restaurant where Donna and Harry go on a date. Björn Ulvaeus can also be seen in the opening scene among the teachers when Donna and the Dynamos sing: ‘When I Kissed the Teacher’.
The story is still very much about a mother and daughter relationship but the dynamics of the tale are brand new. We all know that Donna has a past but now Sophie wants to learn more about the brave decisions her mother made that led her to run the hotel and raise her daughter as a single mother.
Filling Meryl Streep’s shoes seems like an impossible task but Lily James as the younger Donna manages to steal the spotlight much like Streep does in the first film. She captures Donna’s free spirit impeccably and her singing and dancing skills make it impossible to take your eyes off of her.
She has so much chemistry with Hugh Skinner (young Harry), Jeremy Irvine (young Sam) and Josh Dylan (young Bill) but it’s Skinner’s ‘Waterloo’ that will stay with you as it’s just so bizarre and unexpected. It’s clear that James also had a lot of fun working with Jessica Keenan Wynn (young Tanya) and Alexa Davies (young Rosie) as all their scenes are full of life and with heaps of energy.
Meanwhile, in the present, it’s great to see that the original cast hasn’t lost sight of what Mamma Mia! is truly about and they bring all the cheese and sparkle that the fans know and love.
It seems, though, that the team listened to audiences over Pierce Brosnan’s singing chops and dialled them back quite a bit. Amanda Seyfried is given more of an opportunity to shine in this film and remind everyone what a special voice she has too.
Of course, Mamma Mia! wouldn’t be the same without Christine Baranski and Julie Walters who provide more of a mothering role this time around but they still manage to keep the laughter rolling.
Of course, there’s a lot of mystery surrounding Donna who is absent from the trailers which has led many fans to believe that she’s dead. While I will not be confirming or denying Donna’s whereabouts (you’ll just have to go see it). What she does do is, as expected, sensational.
And from one star to another, there’s a buzz in the room just moments before Cher makes her grand entrance. It seems like there would be no difference to the story if the Cher storyline was completely removed so having her in this film is just the cherry on the cake and it’s incredible to see the artist take on ABBA and she and Andy Garcia make a great duo.
Most of ABBA’s greatest hits are already on the soundtrack for the first film but some make a return with a brand new arrangement but most of the soundtrack is made up from the less known ABBA songs such as, ‘One of Us’ and ‘Angel Eyes’.
‘The Name of the Game’ was taken out of the first film but it has now found new meaning in this film. It’s obvious that the cast enjoyed singing the songs as much as the audience enjoy hearing them.
While most of us now go into sequels apprehensively, it seems that the Mamma Mia! cast and creative team have cracked the code on making a second film that’s as glittering, hilarious, touching and entertaining as its predecessor and you will want to go again and again and again.
Tal Fox
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