Not bad entertainment

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2015)

People who hate musicals will loathe Mamma Mia. It's cheesy, its characters burst into overblown ABBA songs for no reason and the acting is as hammy as the script. It is a strange beast -- a plot about a wedding on a Greek Island, built around about 30 ABBA anthems. Meryl Streep, as the bride's mother, goes right over the top, and belts out those songs while determined to keep it light and breezy, as do Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as her best friends. Sometimes the jolly dialogue between the trio, not to mention the dancing, gets a little too forced. As the bride's possible fathers, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth enjoy themselves immensely, camping it up, and they are all very likable actors. As the bride Sophie, Amanda Seyfried is a little wide eyed and angelic but she does fairly well in what is a pretty frivolous role. The Greek island location is gorgeous and ABBA fans will just love the songs being given a lush airing. A highlight for me is the scene when Sophie is led up to the chapel on a donkey, and Streep sings The Winner Takes It All. Also Brosnan singing SOS and I Do I Do I Do. Sure, Brosnan isn't much of a singer. But it's touching that here is James Bond trying to be a musical star. And he can laugh at himself. Let's face it, the renditions of many of the popular ABBA songs can never match Agnetha and Anni-Frid's original renditions (Chiquitita, for example). But I like how some of the lesser known ABBA songs are sung. Amanda Seyfriend and her three possible Dads do a lovely version of Our Last Summer while strumming guitars and on a yacht, and Meryl Streep gives genuine emotion to Slipping Through My Fingers, about a mother watching her daughter grow up. If I was home sick for a day and this movie came on the TV, I wouldn't change the channel.