We judge it for you: Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! is the latest movie musical to be adapted from the stage, with somewhat mixed results. A treacly, sparkly confection of a movie, Mamma Mia! doesn’t have the acting gravitas of Chicago or the dazzling choreography of Hairspray, but what it does have is ABBA, the 1970s pop quartet who provide the ridiculously catchy songs for the movie.
The premise of the movie is that 20-year-old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to be married on the Greek island where her single mother Donna (Meryl Streep) owns an inn, but wants her father to walk her down the aisle. The catch: she has identified three potential fathers (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard) from her mother’s diary, and has invited all three to her wedding to figure out which one is her real father.
What follows is all manner of singing and dancing to ABBA favorites like “Dancing Queen,” “Super Trouper” “Honey Honey,” “Voulez-Vous,” and many more. The talented actors and actresses in the cast are clearly having a fun time camping it up, but we expect more from the likes of multiple-Oscar winner Streep and former James Bond Brosnan. And yet, when you have 20 dancers in swim flippers dancing on a pier to “Lay All Your Love On Me,” it’s easy to see why no one is taking themselves too seriously here.
The plot is negligible, and the best parts of the movie are the larger musical numbers. You might not be wowed by the exuberant dancing, but you will have a good time. Film is directed by Phyllidia Lloyd and also stars Julie Walters (Rosie), Christine Baranski (Tanya) and Dominic Cooper (Sky).
Since this is a musical, we at iCroc also wanted to take a moment to review the music separately. These actors might not have the best voices, but they can all carry a tune just fine. Besides, we defy you not to lace up your dancing shoes when you hear “Dancing Queen.” The soundtrack of retro-cool ABBA music had us singing along, and it definitely left us smiling. The soundtrack is available on iTunes. Pick one? He may not have the best voice, but he’s got a lot of heart: Brosnan’s duet with Streep on “SOS” left us swooning.
Movie: C+ Soundtrack: B+
August 13, 2008 at 8:54 am
this is one of the only plays i’ve ever seen, it was great… i heard about ol’ Pierce takes a stab at singing too, eeesh
October 15, 2008 at 4:51 pm
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