Mainly disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (31 December 2008)

Having seen & thoroughly enjoyed it on stage several times, most comments (pro & con) are based on the comparison to this. (I would give anything to have the first stage performance I saw on DVD!)
Pros:

The casting of everyone except Meryl Streep (including Pierce Brosnan), and particularly Amanda Seyfried - she was cute and enthusiastic, and her singing was fresh and nicely in character.

The setting and the scenery - gorgeous!

The music and the book (not unique to the movie, of course, but a huge part of what made this musical the success that it is!)

Cons:

Didn't like Meryl Streep's acting OR singing. (The singing could have been acceptable, but I've never seen a seasoned pro over-act so much = see "Winner Takes it All" or numerous other scenes). To some extent, in musicals, you need to let the music do the talking.

Pierce Brosnan's singing. Sometimes it's a GOOD thing to either dub the stars, or select stars that can sing. Actually, while on the subject of the singing in general, whether you are an ABBA fan or not, nobody can deny that Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad could belt it out. One of the pleasures of the stage play was that they were great SINGERS. The closing mini-concert in the stage play was a treat - a chance to see some of the cast really cutting loose in a flashy performance. The analogous scene in the movie was a parody of that, at best.

Continuity - the screen version didn't flow as nicely as the stage play. Maybe it's because they didn't have to pace it to a live audience, or maybe it's because the editing chopped it up too much, or maybe they just screwed up.

I didn't think the "Take a Chance" or "Does Your Mother Know" scenes were nearly as funny as they should have been (or maybe I was just disappointed with the whole thing by then).

Overall, you can probably tell, I was disappointed.