Meryl Streep Sings Her Way Through Mamma Mia!

I have enjoyed musicals for many years, so I've been enjoying the fact that studios are making more of them again.  I wanted to see Mamma Mia! last year, but for some reason I didn't get to it while it was still in the theater.  I finally saw it after I rented it recently.

Sophie has been raised by her mother Donna on a small Greek island where Donna runs a hotel.  Sophie doesn't know her father and Donna has never even told her who her father is.  As her wedding to Sky approaches, Sophie wants to know who her father is.  After reading one of her mother's old diary's, Sophie discovers that she has three possible fathers and invites them all to the wedding without telling her mother.  Sophie is convinced that she will know her father on sight.  Sam, Harry, and Bill arrive not knowing what is going on and complications arise as Sophie tries to figure out which one of them is her father while keeping them away from her mother.

Mamma Mia! is based on the stage musical of the same name.  The stage version has been very popular and I think it won several awards when it first opened.  I have never seen the stage version, so I don't know exactly what was changed for the movie version.  I did do some research after watching the movie and it seems like a few songs were removed though the basic plot is still the same.  I know that the performances of certain songs would have been staged different for the stage version as well.

Mamma Mia! is a bit different from other musicals that I have seen because the songs weren't written specifically for the musical.  Instead, the story is told with songs from the group ABBA.  I've heard several of the group's songs and I've liked them, but I did wonder how the songs would work when used this way.  The songs worked wonderfully and really fit in with the story being told.  Some of the songs that I have heard before were used while there were several other songs used that I don't remember ever having heard before.  The music is wonderful and helps to make the movie enjoyable.  There is a decent amount of spoken dialogue, but there is also a lot of singing.  People that don't like musicals or even don't care for movies that feature more than just a couple of songs should avoid this one.  Most of the singing is done very well, though Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard can't sing as well.  They weren't horrible, but they weren't really that good either.  I had heard before seeing the movie that he didn't sing that well, but I don't think he was any worse than Firth and Skarsgard.  Brosnan's singing just stands out a bit more since he has more to sing.  When the credits begin, the main cast performs two more songs dressed in ABBA inspired costumes.

The plot for Mamma Mia! is fairly simple and straight forward.  Sophie, wanting to figure out who her father is, takes matters into her own hands once she finds out there she has three potential fathers.  She writes as her mother and invites the three men to the wedding without telling her mother.  A little bit of time is taken at the beginning of the movie to show Sophie sending off the letters and the men traveling to get to the island.  Everything else takes place over the day before the wedding and the actual wedding day around the hotel that Donna runs.  The setting, especially when the ocean is shown, is beautiful.  There are a few minor surprises, but the movie is mostly predictable overall.  That may disappoint some viewers, but I wasn't bothered by the predictability.  The movie won't appeal to everyone, but I think it is fun and entertaining overall.  There is some humor added in a few scenes, usually by things that a character says or does.  Some of the funnier things are tied to old photographs that show Saw, Harry, and Bill when they were with Donna that were really funny, especially Harry has a rocker.  The silliness is overdone in places and certain things with some of the characters just don't work as well.

Romance does play a part in what is happening in Mamma Mia! without distracting from the other things going on.  Sophie and Sky are getting married, and they are shown being affectionate a few times without there being any actual sex scenes.  There isn't any nudity, though a few characters do show off some skin in a few scenes.  There are a couple of minor sexual situations as well as some sexual conversations and innuendos throughout the movie.  Some people may be bothered or even offended by the fact that Donna honestly doesn't know which of three men is Sophie's father since she has sex with all three of them in a relatively short period of time.  There isn't anything too extreme or graphic shown, but the movie is rated PG-13, so it really isn't child friendly.  

Mamma Mia! is set around Sophie's wedding, but I think that Donna is really the main character.  She has raised her daughter alone and is running the hotel mostly on her own.  She is a strong woman who has made some questionable decisions in the past.  She loves her daughter and does have some misgivings about her getting married so young.  Donna is a likable character, and I loved Meryl Streep in the role.  She did very well with the singing.  I had forgotten that I had seen her sing some in a few previous movies.

Sophie is a young woman preparing to get married.  She is very close to her mother and she plans to stay and work at the hotel after her marriage.  She acts impulsively at times which causes some complications.  Amanda Seyfried is good in the part and has a beautiful singing voice.  She and Streep are believable as mother and daughter.  Sky, the young man Sophie is going to marry, doesn't receive much attention at all.  He is just sort of there in a few scenes.  Dominic Cooper did well with the singing and handled the part fine.  Two of Sophie's friends arrive for the wedding and are barely seen since they basically do nothing after arriving.

Tanya and Rosie, Donna's two best friends, also come to the wedding.  The three friends use to perform as Donna and the Dynamos when they were younger.  Tanya is more refined and has been married several times.  She also has a romance with a young man on the island.  Christine Baranski, who has performed on Broadway, does well with the part.  Rosie is an author and seems to love being single and on her own.  There isn't as much shared about her.  I didn't recognize Julie Walters in the part.  I know her mostly from playing Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies.

Sam is an architect from the United States.  Harry is a British banker who seems a bit stuffy.  Bill is a travel writer and sailor who is more of a free spirit.  The three men meet for the first time while traveling to the island for the wedding and the manage to get along fairly well despite being very different.  Sam receives a tad more attention, but none of them are that developed.  They are likable and interesting in different ways.  I did think that Pierce Brosnan had more chemistry with Streep.  All three of the actors, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard did fine with their roles, though like I mentioned before, none of them sing that well.  Many other people are around in some scenes, basically just serving as backup singers and dancers during some of the songs.  Two members of ABBA have short cameos as does Rita Wilson.

Main Cast

Christine Baranski - Tanya
Pierce Brosnan - Sam
Dominic Cooper - Sky
Colin Firth - Harry
Amanda Seyfried - Sophie
Stellan Skarsgard - Bill
Meryl Streep - Donna
Julie Walters - Rosie
        
Phyllida Lloyd - Director

DVD Information

Mamma Mia! is available in a few different versions on DVD.  There is a single disc version, available in full screen or widescreen, that only has a commentary, a sing along option, and one deleted song.  I rented the widescreen single disc version.  For the song that was deleted, I think that scene actually works a bit better without it.  There is a two disc version that has more extras available.  I have also seen a two disc version that comes with the soundtrack.  The movie is also available on Blu-ray.

Mamma Mia! won't appeal to everyone, but it is a fun, entertaining movie.  Fans of Meryl Streep or of musicals in general may enjoy the movie.  People that hate musicals or the music of ABBA should steer clear of this one.

Meryl Streep Reviews
The Ant Bully ~ Death Becomes Her ~ The Devil Wears Prada ~ Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ~ Lions for Lambs ~ The Manchurian Candidate (2004) ~ Rendition ~