Mamma Mia!

I did enjoy this romp in the Greek Islands and was surprised at how well Meryl Streep sang. It's light, full of froth and bubble and perhaps has some aspects of Grease and Bollywood in it. The reason the music works I feel is that they haven't really messed with the arrangements of the songs keeping them generally faithful to the Abba originals. But Pierce Brosnan's vocal efforts were abysmal, almost laughable. Perhaps it was meant to be a send up of the original songs all the way through but he really did manage to mangle the vocals in my opinion. If you have seen the musical on stage you will know what to expect and there are some funny moments in the film and the Greek islands are as always a superb backdrop for the action.

This movie is two hours of music and happiness. This movie is an easy 11/10 method of being happy and one of my all time favourites. There is no ingenious plot or thought provoking question, and that's fine. Just sing along and enjoy.

Went to see Mamma Mia without particularly high expectations. Not being a big connoisseur (or even fan) of musicals, I didn't really know what to expect. Though I adore ABBA, I never bothered to watch the stage production of Mamma Mia. But having a cinema membership, I didn't have much to lose (no money, at least), so I went for it. And boy, am I glad that I did! I can safely say that I enjoyed every second of it. And I'm not even ashamed to admit it!

Give Meryl Streep another Oscar and get it over with already. If she could get a nod for the Devil Wears Prada, she definitely deserves one for this. She really let her hair down on this one. Mrs. Streep can obviously not pass for a trained singer, but somehow, it just doesn't seem to matter. It just really worked in the movie (unlike -say- Helena Bonham Carter's singing in Sweeney Todd). When I heard Meryl's rendition of "The winner takes it all" in advance, it lowered my expectations considerably, but in its context, it totally made sense.

Most of all though, this movie was just sheer fun. People were clapping, laughing...Rarely have I seen an audience as enthusiastic. The crowd especially responded well to Meryl and her two cronies (arguably the strongholds of the movie). Also, because I had never seen the musical before, I was amazed (and amused) at the inventive ways in which they managed to incorporate so many ABBA-songs. Equally brilliant was the way the extras (usually some Greek old women) were deployed throughout the movie...And then of course the setting (beautiful Greece) was mesmerizing...

Basically, Mamma Mia is a superb musical that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you're just a little bit crazy and want to have a good laugh, if you love ABBA, want to see Meryl Streep like you've never seen her before or if you simply have a secret crush on Colin Firth and/or Pierce Brosnan (his singing was nothing short of hilarious), you will LOVE this movie. Best summer flick so far. Warmly recommended.

The critical and audience reactions to this film seemed to suggest that it was very much a Marmite of a film, with people either loving it or hating it. By the time I thought I should check it out, the "biggest film of the year" had become a sing-a-long classic and I decided to wait for the DVD. Watching it myself I can totally understand why this reaction was forthcoming and it is not really down to the film so much as it is the viewers. See, those that hate it will do so for the same reasons as those that love it. Mamma Mia is a film version of a stage-show but it is not an adaptation in that it has been made into a film so much as it is a stage musical made into a film. What I mean by this clunky sentence is that all the standards of the cheesy musical have been left in – from "big" action, colour and simple dumb cheer.

For me personally this doesn't really appeal and nor did I particularly enjoy the film as it did feel all forced smiles and joys, scenes shoe-horned to fit the lyrics and fake fun in the actors and extras. By the end I had pretty much had as much camp fun as I could really stand and was glad it was done. Now others have taken that to mean that the film is rubbish, but it isn't – it just didn't work for you either. However for what it does Mamma Mia is actually very good because it knows who it is aiming for and what it has to do. Yes this means that it is daft and cheesy but that sort of "big" cheerfulness is what the target audience want – they want to feel elated and lifted even if it isn't real in any form. In that regard the film delivers as it is built on beautiful colours in the sets and costumes and a cast that put their egos to one side and throw themselves into it.

This last part is important because to my disinterested eye all the star actors came off looking daft. Streep is certainly not someone I expected to be doing this and to her credit she throws herself into it, showing a camp overacting side I didn't know she had. Likewise Walters, Baranski, Firth, Brosnan and Skarsgård all do much the same – albeit to varying degrees of success. If you're into it then the "big" performances are all part of the fun but if, like me, you're not, then it will be endlessly embarrassing and it will be hard to shake the feeling that I was watching award-winning actors making themselves look and sound like muppets. Of course that is why they are "good" in the context of what the film is trying to be and yet at the same time "bad" if you are not in the swing of the film.

What we are left with then is a film that we have seen plays really well to those that get it but leaves everyone else wondering why on earth people like Streep and Walters would make such nonsense. I personally disliked it but that does not make it a "bad" film, only a bad one from my point of view. For what it sets out to do though, it is a winning achievement – full of cheerful cheese and lots of colour. In fact, it is such a targeted film that you will already know whether you will love it or hate it long before you press play.

With this big opening weekend either you're going to see the darker film The Dark Knight or you are going to see something more light hearted like Mamma Mia! Now I work at a movie theater, a lot of people were just assuming that everyone was going to see The Dark Knight, yesterday someone came up disappointed saying "my show sold out"... I looked at her with a smiling face and said "oh, yeah, dark knight, I know"... she said "no, mamma mia", I looked up all surprised, Mamma Mia sold out as well, people were really looking forward to this movie as well. I did see this movie on Saturday and really enjoyed it, as cheesy as it was, I do enjoy musicals, I think the only thing is that this this is the happiest musical that I have ever seen. So it was nice to just sit there and be happy with these characters and you can't help but laugh at the predicaments that they get themselves into.

Sophie is a young woman who is about to tie the knot with her loving and adventurous fiancée, Sky, her life is great. She has a very loving mother, Donna, who is running a broke down hotel in Greece and used to be in a girl group called The Donna's. Sophie has one problem, she has never met her dad, she finds her mom's diary and discovers that she has three potential fathers. She invites them all to the wedding putting her mom's name on the invitation. So the three men: Sam, Harry, and Bill come to see her and Sophie is caught in a situation where she doesn't know who's her real dad, but they end up having the time of their lives and enjoying life together.

Mamma Mia is the light hearted comedy that I'm sure any musical lover could enjoy. I loved how well paced it was and how the cast looked like they had the ultimate time making this film, that's what made it so much fun. This film also brings a lot of fun energy into you and just keeps you smiling. The songs were very catchy, which I know this musical was based on the songs of Abba, so we have that good old 70's groove going on. I would recommend Mamma Mia, if you're looking to smile, laugh, and dance, I'm sure you'll love to see Mamma Mia. It's a sweet film with the cheesy plot that is so much fun to laugh at, plus it has men in speedo's who are dancing like crazy, where can you go wrong with that? OK, you can, but it's all good.

8/10