I hate 2008’s Mamma Mia!.
The story is dumb and half the actors can’t carry a tune in a paper bag. Still, there’s an undeniable energy to the way one ABBA hit plays after another, barely justified by or connected to the plot in between. You can probably imagine, then, how hard I rolled my eyes when I heard a sequel was coming. However, now that I’ve seen Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, I’m proud to report it is the most joyful film of 2018 so far.
Written and directed by Ol Parker (best known for writing both The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films), it picks up a few years after the original and one year after Donna’s (Meryl Streep) offscreen death. Her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has spent that year finishing renovations on the Greek farmhouse her mother first turned into a hotel and when the film starts, she’s planning a big party to publicize the reopening. As Sophie worries about honoring her mother’s legacy, we see flashbacks of young Donna (Lily James) as she meets the three men who could be Sophie’s father.
The first Mamma Mia! made Seyfried into a star and while Sophie is still the co-lead, Here We Go Again is really James’s film. Though James did well with a nothing role in last year’s Baby Driver and helped make 2015’s live-action Cinderella remake so sweepingly romantic, this feels like her breakout role. Streep is a hard act to follow, yet James makes it easy to understand how three men could fall in love with Donna in such quick succession.
James is infinitely watchable and the film exploits that, bathing her in golden light and dressing her in colorful clothes that feel like the outward expressions of the character’s vibrancy and zest for life. At one point, we see her dancing in a sun-dappled grove with flower petals falling in slow-motion around her, like some Greek goddess come to life. There’s also the energy she puts into the musical numbers, bringing a rock star energy that sometimes reads a little false when Streep tries it.
That’s true of the rest of the film too. Where the original’s tone sometimes felt forced and, frankly, poorly choreographed, it feels genuine here. Every number is great—including those reprised from the first film. While the re-do of “Dancing Queen” is an absolute spectacle and seemingly the most fun Colin Firth has ever had, the most surprising is the new version of “Waterloo.” It takes place in a Napoleon-themed restaurant (seriously) in Paris where the younger version of Colin Firth’s Harry played by Hugh Skinner tries to convince Donna to sleep with him. It’s undeniably silly, but Skinner is so committed that you can’t help but be swept up.
While Skinner’s impression of Firth’s take on Harry is one of the film’s highlights, the young cast are universally excellent. Jeremy Irvine as young Pierce Brosnan manages to capture the former James Bond’s voice while still making the character his own and Josh Dylan as young Stellan Skarsgård makes it easy to imagine Bill as the horn dog he’s always accused of being. Perhaps the most uncanny impression, though, is film newcomer/Broadway veteran, Jessica Keenan Wynn’s of Christine Baranski’s Tanya. She perfectly recreates Baranski’s aloofness and wry wit that you wouldn’t be surprised to hear she’s actually her clone and both women get some of the funniest moments in the film.
However, as much as fun as Here We Go Again is, it packs a surprising emotional punch too. We feel Streep’s absence just as much as the characters and it’s so satisfying to see her return as some sort of vision near the film’s end and sing “My Love, My Life” with Seyfried. These films are ultimately about mother-daughter relationships and it’s touching to see the relationship that fueled the first film reaffirmed here.
Speaking of mother-daughter relationships, this can’t end without some mention of Cher’s introduction as Ruby, Donna’s mother. It is absurd that the singer plays the mother of a woman who is only three years her junior in real life, but one of Parker’s best decisions is to lean into that absurdity. We never forget we’re watching Cher and the film acknowledges our excitement to see her by basically letting her enter the film’s last act by congratulating the audience on being present to watch her.
Indeed, it is truly a gift to see her nearly walk off with the film as she sings the crap out of “Fernando” and lands every joke so well that she almost puts Baranski and Wynn to shame. Like everything else in the film, Cher is just so much fun to watch that it’s easy to forgive or completely ignore the weaknesses.
Despite the fun, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is not a perfect film. The timelines make no sense (How can Sophie be in her 20’s when the costumes in the flashbacks suggest Donna met her three suitors in the ‘70s? How old are all these people? What age was Cher supposed to be when she birthed Meryl and what year was it?) and the campiness is so intense that it probably won’t work for some people. However, what makes this sequel so successful is that it knows logic doesn’t matter in the face of unbridled joy. All you have to do is give yourself over to it.
Rating: 8.5/10
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is now playing in theaters nationwide.
