I've always believed that most people do not watch movies through one set of eyes. You can't watch a Mission Impossible entry with the same eyes as when you're watching Finding Nemo (2003). There's a mental elasticity that comes with the viewing of different genres of film so that the mind can properly intake the story; it's characters and the world of the film accordingly. I am a believer that film critics must be capable of such mental elasticity if they are to judge and critique the quality of any cinematic productions appropriately. They must be able to put on a set of metaphorical glasses, dependent on the genre and set their expectations to a reasonable degree as the opening credits start to pop onto the screen.
Movie-Musical-Sequels do not have a long and lucrative history. People are still talking, or rather, not talking, about Grease 2 (1982) in 2018. There were talks of a sequel to Hairspray (2007) titled White Lipstick for several years until the plans were ultimately squashed. Therefore there isn't much else to compare Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018) to other than it's richly entertaining predecessor. This film suffered much derision itself among critics early on, though audiences embraced it quite warmly worldwide. Is it the fantastical, bordering on ludicrous plot, the zany hyper-realized characters or is it just the sheer ABBA-ness of it all? Whatever it is, it makes people feel strongly, one way or another, and that means it's worthy of closer inspection and analyzes.
The story of Mamma Mia (2008) is set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) operates a hotel atop her beautiful taverna. She has one daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who is the true definition of her pride and joy. Sophie is the product of Donna's whirlwind summer romance with one of three handsome (though questionably vocally talented) suitors. There is an American architect Sam (Pierce Brosnan), a British banker Harry (Colin Firth) and a Swedish travel writer Bill (Stellan Skarsgard). The first film unfolds as Sophie invites all three men to her wedding (unbeknownst to her mother) in the hopes of deciphering who her true father is. In the meantime, Donna rekindles her love for Sam and rediscovers her repressed jovial side, her inner "Dancing Queen" if you will. In the end, Donna and Sam fall back in love and marry, Sophie runs off with her fiancé Sky, without actually getting married and Sophie embraces all three men as her fathers. It is a tale of love in many forms, parental, romantic, friendship and is doused in sentimentality almost as much as it's wardrobe is drenched in sequins.
Mamma Mia has been associated with starting the skyrocketing popularity of jukebox musicals with Broadway and Film audiences alike, though hardly anything about it can be called original. The premise of its plot is borrowed from the film Bunoa Sera, Mrs Campbell (1968) and its songs are those of the global megastar 70s pop band, ABBA. How is it then that anyone could enjoy anything about something that is so blatantly plagiaristic? The answer is the presentation.
Mamma Mia presents itself as a story of a life filled with wonder and possibility, alongside woefully careless sexual endeavors. While many of its characters experience heartbreak and sadness at some point, the literal paradise they are living within never dulls or depletes in response to their despair. They remain inside a bubble of unapologetic optimism, a firm belief that life is a song that must be sung-through with the utmost tenacity and vigor until the very last note. It doesn't just present happiness, it insistently invites the audience, be it in a theater or cinema, to become a part of that happiness. This is why the "genre glasses" issue is so imperative in regards to these films. If one watches Mamma Mia (or more importantly its newly released sequel) with the wrong set of eyes, they are likely to be extremely disappointed and even utterly annoyed with what they see. Mamma Mia is not about logic, nor is it about quality. Mamma Mia is simply about the advancement of euphoria throughout all of the experiences life has to offer, both good and bad. After all, isn't that what ABBA was searching for throughout dozens of their hit songs? That everlasting sense of melancholy happiness. A contradiction in itself made possible by the pairing of their lyrics and melodies together. It is in my firm opinion that the sequel reaches that melancholy happiness and does so without apology or timidness.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again may have taken ten years to make, but it picks up only five or so years after the original film ended. We find Sophie supervising a renovation of the Hotel Bella Donna while Sky is away on business in New York City. In the time between the two films, Donna Sheridan has passed away due to undisclosed causes, leaving Sam a widow and Sophie adrift in a crystal blue sea of uncertainty and fear. She wants to make her mother proud, even more so when she discovers that she is pregnant just as her mother was at this time in her young life. The film then intermittently flashes back in time to 1979 to show how Donna came to be the woman she was after graduating college, adventuring across Europe and seducing the likes of three undeniably attractive (though again questionably vocally talented) suitors. The plot still has a sense of carefree euphoria, especially in the early scenes of Donna's youth as her three distinct lovers woo her, but it carries an extra weight of somberness this time around, due to the loss of the hotel's owner and matriarch. Sophie's eventual embracement of motherhood mostly quells this somberness upon learning the true details of her mother's story, as well as the appearance of her long-absent grandmother Ruby, played by the incomparable Goddess of Pop, Cher. While her dialogue is wit-filled and her vocal performance sublime, I feel the film did gloss over her poor relationship with her daughter and the possible regrets she had over never making amends while she was still alive. Cher, a fantastic dramatic actress in her own right, would've pulled this off well had she been given the material.
The songs featured are of course still that of ABBA but are a blend of timeless tunes used in the first film, alongside lesser-known (though still irresistibly crafted) tracks from the pop band's multilayered discography. The entire ensemble of the original film returns although with considerably less work to do on the musical side of things. At the same time, the new younger cast led by Lily James as Young Donna occupies the majority of the film's running time. James is a true tour-de-force embodying everything Streep made joyously distinct about the role and even managing to put her own stamp on it with her endless optimism and sense of innocent playfulness. She is naughty and nice at the same time, and her free spirit-ness reminds us of just how repressed Donna had truly become when we first met her in the original film.
The cast and many critics have lauded the film for having more of emotional depth to it than the first one, and this is true though sometimes it seems to be mining that depth with insufficient tools. Issues of this are most apparent in the present-day plot where obstacles are overcome simply because things just work themselves out without any real effort from the characters. Sky and Sophie's relationship issues are brushed over simply because he comes back in time for the reopening party and decides not to take a permanent job in NYC, but the reasons for these decisions are never fanned out. It can be argued; perhaps in such a film, they don't have to be. There is inherent goodwill in almost every character in the Mamma Mia films. They leave little room for antagonisms that are non-situational. People don't keep others from their dreams, life just gets in the way, and you must dance and sing around it. Also, the film's dialogue often misses the mark in comparison to the first in both wit and emotionality, especially when exposition must be hashed out with time to spare. The wooing of Donna by a secretly closeted Harry (Hugh Skinner) is particularly painful to watch transpire as is Sophie pretending to has out orders to the hotel staff. The film's emotions are best expressed through musical numbers like the humorously reinvented "Angeleyes" and the heart wrenching "My Love, My Life".
The Meaning of The Meryl Mystery
Was it scheduling, lack of interest from the actress, creative choice of the filmmakers? Fans of Mamma Mia have been attempting to deduce for months the reasons behind Meryl's lack of presence in the second film. While some answers have been offered up since the film's release by its cast and crew people still don't seem to be satisfied for the most part. Mamma Mia is supposed to be all about satisfaction though and therein lies the problem, a problem that I believe is solved quite beautifully in the film's end credits sequence. Featuring the ensemble decked out in full on 70s disco gear the cast comes together, from both the past and present timelines to perform a rousing rendition of the song "Super Trouper". In it, Ruby, Young Donna and Old Donna take the lead as each cast member finishes the number singing and dancing alongside their opposite self. Maybe I'm overthinking it, perhaps it's just the way my metaphorical "genre glasses" are seeing things, but I found this to be a profound moment of messaging for Mamma Mia as an entity in itself. As we grow up, we change, and parts of ourselves are let go of, others held onto, and it can take a drastic event to occur for us to revaluate ourselves and reconcile who we are, with who we have become. I believe that is what happens to each character during the final song and dance number, they confront their former/future self and reconcile who they were and what they have become now. Why did Donna have to die? I'm not quite sure. Why did ABBA have to break up? Why did I lose my grandmother to Alzheimer's after her ten year battle with it and then lose my family dog, Bella, one week later? We suffer in life because that's just how things are. For every Dancing Queen Moment we have a Knowing Me, Knowing You Meltdown. Mamma Mia 2 attempts to express that sentiment in the brightest way possible. I do not think it is a coincidence that Donna sings the lines; "So I'll be there when you arrive, the sight of you will prove to me I'm still alive..." to her long-enduring lover and husband, Sam Carmichael. Death may be final, but music is eternal. It's what we share with one another as human beings in order to express our emotions and establish connections with those around us. ABBA could formulate a universal connection threaded throughout countless countries across the world thanks to their music. As the two Donna's hug their mother closely, we see a generational rift being mended. Mamma Mia and its sequel remind us that music is an inherent part of the memories we hold dear with the ones we love and care for, as long as that music remains no one and nothing is lost forever, not even a pair of glittery bedazzled boots. That's why Fernando (Andy Garcia in a humorously throw-away supporting role) can hear the drums, why Sam is sending out an SOS, and that's why Sophie is thankful for the music because it's what keeps life going. Mamma Mia is a heartbeat, and its sequel keeps the blood flowing so the audience can dance and jive to their heart's delight for many generations to come.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is not and will never be considered cinematic brilliance. Some may even believe it to be a below-average musical overall. It is, however, an audience worthy entertaining attempt at reinvestigating that undeniable euphoric feeling that came along with watching the first film or seeing the original Broadway play. It makes the world of the characters more complex, even if inconsistencies are found through the weaving of that complexity, such as the questionable timeline between Sophie's conception and adulthood. It may not be lightning in a bottle, but it certainly has a lovable spark thanks to its soundtrack, cast and director Ol Parker. It took ten years to get back to Kalokairi, was the trip worth it? Ask your toe-tapping feet when you go see it in theaters for yourself.
