Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again fluctuates between the lives of Donna circa 1979 and her daughter Sophie in the present day to intertwine two tales and show how relationships formed in the past resonate in the present. Determined to live out her mother's dream, Sophie prepares for the grand re-opening of her hotel the Bella Donna with the guidance of her mother's friends. As she becomes overwhelmed by the daunting tasks, Sophie learns more about Donna's past as she discovers how she ran the hotel, met each of Sophie's dads, and raised a baby all on her own.
Written and directed by Ol Parker, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a prequel/sequel to the decade-old jukebox musical motion-picture, Mamma Mia!. Story writing credits go to Parker, Richard Curtis, and Catherine Johnson (a writer/producer on the first film), but I noticed Here We Go Again's storytelling structure seems to have been inspired by The Godfather Part II. The film cuts between timelines on a dime which occasionally allows for some creative transitions, but there were also several switches that were just jarring, unnecessary, and awkward in execution. This decision to split the screentime between these two storylines is an interesting one, but ultimately the fractured focus holds each narrative from reaching its full potential. The audience is then left with a half-baked musical memoir.
I'm sure some of you are already upset that I'd dare critique the plot of a musical because "that's not the point," but I can rattle off plenty of marvelous movie musicals with both a quality story and incredible music. La La Land, Sing Street, Into The Woods, Les Misérables, Enchanted, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Oliver!, Singing' in the Rain, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, and most Disney productions. I could go on, but I won't for the sake of length. I'm actually getting war flashbacks to December when I was unimpressed with The Greatest Showman and am already aware this will likely be a contested review as well, but I don't really care because I feel like I need to share my genuine opinion on things rather than conform to what others deem to be appropriate. There's not really a way around it... Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a lackluster sequel and mediocre musical in nearly every way imaginable.
As I've already addressed, the story's stretched thin by the decision to tell a story on two fronts. There's somehow even less of a plot holding this thing together than the first film, no regard for continuity, and some baffling choices were made as to how to best progress the series (I presume there will be an unnecessary third installment as well). While I certainly enjoyed the first two-thirds for the most part due to some energetic, entertaining musical numbers, the third act lost all momentum and dragged so much. It was only an hour and fifty four minutes, but towards the end I kept thinking to myself "when is this going to end?..." It seriously felt like I was watching a three hour film because the energy and sense of pacing completely disappeared. At that point, it was torturous to say the least... but I'll get to that momentarily... Just be patient and remember that this is coming from someone who LIKES musicals...
One story element that was handled quite distastefully was Donna's trio of romantic entanglements. Here We Go Again was already put in a tough spot when it decided to depict this because the first film dictated that these encounters happened within quick succession of one another. Otherwise, Donna would have immediately known who Sophie's father was. However, Donna basically slept with each guy after a quick musical number and you didn't really buy the chemistry between the actors because everything happened so fast... Next thing you know, she's moved on. There didn't seem to be much effort being made to flesh out the relationships whatsoever. To me, it really painted Donna in a bad light and I wish I could have bought into the bonds being formed between Donna and the three men.
If Here We Go Again got one thing right though, it was casting Lily James as a young Donna. Between this, Cinderella (2015), and Baby Driver, James has proven herself to be a captivating, charismatic screen presence and I'd love to see her as a female lead in more musicals. She has the looks, an exceptional singing voice, and a genuinely uplifting aura. She wound up being a great stand-in for Meryl Streep in a weird way as well, but more on that in a moment...
Alongside Lily as younger versions of characters from the first film are Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Jeremy Irvine, Josh Dylan, and Hugh Skinner. They play young Tanya, Rosie, Sam, Bill, and Harry respectively, but each actor did an excellent job channeling the persona and mannerisms of the older actor while making the role their own.
You can't really write a review of a film which stars Meryl Streep without addressing her whatsoever, and I've gotta say she was is in like two scenes at most. There really wasn't much of a legitimate reason for her conspicuous absence either... The actress is still alive, so you think a film banking on her name would want to make the most of her, but they really wasted her to be completely honest. I'm guessing it was to keep the budget down because I presume she commands a big paycheck and they didn't want to pay her an unreasonable amount.
I try not to be overly negative, but there's no polite way to get around the fact that Cher sounded god-awful in this. Like I'm pretty positive my ears got some form of cancer after listening to her... I was baffled at how such a beloved pop singer could sound so terrible. I guess it makes sense that she's basically a has-been now... To make matters worse, her role had absolutely no bearing on the plot and was clearly written with the intention of shoe-horning a cameo appearance for Cher. My entire family agreed that she sounded terrible, so it wasn't just me either.
To put it simply, Here We Go Again is a disappointing follow-up to a feel-good musical. There are some bright spots, but not even more ABBA could save this thing from its sealed fate as an inferior sequel. I realize it's called Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, but Mamma Mia! Let's Please Never Do This Again would have been a more fitting title.
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