Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
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Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Movie Review
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a 2018 musical romantic comedy film directed by Ol Parker and starring Amanda Seyfried and Lily James. It’s such a solid, fun sequel.
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“Have him washed and brought to my tent“
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Yes, this is one of the examples where the sequel clearly trumps its predecessor in quality. Whereas the first ‘Mamma Mia!’ is a passable flick, this one is so much better as a rather solid endeavor. It’s also quite the opposite in its feel and pace. The original was at first fun but it quickly wore off for me whereas this one becomes more and more fun as it goes by.
It’s another very silly, ridiculous even musical that is such a giant fairy tale in its unrealistic character interactions and storylines, but it somehow still works because the charm is definitely there and I would even call this movie irresistible in quality. It’s just so damn endearing, frustratingly so to be honest.
The story is also much better this time around. It’s still slight stuff, but it’s less soapy and more romantic. Certainly all the romances in this film worked splendidly. As for the second subplot which follows Donna’s arrival to the Greek Island, I liked it albeit I found Lily James not a good fit for the younger version of Meryl Streep. Those scenes were charming, but even though Lily did give a good performance, the character herself is rather annoying and even punchable at times.
Meryl Streep so obviously did not want to be here so they killed her character off and thus that entire story about mourning felt abrupt and forced for me. Amanda Seyfried aged so much over this ten-year gap that I was genuinely surprised. Christine Baranski is hilarious this time around, but all the men in the movie are so forgettable that they’re not worth talking about.
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Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again also benefits from still great, charming scenery filmed in Croatia. The acting is also solid, but the soundtrack from ABBA is once again great. The singing is actually much better here and thankfully so. Yes, Dancing Queen again got a bad treatment, but of the new songs, Waterloo, Fernando and Andante, Andante are all excellent.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is again a silly, frequently even ridiculous affair which is such an unrealistic fairy tale with the character interactions being particularly implausible, but it’s still a marked improvement upon its weak predecessor thanks to much better singing this time around, some very well used songs, some endearing characters and an irresistible charm.
