Get Up & Dance (or at least sing along!)

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2008)

Wow what a fun ride! First of all, when I was a kid growing up the popular groups were Rush, Kiss, Styxx, Kansas, J Giles Band, Blondie, Pink Floyd, etc. - and I loved them all, just like everyone else, but, having a German father, I had spent some time in Europe with my cousins and ABBA was all the rage. I loved ABBA, too - and still do to this day (have an iTunes playlist titled ABBA-mania) - but nobody else did (except for a nerdy girl). So all these years (I graduated in '81) I've held onto my love of ABBA, and, until the play Mamma Mia!, I was pretty much the only one I knew who even knew the music at all well.
Sitting in the theater yesternight (opening night, OF COURSE!) with my wife, having never seen the play (of course I have the soundtrack) I knew the general story from the previews - girl getting married/doesn't know who her dad is/invites all three possible candidates/ABBA music throughout. But I was unprepared for the emotional thrill-ride I was about to experience...
From the opening notes to the closing credits, the show was pure entertainment. Seeing the very-slightly-adapted ABBA songs in "video/story" form was amazing. The writers cleverly worked the lyrics into the plot of the story. Meryl Streep - perhaps a bit old for her role - was pretty much perfect as the mother of the bride; her voice was surprisingly delicious, but even better: her acting like a teenager (the character never grew out of it) was SUPERB.
The bride herself had the best voice of all, and ALL of the characters added emotion, passion, meaning and depth to the lyrics as the songs were sung.
I was moved to dance, sing along, weep, LAUGH, rejoice, clap, and otherwise SMILE ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE MOVIE. In a sense, I felt my childhood love for ABBA vindicated as I saw so many audience members - young and old alike - experiencing the same. The renditions, though familiar, were fresh and performed excellently (mostly, see below).
My only complaints are these: 1 - The story ended too abruptly; not much follow-through on anything; seemed like a play rather than a movie - I feel the transition from play to movie should've been a bit deeper; 2 - Most critics I heard lampooned Pierce Brosnan's voice but that misses the mark - his voice was fine (not like a professional singer, but absolutely adequate for the part); the problem is: his facial expressions while he sings were distractingly uncomfortable; he looked like he had just swallowed a few spiders every time he sang - and the director should've given some more direction there,IMHO; 3 - The VERY FEW adult-oriented site-gags and bits of dialogue could've been toned down so that this could have been a more family/teenager-friendly movie; and 4 - It was over too fast; they could've fit a few more of my favorites into the script somehow (am I the only one who loves Dum Dum Diddle, The Piper, Knowing Me - Knowing You and The Visitor?); but hey, it wasn't MY show to create.
Cameos by Benny Andersson were also fun.
THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC and the MOVIE to all involved.