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Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), PG-13, ★★


Oh, God! Mamma Mia! is coming back into my life like a dark cloud is coming back to overshadow my head and happiness. I hated that 2008 movie. It was inert, full of inconsistent feelings that did not connect or was forgotten from 5 minutes ago. There were plot holes in the situation of the Meryl Streep character and most of the singing was horrid. The only three minor elements that were enjoyable were the setting of Greece, the ABBA songs themselves and I guess, some of the choreography. Ok, I will add Meryl Streep's charisma but she is charismatic is many other better movies. Ok, I was not looking forward to seeing this movie but I have to be honest, I enjoyed this more than the first movie as there were some improvements in the screenplay and its consistent tone. But, despite the energy being high and jovial, the movie jumps back and forth trying to get me in the spirit but the storylines were so thin that I could not even bite enough of that flavor for me to enjoy this second experience with this Mamma Mia! cast.

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is re-opening the Hotel Bella Donna as it has been totally renovated and is now in its prime. She sends invitations to her three dads - Bill, Harry and Sam (Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan) - and her grandmother, Ruby (Cher). The hotel manager, Señor Cienfuegos (Andy Garcia), pitches in to prepare for the opening party as it is a tribute to Sophie's late mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), in which it was a year since her passing. But, at the last minute, she tears up Ruby's invitation, knowing that she would never show up.

In flashback, young Donna (Lily James) has graduated from college with fellow Dynamos, young Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and young Rosie (Alex Davies). Donna is disappointed that Ruby, her mother, did not show up but is not surprised because she never shows up. (Wow...I needed to be reminded of that.) Donna is determined to travel the world as her friends bid her goodbye.

Back to present day, Sophie talks with her husband, Sky (Dominic Cooper), who is in a six-week hotel management program in New York and he cannot make it to the opening and Sophie understands. But, later, he gets offered a permanent job and wants her to come to New York, which leads to argument to who the opposite wants.


They want to turn this movie into The Godfather Part II with the present situation mixed up with the flashbacks. Even though I like the flashbacks more than the present movie, the movie does not quite work because it is basically isolated tones of humor and joy that work mixed with over-the-top, dopey melodrama that is reminiscent of the painful tones of the first Mamma Mia movie. There is nothing much in the melodrama because it is parallel to the plot and the plot is thin and I don't even care whether the hotel will be open or saved because the execution to that whole plot was weak.

Although, I liked most of the cast as Amanda Seyfried is just fine in the lead role but her plot with the Dominic Cooper character is the weakest part of the movie and takes up most of the movie. Lily James is quite appealing as the young version of Meryl Streep even though she does not resemble her but she really leans in to sing towards the mic. Christine Baranski gets some good lines and the younger actors who portray the younger versions of Skarsgard, Firth and Brosnan are good and they sing just as bad. But, you got to wait a long while until you get to Cher and Meryl Streep who save the best for...well, the best parts of the movie but it was too late. But, Omar Djalili as the Customs officer is a breath of fresh air for this movie and steals his scenes.

Director Ol Parker did what he can to camouflage the luscious atmosphere of Greece and setting the tone for the movie and he executed it well, it was the plot that was the central problem. They got the energy right, the atmosphere right, parts of the screenplay improved, some of the cast invested but none of the plot quite executed and for me, it's just vacuous energy that seems to fade away. It's like you sing some great ABBA songs and then you forget if you had sung them the day after and why you had sung them. I'm sure people will enjoy this movie and have a guilty grin on their face but this movie was not for me. The only great thing is that I did not have a grouchy experience this time as much as the first movie.

**


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