A heartfelt, fun musical comedy everyone can enjoy!

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2011)

I have been a huge fan of musical theatre for some time now, and I always get excited when it comes to movie adaptations. However, I'm always a bit cautious as many of these adaptations just fall flat for me for whatever reason. Mamma Mia is an exception to this. Although nothing can compare to the magic of theatre, Mamma Mia comes close to delivering the same atmosphere the musical has on stage. It also helps that the three creators of Mamma Mia were heavily implicated in its production as well as the two men from Abba. This gave the movie a solid foundation to build upon.
Mamma Mia features a star studded cast, with Meryl Streep leading the bunch. The older generation of the cast are all well established actors, and guess what? They can also sing! Meryl Streep is definitely a strong singer, and her two female costars Julie Walters and Christine Baranski also hold their own. The three males are also quite good. I personally adored Colin Firth's voice and I wished he'd had more solos. Stellan Skarsgard's voice was fairly good, at least good enough for the few solo lines he had. Pierce Brosnan's performance was interesting. His acting was definitely less wooden than when he played our favourite hero James Bond, and he made his character likable. His singing, although definitely not as good as a trained Broadway performer, was still fairly strong. However, I found his delivery of the songs a little comical as looked as if he were in pain while in some parts of the movie.
The younger actors also hold their own. For Amanda Seyfried, this movie was what made her a household name, and she fully deserves it. Her performance is wonderful. She's full of energy, and her singing voice is absolutely beautiful. She definitely embodies the youthfulness Sophie is meant to have. Dominic Cooper does a great job acting in the limited screen time he has. He and Amanda have great chemistry and his singing is also quite good.
The scenery is absolutely beautiful and the sound stages are equally as lovely. The musical numbers were full of energy and fun to watch. Nothing felt out of place or dragged on for too long. Everything in the movie was there for a purpose, and the pacing was just right. One of my favourite parts of the movie is the Greek chorus (literally, a chorus of Greek locals), who add both fantastic harmonies, and comical moments.
Although not a very deep or complex movie, Mamma Mia delivers a heartfelt, fun musical comedy that everyone can enjoy. The actors had the times of their lives making this movie and it really shines through in all their performances. This is the kind of movie to be watched again and again, and definitely a good pick me up on a very bad day.