Synopsis:
20 year old
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is preparing to marry
her boyfriend Sky at her mother's (Meryl Streep)
hotel on an island in Greece. She
seemingly has it all - a carefree life, a loving
fiance and happy friends. Only one thing
is missing and has been missing all her life,
her father. Wanting to have him walk her
down the isle and armed with information from
her mother's diary, Sophie sends invitations to
three men who might be her father. Old
loves are rekindled, new loves are formed and
Sophie risks everything to discover the true
identity of her father. Set entirely to
the songs of ABBA and based upon the world's
number one musical comedy which has people
dancing in the isles every night, Mamma Mia
soars into theaters.
The Freak's Rating: B : When I was about
20, my mother offered me the opportunity to
accompany her with a group of kids from the high
school she taught at to a performance of The
Phantom Of The Opera in Chicago. I was as
moved emotionally as I'd been to that point in
my life. The power and energy put off by a
stage performance with wonderful music is
something you can't put into words and need to
experience for yourself. Knowing Mamma Mia
was based upon an award-winning musical, I was
excited to see it. My mother in law
Joyce is crazy
about Mamma Mia. On a recent drive back
from the twin cities, the soundtrack
continuously while Jen & I struggled to hear our
movie on the DVD player over it.
Whenever something captures people in my family,
I am intrigued even more.
Amanda Seyfried steals this picture with her raw
talent finally showcased center stage in both
singing and acting. Playing second, even
third fiddle on HBO's Big Love, Seyfried
sometimes fades but for me will now be the focus
of attention. She has all the beauty,
energy and ability to pull off the role of
Sophie perfectly. Seeing her hold the
screen with Streep, you feel as if you are
watching two seasoned pros. Meryl Streep
is solid with acting chops, but was apparently
allowed to skip the gym for a few months, as she
appears to have a flabby chin at this point, not
looking near as good as she did in The Devil
Wears Prada. Knowing Streep though, she
may have opted for weight gain in targeted areas
to bring a sense of normalcy to the character's
figure. Outside of Seyfried, Streep and a
small role by Colin Firth, some casting choices
in Mamma Mia are awful. Pierce Brosnan may
be a good looking guy, but his singing voice is
dreadful. Christine Boranski plays Tanya,
a "hot" woman who some of the boys drool over.
Boranski is WELL past her prime and lukewarm at
best in the looks department. This lends
unbelievability to those aforementioned scenes
and thus deems them ineffective. Singing
by the cast is adequate by the leads, though
Streep stuggles during the extremely forced
Winner Takes It All performance.
Directing in Mamma Mia is inconsistent.
Some shots are sweeping in odd moments and
slowed in even odder ones. Amazing
cinematography is exhibited with shots of the
ocean, island, resorts and city landscapes.
At other moments I wondered what the director
was thinking attempting angles that she did.
Another major flaw in the film is costume
design. Streep is dressed in overalls
through a large chunk of the film for some
reason and other costumes seem relatively
amateur in design. Choreography is also a
miss, as large group scenes for emphasis on the
music lose their strength when some of the group
fails to sync. The major writing flaw in
the film is with the ending of the picture.
In typical musical style, closure is provided
for a number of story arcs within seconds.
For a movie adaptation, closure needs to draw
out a little and sometimes have elements of the
storyline completely eliminated in order to
provide a better overall feeling to the end of
the film.
Music is the bulk of what makes Mamma Mia worth
seeing, however I found many of the songs
unfitting for the film or musical. Some
songs including Super Trouper, SOS, Mamma Mia,
Voulez Vous and Gimme Gimme Gimme are adapted
well, but others including Dancing Queen, Take A
Chance On Me and Winner Takes It All don't match
up at all. These three failures do not
match up with the script context or the
characters and feeling extremely forced when
interjected into the film. The creators no
doubt assumed that people love the songs enough
to ignore this flaw and many will, but not me.
If a better director, screenwriter, casting
director and costume designer had been signed,
this would easily be a high A in my book.
Now how can I say that and still rate the movie
a B you might ask? Easy answer - FUN.
This is a fun time and will leave you singing
the songs for days after you see it. Seyfried and Streep's performance of Slipping
Through My Fingers is the best 5 minutes of the
picture, nearly worthy of the price of your
ticket in itself. When the music lines up
with the film it is magical. Women in my
mother's generation will love this pic, as it
adapts music when they were younger and no doubt
had them dancing a time or two. Anyone who
can appreciate a wonderful performance by an up
and comer in Seyfried and is a fan of musicals
will enjoy their time at this one.
Jen's
Rating: B- : This was a love or hate movie.
Some parts were so so good. Great acting by
Meryl and also great acting by the daughter too
(shoot forgot her name). And some songs were so
great and relevant. But there were some songs
and some parts of the movie that just didn't
make a whole lot of sense. And the singing just
wasn't great. Once again, and I know I say this
a lot, it could've been so much better! I was
hoping it would be better. I'm sure the musical
is much better.
Sebastian's
Rating: A : this movie was actually really
good. yes its a love hate thing, i mean the
beggining was boring and the end was cliche but
overall its a fun movie, like tropic thunder as
u guys stated.
im sure gonna watch this again. i think its my
mums new favourite movie :)
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