{"id":2537,"date":"2018-07-18T07:50:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T12:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2018-07-24T07:53:38","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T12:53:38","slug":"abbas-music-makes-mamma-mia-here-we-go-again-a-worthy-visit-to-a-greek-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=2537","title":{"rendered":"Abba\u2019s Music Makes \u201cMamma Mia! Here We Go Again\u201d A Worthy Visit To A Greek Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Brad Balfour<\/em><\/p>\n

Opening 10 years to the week after the first film was released, \u201cMamma Mia! Here We Go Again\u201d \u2014 the \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d sequel \u2014 provides perfectly mindless summer entertainment. <\/p>\n

The ABBA song-infused musical \u2014 the first film being based on the hit Broadway show \u2014 opens with the daughter of the late free-spirited rock singer expatriate innkeeper Donna (Meryl Streep), anxiously planning the reopening of her mom\u2019s hotel on a Greek-island with a grand party.<\/p>\n

Played again by Amanda Seyfried, Sophie\u2019s gone from sweet ing\u00e9nue into a dynamic self-possessed woman in command. Again we hear her sing in a surprisingly self possessed performance. <\/p>\n

Quickly, the presence of her major domo Fernando (Andy Garcia) and her boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper) are established \u2014 especially through a long distance duet signing \u201cOne of Us\u201d in which she bemoans his absence as he contemplates about taking a hotel job in New York\u2008City. <\/p>\n

But it really kicks off when, in flashing back to 1979, we see Donna at the end of her Oxford undergraduate days. As played by actress Lilly James, she\u2019s not only is bright, beautifully blonde but also an exuberant and richly voiced belter as demonstrated in her energized performance of \u201cWhen I Kissed the Teacher\u201d with fellow Donna and the Dynamos members Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davies). <\/p>\n

The dynamic staging \u2014 at her college graduation \u2014 illustrates that director Ol Parker provides a more lively setting for this collection of the Swedish group\u2019s pop hits than the first \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d movie. <\/p>\n

On stage, the jukebox musical\u2019s plot was a contrivance to situate the songs; this sequel better integrates the songs into an actual plot.<\/p>\n

The film alternates between daughter Sophie\u2019s planning a troubled celebration (while also discovering she\u2019s pregnant) with concerns as to whether her three fathers will make it to the reopening of Hotel Bella Donna and her mother\u2019s genesis four decades ago. <\/p>\n

It reveals the sexy scenarios 40 years ago in which the three men who had wooed and slept with the young Donna leave all wondering who was the real father. <\/p>\n

In the original film, Donna explains a bit about the three men; here it\u2019s fully illuminated through song and dance as to how they came into her life and left it.<\/p>\n

The young Donna\u2019s suitors are both sexy and self absorbed enough to appeal. First come Harry (Colin Firth\u2019s character), played here by Hugh Skinner as a too polite punk, in a T-shirt and ridiculous leather jacket; together they perform an exuberant duet on \u201cWaterloo.\u201d <\/p>\n

Then she meets Bill (Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s character), the hunky blond sailor played by Josh Dylan who ferries her to the island. Then Sam, the young Pierce Brosnan character (played by Jeremy Irvine), finally lands in her life with enough enthusiasm to show that he\u2019s likely Donna\u2019s true love.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere We Go Again\u201d uses some songs that appeared in the first film such as the title number and a re-staging of \u201cDancing Queen,\u201d with a chorus running through the woods ending up on that same beach, where they perform a huge group dance number. ABBA\u2019s greatest hits were mined for the first film, so many of the songs here are less high-profile tunes, possessed of a more reflective, less bubbly quality.<\/p>\n

As the movie cuts back and forth between the top-flight vocals of Sophie and James\u2019 Donna, \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d Here We Go Again\u201d seems determined not to get too involved in any emotional concerns \u2014 will they have an audience to attend their party after a storm nearly wrecks it \u2014 while older and younger cast members try to keep up with each other. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to see the older Dynamos, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, have several moments in the sun which celebrate a more mature perspective.<\/p>\n

Various gems appear from the catalog and that\u2019s good thing for an otherwise flimsy storyline. Several of the numbers like \u201cAndante, Andante\u201d (a slow-love anthem) or \u201cAngel Eyes\u201d soar and one of ABBA\u2019s finest songs, \u201cThe Name of the Game,\u201d which was dropped from the first film appears here.<\/p>\n

But the charm of this film is how the old and the new integrate with scenes that include a decent performance from Streep and only a few moments of the crusty vocals from Brosnan (much criticized for his vocals in the first film). <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it, with a Broadway show we count on incredible vocals and dancing \u2014 here\u2019s it all about seeing the celebs and regular actors shake their booty. Especially on an ABBA classic like \u201cSuperTrooper.\u201d <\/p>\n

And then, of course, there\u2019s the injection of pop royalty when Cher steps in front of the camera as Ruby Sheridan, Sophie\u2019s long absent grandmother (who hardly seems old enough to be Streep\u2019s mom). <\/p>\n

If any singing superstar suits the \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d aesthetic, it\u2019s Cher, whose performance of \u201cFernando\u201d actually makes the passion between her and Garcia\u2019s character seem like an ideal moment of pop kitsch. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, there no illusion that is is meant to be anything but another chance use ABBA\u2019s substantial catalog (there even a band member cameo in one scene). <\/p>\n

The closing scene which brings together all the cast old and new is just one huge celebratory Broadway-esque closer. <\/p>\n

The film hardly pretends that it exists for no other than to fulfill the demand for a sequel but what a good one that\u2019s pure fun. And in end, even at its most kitschy, its a love paean to the bond between mothers and daughters and the power of women. <\/p>\n

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