Overall I think that the film wasn't that bad however there were factors that let it down. The continuity for me was a huge let down, being a huge fan of the first film, some of the flashbacks in the movie contradict what the first movie set in place. Now this is very personal but I think killing the character of Donna off was a huge mistake! She was the heart and balls of the first movie and removing her presence from the second movie meant the film lacked the warmth and quirkiness that Meryl Streep bought to the original and the fact the cause of her death isn't even addressed makes this worse. Saying this, Lily James was the saving grace of this film capturing the role of a young Donna perfectly with a beautiful singing voice to match, her rendition of I Have a Dream particularly standing out. I did enjoy the flashbacks of Donna and the three guys surprisingly, even though Hugh Skinner was too try hard to be Colin Firth and took over Pierce Brosnan being the worse singer. Harry and Donna were odd but quirky as expected, Bill and Donna were fiery and deep again as expected but best of all Sam and Donna's chemistry was electric and instant and very well matched what was established in the original film. Julie Walters stood out as usual for her excellent comedic timing and joined by Christine Baranski for Angel Eyes was a pleasant nostalgic vibe from the previous film and had the catchy lyrics and energy to get it stuck in your head!! However the rest of the present day story lacked warmth as I previously mentioned, Amanda Seyfried struggled to carry the films story and lacked emotion unless she was bouncing off bold characters like Rosie and Tanya or even Donna at the end. Cher was the biggest disappointment of the film for me, purely there for a money grab to entice audiences; whilst having a fantastic voice that I cannot fault, she doesn't seem to act and her character lacks depth making the last part of the film feel extremely rushed and just random really. Even though the biggest mistake of the film was killing off Meryl Streep's character, I do have to comend this by saying if it had to be done this was the best way to do it with My Love, My Life being so touching and emotional giving the film some finesse and raw emotion! My favourite number in the whole film. Overall not a bad film but the faults are big and cannot be avoided by ABBA's great hits or some sad story. Side note; trailers did an awful job, advertised completely the wrong way and should have focused more on what the film was actually about rather than focusing on Sophie's pregnancy which isn't even mentioned till the last 40 minutes of the film at least.
Review of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
