Synopsis:
Meryl Streep leads an all-star cast as an independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island. Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter she's raised alone. On a quest to find her father to walk her down the aisle, Sophie brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Based on the smash hit musical seen by over 30 million people worldwide with a gross to date of US$2 billion. It is set to songs by popular '70s group ABBA.

Reviews:
Now, if you used to be an ABBAholic and think you've outgrown their music, maybe this is a good movie to reaffirm your faith in the band. I grew up listening to ABBA music cause my dad used to play ABBA music on his hi-fi system. I remember the first song I heard on TV was playing Dancing Queen on Miss Universe 1989 and that was the song that caught my attention. Then I heard my dad played ABBA's CD and I practically sang along with all their tunes as time passes.

Based on the blockbuster stage musical of the same name, the stage-to-movie adaptation is splendid in itself. Shot in the beautiful small Greek islands of Skopelos and Skiathos among others, the island's picturesque scenery is an added bonus to an already fun romantic musical, while whispering its desires for you to list down 'small Greek islands' as your next choice for a vacation.It's a whole collection of refreshing performances.

It's refreshing to see Amanda Seyfried be something other than dumb blonde roles she's so used to. I have never seen the movies she starred in but her performance in Mamma Mia really impressed me with her good vocals and dance moves. With lesser make-up and simple dresses, she looks every part an island girl. It's also refreshing to see Colin Firth return to his forte; not musicals, but light-hearted romance. Of course the real deal here would be Meryl Streep. Curious I was, when I saw her name in the lead. Seeing her recently playing serious ageing characters made me recall othe movie, River Wild, she actually sang a bit in that role and her voice at that time was rather good. She sings, she dances, she twirls around in cute blue jumper suit while her shiny golden hair dances together, making you feel ashamed that you may not have the same energy even though you're much younger. As it IS based on ABBA songs, mentioning it is a must. The movie successfully lightens ABBA's signature World of Sound, and turns it into a fun musical that suits the movie feel without losing its quality.

Started off with "Honey, Honey", it gets better and better each time and you will find yourself singing along and wanting to join Donna and her best friends as they dance and twirl around through "Dancing Queen", comforting each other with "Chiquitita", while the men relive memories of Donna in "Our Last Summer", ending reasonably with "Thank You For The Music" as the credit rolls. The only disappointing part of the movie would be Pierce Brosnan's voice talent in singing. Trying to hide the non-existent singing skills by lots of growling, what Brosnan achieved was only to make the songs sound ridiculous - but the man tried. I would give it an A for the effort but C- for the end result. But I agree that Pierce Brosnan definitely has his charm besides acting as James Bond. I agree he is the best man for Bond. He was charming in the role as Sam.

My best scene would be the scene where Dancing Queen was played and all the ladies in the town actually followed and danced along to the music right to the river. I loved that scene the most. I got to comment that Amanda Seyfried was rather suitable for this role not only because of her good voice but she does looked like Meryl Streep by playing as her daughter.

But if you were never an ABBA fan, then maybe watching a singing James Bond, a dancing Mr Darcy or Meryl Streep doing mid-air splits and jumping on beds would tickle your fancy. Do wait till the end though, if you wanna see more ABBA-esque performances from the whole cast. They stayed onscreen and kept singing and singing!

I would say the chereography was good and the musical itself may not turned out as good as watching it in the movie. Certain scenes will turned out to be different but the songs included would have been much more compared to the movie. If the musical were to be released again in Singapore, I will definitely pay to watch it.

Ratings:
Story: 7/10
Acting: 8/10
Direction: 9/10 (that includes the chereography too!)
Visuals: 9/10
Overall: 4/5 stars

Labels: movie, reviews, synopsis

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