A So-So Experience. Sigh...Could Have Been Better...

Rating: 4/10 (15 July 2008)

I never heard about Mamma Mia or any Abba songs until I saw a teaser of this movie. But I have to say I love musical films and I always give it a chance before I judge it. Don't bash or flame me, but this musical film is a so-so experience. I would put Mamma near the bottom of the list for modern musical movies alongside with Rent and Meet the Producers. Chicago, Sweeny Todd, and Hairspray were like WOW. They took me out of this world into somewhere new and enjoyable.
Most musical movies I seen always have a spectacular musical number in the beginning. The beginning of this movie failed to entice me. Amanda Seyfield have the sweetest voice, but she have little to no screen presence. Whenever she appears, I don't see any star quality in her. Her facial expressions are horrible and sometimes I can see the stupidness of her character Karen from Mean Girls in certain scenes. There are many dialogues in the film where she failed to deliver it with justice. I can imagine other actresses who could recite lines that would hit it out of the ballpark. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme or Money, Money, Money...whatever that song is called was frighteningly scary. I like cheesy in moderation, but that song number went a little too far and did not fit in with the movie. The director needs to make many of the scenes more realistic. In theater you can go flamboyant and electric, but in movies you need to tone it down a bit. Donna's friends are hilarious and they steal every scene they appear in. Meryl Streep was good in several memorable scenes but her forte is not in comedy. Her feeble attempts at comedy, nice try but go back to what you are good at. I give her credit in her singing though. Dancing Queen number, poorly choreograph. I cringe when Meryl jumped on the bed and when the women all jumped down into the water. They did not take the title "dancing queen" to heart. I don't consider all the Greek women waving their hands, pointing their fingers around, and jumping really dancing. Sophie's love interest acted way to cocky in his first musical number of the movie. Amanda's voice was amazing in that number. But the part with all those swimmer dancers made me want to vomit. I crack out laughing when Pierce (Sam) sang. I can't imagine how bad his singing really is without technology enhancing it. It must be a great deal of ugliness. I wonder if the background music added later on in his song is to somewhat drown out his voice. Christine was a knock out in her song after Pierce's song. But at the end of the number when all the guys collapse into the ground, I cringed at that part. I don't understand why Sophie's fiancé is making such a big deal about Sophie wanting to know who her father is. Sophie and Sky chemistry in the movie is rather weak. I love the song that Donna sang to Sam. It was Streep only decent number, very romantic and sad and emotional. When Sam shouted her name "DONNA" I again cringed in that number. The scene where Sophie's 3 possible fathers give away Sophie was wickedly funny and memorable. But I was like WTF when Sophie axed away the wedding. All the hard work and trouble put into the wedding. I would understand if she doesn't love him, but she is planning to go on a somewhat honeymoon anyways with her fellow. This movie has little to no morals. I would consider before even taking kids to see this movie and if I did...I would explain to them afterwards what the characters in the movie did wrong and how you should not follow their examples with their own life. Sam asking Donna to marry him immediately is non-sequitur. They have been separated from each other for many years, they need to re-date and get to know each other again. This is a horrible clique done in many TV shows. Pierce singing to Donna right when he proposed was dreadfully awful. The song number at the dinner table was hilarious! Colin firth was very charismatic in the film; I wished he was Sam instead of Pierce. I notice that the cast had fun making the movie so I commend them for their efforts, but energy was rather lacking in some parts of the movie. The scenery background was breathtaking.
Overall this movie is a forgettable piece of fluff. I would not waste 6-10 dollars for this film at the theater. I would wait for it to come out to DVD to check it out from the library for free or borrowing it from a friend or I guess you can view it online. I wouldn't say this movie is a waste of time but I would only view it once.
2 out of 5 stars. It is a rather generous score. It is just that I love it when the cast put out effort and have fun in a movie regardless of how good it is. I think this movie could have been better with a better director and choreographer as well as replacing some of the actors. Streep was decent in the movie. Amanda Seyfield has a lovely voice, but that is not enough.