Review: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Not even a cast full of talented people and some cheerful ABBA tunes can save "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," an unnecessary sequel to the 2008 film, which was in turn an adaptation of the Broadway show, itself a production based around music by, yes, ABBA.

But what made the original film semi-watchable was the presence of Meryl Streep, who is absent from this sequel, save for a cameo appearance near the end. In other words, what's sorely missing in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" is the mama.

As the film opens, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is awaiting the debut of a hotel that she has spruced up in Greece. The site was previously owned by Meryl's Donna. In her absence, we get a completely unnecessary backstory involving young Donna (Lily James) as she spends a summer in Greece and meets the three suitors, one of whom is the father of Sophie.

So, while Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth return as the three aforementioned suitors, we also get younger versions played by Jeremy Irvine, Josh Skinner and Josh Dylan. There are also younger versions of Julie Walters' Rosie and Christine Baranski's randy Tanya. There's also a cameo by Cher as Sophie's grandmother and Andy Garcia as the manager of Sophie's hotel.

In other words, "Here We Go Again" is bursting with cameo appearances by talented people who are given little to do other than be cogs in the mechanics of this sequel's routine plot and, occasionally, break out into song and look like they're having a good time doing it. I know, I probably sound like a Scrooge, but the few charms of this film wear thin quickly.

For starters, the drama rarely flows smoothly into the musical numbers as it should. Rather, characters are in the middle of doing something, then stop what they're doing and take part in mini music videos. The film kicks off with a rendition of "When I Kissed the Teacher" that could have been made into a fun musical number, but comes off as a cheesy 1980s music video, complete with a freeze frame ending. Other musical numbers fall flat during the course of the proceedings, none so much as the finale, in which Cher comes back for an encore, singing "Super Trooper" as the rest of the cast awkwardly mouths along.

As I'd mentioned before, it's not like the original "Mamma Mia!" film was so great, but Streep's presence gave it an extra boost. Her absence here - which is given the most cursory of explanations - is strongly felt and, as a result, "Here We Go Again" becomes a fitting title as the film feels like an obligatory sequel with little in the way of inspiration.