Review: “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”

The key to any good movie musical is the music. 

That’s not to say the plot doesn’t matter, but if the musical numbers are good, they can make a pedestrian plot work (and cure many ills). 

That was the case with 2008’s “Mamma Mia!” — based on the hit broadway musical featuring the music of 70’s pop group ABBA.

Unfortunately, the musical numbers are the greatest weakness in the sequel.

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” picks up some years after the first movie. Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) now owns her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) coastal hotel — ensconced in an attractive hamlet on the coast of Greece.  

Sophie is re-opening the hotel a year after Donna’s death, having made numerous improvements with partner Sky (Dominic Cooper). 

In the first movie, Sophie invited three of her mother’s former lovers to her wedding in hopes that she’d learn which one was her father. By the time the ceremony rolled around, Sophie had accepted all three as her father, and Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan) married her mother. 

Sam still lives on the island in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” but the other two men — Harry Bright (Colin Firth) and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard) — are unable to attend the hotel’s re-opening.

Those developments — combined with relationship troubles with Sky — are causing Sophie to become wistful for her mom. 

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” alternates focus between Sophie in “present day” and her mom in 1979.

Young Donna is played by Lily James. I’ve been a fan of James since her turn as Lady Rose on the hit PBS series “Downton Abbey.” She’s really radiant in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

It’s pretty interesting to see the backstory elements involving Donna’s early years — after college graduation, when she traveled the world and had flings with all three “baby daddies.”

But, as I said earlier, successful musical numbers are key in movies like “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” 

I’m a fan of this genre. I include “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman” among my favorite movies of the past few years. Addictive soundtracks made those movies work. 

In my opinion, the benchmark for modern-day “movie musicals” is 1978’s “Grease.” My brother took me to see the movie when I was six, and I played the two-record soundtrack album over.. and over.. and over...

Going into “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” I was concerned this sequel would be something akin to “Grease 2” (the unfortunate 1982 sequel to “Grease”). 

I’m happy to report that “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” is far more palatable than that sequel. The filmmmakers were smart to include popular ABBA tunes featured in the first movie — including “Waterloo,” “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen.” 

Unfortunately, most of the other songs featured — basically “deep cuts” from the ABBA discography — are less compelling. 

That’s a shame because there is a lot to like about “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” 

The movie is at its best during the 1979 flashback sequences. Alexa Davies and Jessica Keenan Wynn are fun as Young Rose and Young Tanya, and dead ringers for Julie Walters and Christine Baranski. 

The filmmakers get everything in order by the end of “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” — with the music taking hold and a baptism sequence that has surprising amount of emotional pull. 

Cher even shows up to do a couple numbers as Sophie’s grandmother Ruby Sheridan. 

The “Mamma Mia!” movies are the cinematic equivalent of a family reunion. It is enjoyable to watch bright, colorful, and energetic films featuring actors from different generations waxing sentimental and having fun together on the big screen. 

That is something that has become increasingly rare at the box office today.

 

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