Review: Mamma Mia! The Movie

I have always liked Abba’s music, in a familiar but not a big fan way. I had never seen Mamma Mia! on stage,  and so I was prepared for anything, expecting that I would enjoy it anyway. As a film it was very good, but the singing and music more that fulfilled my expectations, as most of it was amazing.

Turning a musical into a movie is always risky. The die-hard fans of the stage version, and in this case the original Abba songs too, are likely to hate you if you don’t get it exactly right. You can add in things to make it better… or worse, and you have to cut things, to make it better… or worse. The most important thing is to get good actors who can both sing and act well. And the makers of this movie could have done worse. In fact, they did extremely well with the ladies, although the choice of men made me think that this was more down to luck. Overall, though, it made a brilliant movie which I absolutely adored.

The Good:

Meryl Streep as Donna. Need I say more? I think this woman is my new idol, and when I’m 58 (no, I’m not shitting you, she was 58 when she made this) I want to look and sing as fabulously as she does. She steals all of her scenes, getting her character down to a “T”, and *hides from Abba fans* sings some songs even better than anyone else I’ve heard (hey, don’t hit me, Benny Andersson thought she was wonderful too).

Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Rachel MacDowell and Ashley Lilley (Lisa and Ali) should get a mention for their great singing and brilliant acting as giggly friends, very fun and totally believable. Although Dominic Cooper (Sky) doesn’t have the best voice in the world, Sky and Sophie’s dueting was simply brilliant, and again made it to the list of songs-they-did-better-than-Abba with Lay All Your Love On Me.

Christine Baranski and Julie Walters (Tanya and Rosie) also upped the comedy value as Donna’s ex-bandmates and old friends, although Julie Walters’ singing left a little to be desired and once my sister had pointed out “OMG! Mrs Weasly!” I couldn’t look at her without seeing the red hair.

I really liked how they used actors from different countries, so it didn’t feel like they’d “Hollywood-ised” the thing at all. The setting and scenery was brilliant, and as for the story, it was funny and romantic, and although the ending went just that little bit too far on believability and cheesyness, the whole thing was pretty much perfect.

The Bad:

Oh deary me, Colin Firth (Harry). Sorry, is that a squeak I heard from you there? What was that warbling I heard? Oh, it was your poor, girlish, untrained voice. Sorry about that, I mean, the directors can’t have just chosen you because they wanted to boost the list of famous-actors-playing-main-characters, can they? No, no, of course not.

You may (read: will) want to plug your ears for the (thankfully short) sections of songs he sings. You may want to skip entire songs on the soundtrack if Pierce Brosnan’s (Sam’s) voice doesn’t take your fancy either, although personally I didn’t find him too offensive. A good thing too, since he sings more than the other two guys, with a full song to himself and a couple of duets with Meryl Streep.

The Ugly:

I’m sorry, I have to mention Colin Firth and the sexuality of his character here. Why would you do that? WHY? Isn’t it bad enough that all good looking men IRL have to be gay? Let the ladies have Colin Firth’s character straight on screen please.

Actually, he’s looking his age in this, I have to admit. Sorry ladies, no gorgeous guys to ogle at in this movie. Still, it’s a minor complaint.

Overall:

This is such a must-see movie, I can’t emphasise it enough. The good points far outweigh the slight issue of a couple of cast members not being able to sing a few bars, and if for nothing else, you have to watch if for the butt tattoos and Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan with long hair and eyeliner. Seriously.

Tags: Mamma Mia!, movie, Music, Review, sing