One Of The Best Musicals Ever!

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2013)

First off ... I gave it a nine star rating due to a couple of mistakes, a slightly over the top musical number, and one of the major parts was possibly miscast.
When ABBA was on top, I was elsewhere ... I've never gone for fads, and, being an entertainer, at their time of solid hits, I was too into my own career. Being autistic, I generally have tunnel vision. So, my real introduction was years after the craze ... in the Aussie film "Priscilla". Cute movie ... interesting. However, I did not manage to become an ABBA fan, even after the fact. And then came this movie!!! The songs were done very professionally ... and the casting was superb, other than one part that seemed miscast, and I am not going to name that actor, as he did the best he could ... but he had some real heavy talent to be intimidated by.
Meryl was as excellent as was her back-up girls! Frankly, I thought the casting of the two others was rather odd ... but that thought vanished as quickly as it appeared. Most of the major actors are not seasoned singers ... especially Pierce Brosnan, but he seemed to meet the challenge head-on, and did a superb job of it! God love him. I actually blew a chance on meeting Pierce ... but I can tell you this ... the man is very much the actor, meaning that he is as cool in person as he is in the parts he plays. A gentleman! One scene that bothered me was the scene on the roof of the goat-house. Were the people on the roof suppose to be invisible to Meryl? That part did not play well, for me.
The big surprise, but not shockingly, is Christine Baranski!!! This is a woman that should be busy, every minute of the day, working on some film project! The woman is a dynamo. The beach number she does blew my mind. Oh, the over the top part was when the male dancers leave the music behind them with a fast forward strained section of the number. Short, thank GOD, but still a big mistake. However, the number is so perfect, otherwise, one just needs to blink that section into oblivion! There was a scene between Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper, in bed, which was deleted from the released movie ... and it should not have been deleted. Fantasy is what this type of movie creates in the minds of its audiences, and that scene was filled with fantasies for both women and The Rainbow Connection. The chemistry was hot! Lets talk Julie Walters. I'd never seen her in anything before, but she has a new fan with this movie. The woman is so naturally earthy, and in your face, that you can't help but want to become friends with her. I found her a total delight ... and she had no problem matching talent for talent with the rest of the major cast. I would love to see more of her in the future. On the other hand, I think I've seen a little too much of Stellan Skarsgård ... the man has guts, I'll say that for him. But I'd rather had seen the deleted scene instead of Stellan's breakfast scene. Although, I imagine a few senior citizens went wild over that one.
All in all ... this is definitely one heck of a classic that will never lose its popularity!