Sunday 26 September 2010

Mamma Mia: Review

After last summer's musical success Hairspray, comes another stage show to hit the screen.

Based around the songs of Swedish super group ABBA, the story centres on a young girl living on a Greek island, about to be married and wanting her father there. Unfortunately, she doesn't know who her father is, and could be three very different men, so she invites them all, hoping to get answers.

Firstly, the minus points. The plot is a little thin and does get lost among the tunes, as do character. The men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Dominic Cooper) are badly underwritten and sometimes are left with nothing much to do but stand around. Some of the songs struggle to fit with the action, and I won't even go into the slightly embarrassing break between the two finale songs.

On the plus sides, there's Meryl Streep, who once again proves that no matter what is thrown at her, she cope admirably, and her singing in extremely good. And it's nice to see her having fun. The teaming of her with Julie Walters and Christine Baranski is inspired and they light up the screen whenever they are on together. The bigger numbers (Dancing Queen, Super Trooper) are brilliantly staged and just lifts the proceedings along.

It's not a perfect movie by any means, but its certainly is an entertaining one, and you will leave with a spring in your step and smile on your face.

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