Take A Chance On This

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2008)

I admit that I went into the cinema to see this with very low expectations. I'm a big ABBA fan, and I've always wanted to see the musical, but never had the chance. I rationalised my reasons for seeing the film until finally deciding it didn't matter my reasoning; ABBA rocks! And I have to say, it's something of a mixed bag. The songs are very good, but brought in under flimsy pretexts ("I'm a little bit confused about who my father is, let's have everyone sing Voulez-Vous at me!"/"I'm a little upset, my friends will help by singing Chiquitita at me!"). Still, if you love ABBA like myself, just try not to sing along. Only the girls at the back and my friends and sister and I were participating in our cinema, but it was fun nonetheless. Although, the girls around you wailing "The winner takes it aaaaaaalllllll!!!!" as they bawl their eyes out is pretty distracting.
Some actors' singing is a little sub-par (Pierce Brosnan performing SOS had me yelling at him to shut up, though some of it was admittedly pretty lovable) and songs are shoved in where they're not needed (Does Your Mother Know?).
But overall, the plot is pretty steady and the acting is solid. Some people cry "over acting", but this isn't really a film to be taken seriously. It's a musical for crying out loud! If you do go to see this film, just enjoy it, join in regardless of "etiquette" and try to ignore any parts grating on you.
It can be enjoyable, the tunes are fun and emotional, sure there have been a few changes to the story (for some odd reason they made Bill a Swedish writer, but Skarsgård played him in some sort of mixed accent; I think he may have been attempting the original accent).
And hey, if you're a Stellan Skarsgård lover (quite literally), it's so worth it. You'll see why ;)