Mamma Mia as I’m sure you’ll all know is the 2008 smash hit musical based on the songs from Swedish 70’s pop band ABBA. Infact Mamma Mia was so successful that it actually broke the record originally set by Titanic way back in 1997 to be the highest grossing film in the UK of all time. The film was made on a budget of $52,000,000 and grossed an estimated $601,651,799. Mamma Mia has also become the biggest selling DVD of all time too, not bad eh? The film’s rated PG & runs for approximately 108 minutes. It was released on the 30th June 2008.
Mamma Mia is directed by Phyllida Lloyd who’s well known for her extensive work in theatre. She was offered the chance to work on Mamma Mia way back in 1999.
Mamma Mia, with exception to maybe the Ocean films probably has one of the best line ups I’ve ever seen. It stars: Meryl Streep (Death Becomes Her), Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls), Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’s Diary), Stellan Skarsgård (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Dominic Cooper (The Duchess), Julie Walters (Harry Potter) and Christine Baranski (Chicago).
Mamma Mia follows the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), she’s 20 & is engaged to a great guy. She has a brilliant life on a remote island and a Mother who dotes on her, only thing missing is her Father. She’s never known her Father and desperately wants him at her wedding so she steals her Mum’s diary only to find out that it could be one of three men as they overlapped. Sophie decides there’s only one thing
for it and invites all three men, not knowing whether they’d turn up or not, surprisingly they all do… what are the chances?! Sophie thinks that as soon as she sees the men she’ll know which one is her biological father, of course this isn’t the case.
She doesn’t want to tell her mum that she’s invited the men as she thinks her mum will go mad so she keeps them a secret. Of course not long into the film Sophie’s mum Donna sees the three men and freaks. So while the two women try to plan Sophie’s wedding they both have secrets of their own to keep from each other not knowing that they both know! Will Sophie discover who her real father is in time for him to walk her down the isle?
I reckon I’m probably one of the last people in Britain to have seen this film as I only saw it today on Sky Box Office. I must admit that I’m not a fan of musicals at all and if I’m going to watch one I like to be able to fast forward the songs, unfortunately we were watching this live on TV so I didn’t have that luxury!
I didn’t exactly have high hopes for this film, not just because I don’t like musicals but because I’m way too young to have been a fan of ABBA, I wasn’t even around in the 70’s! When I had seen the previews for this film I personally thought it looked like the cheesiest film ever. Despite my preconceptions this film did extremely well at the box office & with critics, this film came packed with so much hype that not everyone could be wrong could they?
Well they were & they weren’t. The first hour of this film is good, it has some good one liners and it’s faced paced therefore keeps your interest, I’m not a fan of the music itself but I quite enjoyed watching Meryl Streep & Pierce Brosnan try to imitate singers! However after about an hour this film really began to drag, I was just counting the minutes until this ended, if I was watching this alone then it’s likely I wouldn’t have even seen it through to the end but as I wasn’t the only person in the room I had to stick with it until the bitter end!
I don’t know why but I got it into my head that this film is about 2 hours long when really it’s only a fraction over 90 minutes, I suppose when a film drags on it seems longer than it actually is and after the first hour Mamma Mia, for me went steadily downhill. The songs & one liners that had been funny during the first hour became silly, cheesy & repetitive and I couldn’t wait until this ended.
Having said all that I must praise the actors and actresses, we all know that they don’t have voices like Mariah Carey and their singing abilities will never win X Factor however they tried & they emerged with pretty decent singing voices. It was nice to see them out of their comfort zones and doing something different as a lot of actors tend to stay with what they’re used to. I never thought I’d see James Bond belting out ABBA tunes to Meryl Streep! My favourite character would have to be Rosie played by Julie Walters, she was the funny one and she really brought warmth and humour to her character even though she wasn’t a big character in the film.
Overall this is an uplifting, happy film that I would highly recommend to any die hard ABBA fan, however if like me you’re too young to have been into ABBA I would suggest you give this a miss. It’s more aimed at an older generation which I was fully aware of when I began watching this however this film had gained such praise that I had to see for myself if it lived up to the hype and I‘m sure many of you will disagree but for me it fell a bit flat. I was both impressed and disappointed at the same time. I think it’s mainly because of my age that this film became tiresome for me and for someone who was around in the 70’s they would probably love this film. For that reason I would just say think carefully about whether you think you’ll enjoy this film, if you don’t think you will then you’re probably spot on!
Although I don’t personally have this on DVD I’ve looked up the special features and they include: Sing along option Feature Commentary with Director Phyllida Lloyd A Behind The Scenes Look At The making Of The Movie The Gimme Gimme Gimme Music Video Deleted scenes Including The Deleted Musical Number 'Name Of The Game'
Mamma Mia is available on DVD from play.com for £7.99 which I was somewhat expecting as this film hasn’t been out too long so you’ll be pressed to find a cheaper alternative.
Of course the soundtrack is also available for £6.99 and that includes: Honey, Honey - Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Lilley, Rachel McDowall Money, Money, Money - Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski Mamma Mia - Meryl Streep Dancing Queen - Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski Our Last Summer - Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep Lay All Your Love On Me - Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried Super Trouper - Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight) - Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Lilley, Rachel McDowall The Name Of The Game - Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard Voulez-Vous - Cast Of Mamma Mia The Movie, Philip Michael, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard SOS - Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep Does Your Mother Know - Christine Baranski, Philip Michael Slipping Through My Fingers - Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried The Winner Takes It All - Meryl Streep When All Is Said And Done - Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep Take A Chance On Me - Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard I Have A Dream / Thank You For The Music - Various Artists
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Music / Performing Arts, Comedy - Director: Trevor Nunn, Geoffrey Posner - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, Parental Guidance - Starring: Duncan Preston, Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Victoria Wood, Jim Broadbent
The delirious sight of Meryl Streep leading a river of multigenerational women singing ... more
"Dancing Queen" is one of the high points ofMamma Mia!, the musical built around the songs of the hugely popular pop group ABBA. The plot sets in motion when Sophie ...
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The delirious sight of Meryl Streep leading a river of multigenerational women singing ... more
"Dancing Queen" is one of the high points ofMamma Mia!, the musical built around the songs of the hugely popular pop group ABBA. The plot sets in motion when Sophie ...
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Advantages: Good songs, some of the cast are having fun Disadvantages: Poor singing; invisible choreography; badly written script; miscast actors; you want more?
Seresecros 01.09.2008 (01.09.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Mamma Mia!
Advantages: Funny, warm, great cast, great songs, a real feel-good film that will make you smile Disadvantages: Very slightly inferior to the stage version
KarenUK 21.07.2008 (21.07.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Mamma Mia!
Advantages: Funny, warm, great cast, great songs, a real feel-good film that will make you smile Disadvantages: Very slightly inferior to the stage version
KarenUK 21.07.2008 (21.07.2008)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Mamma Mia!
Advantages: Good songs, some of the cast are having fun Disadvantages: Poor singing; invisible choreography; badly written script; miscast actors; you want more?
Seresecros 01.09.2008 (01.09.2008)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Mamma Mia!
![Mamma Mia! [DVD] [2008]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/81500191.jpg "Mamma Mia! [DVD] [2008]")
Mar 22nd, 2009
exceptional by (20%):
very helpful by (80%):
