Extremely Disappointing -- But I will buy the video

Rating: 3/10 (19 July 2008)

How extremely disappointing! We can't believe that ABBA would sign-off on the poor singing of Streep and Brosnan. Why didn't the five producers DUB the voices of Streep and Brosnan? Why didn't Tom Hanks and his wife exert their authority as Producers to save the singing?
My family loves ABBA and we love the stage musical. We love hearing ABBA songs play during Muriel's Wedding and other movies.
In this production, the music often drown out the voices of Streep and Brosnan. Was that by intent? Dub their voices!
The producers cut five songs and added one. A couple of songs were reduced to merely lines and some scenes had too much dialog.
A couple of songs and dance routines appeared rushed but still tried to remain loyal to the stage production while interjecting a few twists.
There were some wonderful elements such as great photography, a wonderful supporting cast of extras, and some nice and touching changes from the stage version (but I don't want to spoil it for you).
Sophie's friends have barely any time on screen, and the relationship or admiration of one young man for Aunt Tanya(Donna's friend) is not developed clearly for the movie audience and barely makes sense for fans of the stage musical. By the way, Tany's hair color was not a good match for her wonderful personality, and her graceful age.
Some scenes are a far stretch of the imagination which wears on the audience's ability to believe; such as all the climbing required for a location along the cliffs of a Greek Island; such as the boys "swinging" into the Bachelorette party; and the final roof top climbing/falling scene is distracting from reality at best.
Overall, the movie was fun and the music still carries energy, but the fun and excitement do not rise to that of the stage musical. We love ABBA so we will buy the video. We are happy we saw the movie on a big screen cinema too. My family is simply mourning the loss of the excitement that the stage production brings to the audience.