Mama Mia: Here We Go Again

We saw Mama Mia: Here We Go Again this weekend.

Even though I am a lifelong Abba fan, I had inexplicably never seen Mama Mia, the musical based on the music of Abba, until a few months ago when I discovered the movie on Netflix.

Mama Mia is a light, fluffy soufflé of a concoction with silly plot developments going hand in hand with sillier plot contrivances. Mama Mia might be, in many ways, dumb but it’s fun, filled to the bursting with light and joy and by God, you’re going to watch this and be happy, dammit! 

Mama Mia dares you not to be lifted up by love and joy. If you take that dare, Mama Mia wins.

So what about the sequel? It’s right there in the title: Here We Go Again.

Yep, here we go again! Mama Mia 2 is a light, fluffy soufflé of a concoction with silly plot developments going hand in hand with sillier plot contrivances. Mama Mia 2 might be, in many ways, dumb but it’s fun, filled to the bursting with light and joy and by God, you’re going to watch this and be happy, dammit! 

Except could it be even better than the original?

The structure of Mama Mia 2 is that of a prequel and a sequel in one movie. The prequel is a look back at a young Donna Sheridan (played by Lilly James), fresh off of graduating from Oxford with a major high energy kick start production number of “When I Kissed the Teacher”.  Leaving behind her friends and fellow Dynamos Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn expertly channelling Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Alexa Davies as a perfect rendition of a younger Julie Walters), Sophie heads off from London to Paris and then off to the Greek island of Kalokairi that will become her home in paradise, we witness in detail Donna’s relationships with Harry, Bill and Sam (captured in their youth by Hugh Skinner,
Josh Dylan and Jeremy Irvine).  

The sequel part of our story is rooted in the aftermath of tragedy: it has been a year since Donna Sheridan died. 

Yes, the sunny, effervescent core of the first movie is no longer with us. But Donna’s life and energy still informs events as daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) works to bring Donna’s dream to fruition with the grand opening of the resort on the Greek island, Donna’s home in paradise. 

But all is not well in Paradise. Sophie and Sky (Dominc Cooper) are on different paths with Sky looking at a potential career in New York while Sophie is determined to bring her mother’s dream to life.  As Sophie’s story movies forward as she struggles with her loss and her commitment to see her mother’s dream fulfilled, we flash back on young Donna’s journey which parallels Sophie’s own story. 

In addition to Seyfried and Cooper, others from the original cast show up to lend a hand. Christine Baranski (who should be in everything) and Julie Walters return as present day Tonya  and Rosie. Also returning are Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan as Bill, Harry and Sam. (Yes, Brosnan does sing a bit, a line from a heartbreaking arrangement of SOS.) 

Cher shows up as Sophie’s grandmother and tears through “Fernando” like it’s been her song all her life. Cher very nearly steals the show.

 Until Meryl Streep shows up.

Yes, Donna Sheridan is dead but I’ll be damned if Meryl Streep doesn’t show up near the end with a heartwrenching cameo that just squeezes your heart and won’t let go.  

I heard people sobbing around me.

Hell, I was crying. Me, dammit! I don’t cry! I’m emotionally dead inside!

But what is this tiny bit of salt water near my eye?

I am NOT tearing up just thinking about it!

MOVING ON!!!!

Like it’s predecessor, Mama Mia: Here We Go Again is bright and joyful but it mines unexpected depths of emotion.  Because a lot of the bigger ABBA hits were used in the original production, the makers of the sequel have to drill down a bit deeper into the ABBA catalogue but the songs are still powerful and effective. There are some reprises from the original Mama Mia including Mama Mia (of course) and a particularly exhilarating sequence set around Dancing Queen. 

Mama Mia: Here We G Again will make your heart rise, soar, dance in the clouds, crush it into pebbles then sets it soaring again.

I'm not crying! You're crying!