Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is Once and Done - Logan's Review

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is in theaters on July 20th, 2018.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a fun, light-hearted, musical sequel that is in no way made for my demographic. Prefacing this review, I will say that I saw women in tears by the end of this movie, and most of the theater seemed to really love the entire experience. With that being said, I was not one of those people, but don’t let that deter you!

My first complaint with this film is actually aimed towards the marketing team. This may be considered a spoiler, but it is revealed in the first few minutes of the movie and I think it’s important for fans to know, Meryl Streep is not a part of this film. Her character is very important to what happens throughout, but we as an audience do not experience a performance by the greatest actress of the generation in this film. She makes a slight cameo at one point in the film, but Streep is smack in the center of the poster for this film and is the first cast member listed when you search about it online. I found this to be highly disappointing, because although I’m not a huge fan of musicals, I am a fan of great performances, and Streep never lets you down in that aspect.

While Streep’s character, Donna, doesn’t show up in modern times, much of this film is the flashback of how she met the three possible fathers of her daughter. The first two acts of this film are very slow for me during these flashbacks. We know she’s going to meet all three men, and the storytelling seems forced because this backstory was laid out in the first film as a line of dialogue and was never meant to be 50% of a feature film. Lily James however is fantastic as young Donna. I absolutely loved her in films like Cinderella and Baby Driver, and she’s easily the standout of this film, as well.

The third act of Mamma Mia 2 does pick up and become a very fun ride. This is when characters start coming together, set pieces get bigger, musical numbers become grander and the story doesn’t necessarily matter to me anymore, because we’re just having fun on screen. The music throughout the film is great, no vocal performance stands out as being poor, but the final act brings the fireworks, brings the Cher, and brings excitement that you can feel in the audience that you’re watching with.

Overall, I don’t think I could watch this film again, but like I prefaced in this review, it was most definitely not made for me. The woman I brought with me to the Tuesday screening said she would be seeing it again on Saturday with her mother and couldn’t be more excited. If you’re a fan of the first Mamma Mia film, a fan of musicals, and just a fan of women having a ton of fun on screen for 2 hours, definitely check out Here We Go Again. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Logan (Contributor) is a Texas native and a massive fan of all genres of film. You can find him talking about movies on YouTube as half of the CraZCouple or in line for the latest Star Wars/Comic Book film.
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