Large Popcorn Review

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Family Friendly?: Yes

When I watched the original Mamma Mia with my girlfriend, I was very unsure how I would feel about the movie itself. After watching it, I loved the soundtrack, but the movie was okay with me. When I heard about the sequel, I knew I would have to take my girlfriend to go see it, and then we get to the theatre. After the opening scene, no joke, I turned to her and said: “Is it bad that I am actually liking this so far?”

PLOT:

This movie is about a woman named Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her trying to open a hotel for her mom Donna (Meryl Streep) after she passed away a year before the movie takes place. While she goes through the struggles of getting ready for the opening, the film goes to the past and shows the audience how Donna met three guys, who one is potentially Sophie’s real father, and how she got together with them. Will Sophie be able to get everything ready for the grand opening? Or will it be a disaster?

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Compared to the original, there were a ton of things that I thought they did right for the sequel in terms of cinematography, story, characters, and the music itself. Here We Go Again! has a much-needed update in the visuals department. In some musical numbers, it actually felt like a musical movie such as “The Greatest Showman” (2017), and instead of looking bad, they looked smooth, crisp, and on point with the story they were trying to do. For example, in the Waterloo musical number, they used people in the restaurant as background dancers, and their environment in a musical way, with the food, tables, tablecloths, and furniture being moved in a synchronized way with the beat and tempo of the song.

One element that I thought was very significant in the film is Lily James as a young Donna. In this film, we see how young Donna ended up on the island, along with how she met the three men who could potentially be Sophie’s true father. James brings the characteristics that Streep brought to the original film, however, because they focus more on James’ portrayal of the character in this film, I honestly think that she did a better job than Streep herself. You can see she is a person who is strong and independent, just wanting to go on adventures before she has to go into the real world after college. Also, if there ever was a third one, they can easily go back to James and the other actors they used for the flashback scenes because there’s more to develop from the time Sophie is born all the way to the events in the first film.

Something that bothered a ton of fans of the original was how this film changed the order of how Donna met the three men. I can see why they could be mad about that because it was heavily believed that one of the men was the father because he was with Donna first. However, I honestly didn’t care that they changed the order. The only thing that I was confused about was how one of the guys, Harry, could still be a potential father, because his younger self only has about 10 minutes in the film, while the other two younger versions of Bill and Sam were in it for most of the movie itself. I feel like with how it was said that Harry and Donna were close in the first one, then they would at least show him give her the guitar that she had in the first one.

The reason why I didn’t like the first one was that I was focusing on the story, and wanting to see a movie that made sense. Before going into the second one, I began to realize that these movies are basically made to just entertain people. Although, there are some inconsistencies with some events that are mentioned in the first one, AKA the order she met the guys who could be Sophie’s father. One thing to realize is that film was made over a decade ago, and back then they probably didn’t intend on making a sequel.

Overall, if you are to watch this film, just go in expecting a good time, and don’t look at it in terms of consistency or how unrealistic the story is. Movies like these are ones that I wish could be made more often, because these films make you escape reality during its runtime, and gets you to focus on having a good time at the theaters. Just the closing scene with “Super Trooper” with all 16 cast members was just something you have to see, and just appreciate with how the hell they convinced the actors to do this, and just enjoy it.

4.5/5 POPCORN KERNELS