Film Review: Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

So…here we go again!

After nearly ten years since the original Mamma Mia, the hit Broadway musical and box office hit film (generating over $600 million at the world wide box office), returns for another dose of ABBA inspired music and sing-alongs that fun for the whole…rather female family.

Acting as both a sequel and prequel, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again continues from the first film, showing us just how Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) plans to re-open Hotel Bella Donna in the beautiful Greek Islands while being pregnant. With the help of only one of her three fathers Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Sophie does everything in her power to give the best grand opening party ever. Yet, for the first time in all her life, she has never felt closer to her mother Donna (Meryl Streep).

While Here We Go Again is such as silly and absurd as its predecessor, the truly best parts of the sequel, aren’t the sequel aspects at all, but the prequel aspects. The majority of Here We Go Again. showcases a young Donna (Lily James) and how she came about to Greece and how she came to meet (and fall in love) with the three influential men in her life, including a young Harry (Hugh Skinner), an young Bill (Josh Dylan) and a young Sam (Jeremy Irvine).

While Here We Go Again is surely meant to be Sophie’s story, especially given Sophie’s pregnancy with Sky’s (Dominic Cooper) baby, the move never quite allows Sophie to being the star. Always in the shadow of her mother and what an amazing woman and presence she was, both in a narrative sense and reality sense, Seyfried’s Sophie is constantly overshadowed by both Meryl Streep’s Donna, and now, Lily James’ Donna. Both Donna’s are shining examples of just how exuberant, vibrant and lively Donna really is; a soul who leaves her friends on a whim, travels the world with no regrets, and gets into bed with any cute man that puts in any effort to sweep her off her feet. Whoops!

Its in Here We Go Again where the audience can truly appreciate the amazing absence of the amazing Meryl Streep and her interpretation of Donna, and James is more than up to the task and does an incredible job of brining to life a beloved character.

One of the more disappointing features of Here We Go Again is the void of Streep on-screen. While much of the marketing and promotional advertising promises Streep in the newest film, her return is not for quite long, and overshadowed greatly by her mother, Ruby, played by the queen of glam and glory, Cher. While the queen of disco only shows up very late in the film, she does what Cher does best, providing the film with its fair share of sass, attitude and divine diva-ness that capsules the film into queen like status, yas!

While Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again isn’t the most spectacular musical you’ll watch, especially after such genre-defining work on La La Land, you can sure bet that this latest instalment of the popular ABBA pop group’s discography, will one a huge hit amongst women, mothers and inspire an onslaught of mother/daughter dates for the remainder of summer 2018.

Night Film Reviews: 3 Out of 10 Stars.

What did you think of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again? Perfect mother/daughter date movie? Instant classic? Musical magic or minuscule achievement to the genre? Leave your thoughts, songs or voice notes below! 

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