Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, an unexpected good time sequel, takes some time to settle into—the songs aren’t quite as good as the first go-round and there’s patent silliness in nearly every frame—but the anything-to-please eagerness, informing every production number, one-liner and candy colored visual gets the job done. And damned well, I might add.
It’s been ten years since 2008’s wispy (and that’s being generous) Mamma Mia!, the box office hit film adaptation of the beloved Abba jukebox musical starring Meryl Streep as one Donna Sheridan, the owner of a Mediterranean-kissed, Greek taverna whose daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried)’s nuptials set off an identity farce about which of Donna’s former suitors (Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgaard, Pierce Brosnan) might be Sophie’s father and willing to give her away.
As festivities descended upon the island along with Donna’s lifelong best friends Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters), Mamma Mia! was a paper thin yet tremendously enjoyable lark, albeit an at-times lead-footed affair due to stage bound direction by Phyllida Lloyd (and Pierce Brosnan’s much maligned rendition of SOS), but it was nonetheless a cool breeze driven largely by its three powerhouse actresses as former amateur pop trio Donna and the Dynamos, dubbed “the world’s first girl power band.”
It helps this time that some critical new players are onboard, starting with writer-director Ol Parker, whose The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was no slouch of a romantic, thoughtful comedy. That he’s given a story assist by the great Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Notting Hill) and the musical’s original scribe, Catherine Johnson, should give you an idea of the movie’s shiny pedigree.
And there are two smart casting additions, starting with an effervescent, movie star performance from a radiant Lily James (Baby Driver, Downton Abbey), whose ray of sun performance here calls to mind the early days that made Julia Roberts a star—she’s that warm and engaging, and does it all here, from screwball funny to heartbroken and all in great voice.
The new picture employs a past-present structure beginning back on the fictional Greek isle of Kalokairi (shot in Croatia) where returning Sophie (Seyfried) is preparing to launch a new restaurant named Bella Donna, namesake of her late mother, whom we learn passed a year earlier. She’s also at an impasse with longtime love Sky (Dominic Cooper), away in New York, perhaps permanently, managing a restaurant.
Parker establishes a believable bit of early melancholy in this fissure, quickly remedied in flashing back to 1979 Oxford where young Donna (James), donning glitter platform boots beneath her graduation gown, launches into the picture’s opening number, When I Kissed the Teacher, a thin song typifying much of the new picture’s reach into the lesser known Abba catalog. The great songs were used the first time around, and some are repeated here, but at least half the numbers this time are merely passable, and you won’t remember them. The number also introduces young Tanya (Baranski dead-ringer Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davies).
Before long Donna is headed off the Mediterranean and finds herself courted by three young paramours. Innocuously inexperienced Harry (Hugh Skinner) is first, leading to a kitschy, energetic restaurant production number that even incorporates Busby Berkley-style lensing (take that, Phyllida Lloyd!).
Next is bronzed, blue-eyed sailor Bill (Josh Dylan) who gives Donna a lift on his sailboat for Why Did It Have to Be Me, another lackluster tune delivered with such good humor it hardly matters. Rounding out the suitors is the fine actor Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) as handsome Sam, and there is a scene between the lovers set on a rowboat and so filled with youthful, idealistic zeal that you simply can’t resist it (nor should you). The ebullient pair delivers a solid rendition of Knowing Me, Knowing You, during which adult counterpart Brosnan memorably belly flopped in the first picture.
The picture shuttles between past and present as Donna takes up residence on the island, alone, after getting hired as a singer in the local taverna, and Baranski and Walters show up on present-day Kalokairi, shifting the picture into comic gear. Andy Garcia also in tow as—you guessed it—Fernando Cienfuegos, the new venue’s handsome manager. Sophie, meanwhile, is missing her mother and nursing regrets over the possible loss of Sky.
And then Cher shows up, from a helicopter no less, and nearly walks away with the movie, reminding us why she’s Cher, essentially playing herself and delivering a gorgeous version of Fernando that strikes just the right note of star turn and poignancy. You may find, surprisingly like I did, that you are stirred in the film’s final scenes. Parker, shifting gears from goofy to sincerely, manages a sequence with Streep and Seyfried that is honest-to-goodness touching.
The film looks great courtesy of cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman (Bridesmaids, The Grand Budapest Hotel), shot in widescreen and capturing a spectrum of vivid colors and, more importantly, the radiance of Lily James’ smile in close-up.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is an infectious good time, improving on its wispy predecessor with an inspired aesthetic, better musical staging and a more emotionally potent story.
Against your better judgement, don’t fight it.
3 stars.
