Mamma Mia The Movie

Here I go again!

I get it! I finally get it! I saw Mamma Mia yesterday and absolutely loved it. I can't wait to go back and see it again. Meryl Streep is my favorite superhero this summer! Take that Batman!

As background, I was a gigantic ABBA fan when I was a teenager (I also loved disco, there I said it). My best friend was Swedish and she introduced me to ABBA and she always got the latest album ahead of everyone else. I was hooked. ABBA was standard fare at sleepovers, and we'd dance around the pool table in her basement (I always wanted a pool table!) to Mamma Mia. Yeah, yeah, the cooler kids hated ABBA, but I've never considered myself cool. I liked all kinds of music, but there was something about those arrangements, those voices, those melodies, those cute Swedish inflections that just made me get up and dance, and sing along.

So of course I was excited about the stage musical production of Mamma Mia when it came out in the early 90s. However, when I actually saw the musical in Toronto, with Louise Pitre as Donna, I really didn't like it. Maybe it was because the decibel level was so high it made my ears bleed, or maybe because the arrangements sounded different. Or maybe it was the silly storyline. I don't know but I never bonded with the musical for some weird reason.

For some reason I'd been really excited about the release of the movie. Maybe because I heard that two of my cuties, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan, were cast in the movie. I love Meryl Streep but I was skeptical about her vocal prowess. But the trailers looked really exciting and fun, so the girls and I went today.

I totally loved it. I laughed, I cried, I boogied.

I finally felt the feeling of twirling joy I used to feel when listening to the ABBA records. The Greek island setting was perfect, the colors, the sun, everything. Meryl Streep is amazing as Donna Sheridan, and she has a great voice and totally inhabits the character. It's like she's dancing around inside an ABBA song. I don't mind the silly story line, and I love the way the movie is a musical, full stop. No apologies needed for breaking out into song and dance, whether you are a main character or part of the "greek chorus" of villagers. I mean, isn't that why you do musicals in the first place?

And let me just say that Colin Firth has a great voice. Very folky, but with a surprisingly high level of musicality to my ears. Pierce Brosnan isn't a singer per say, but Remington Steele slash James Bond can do no wrong in my ears. (Hmmmm, I think I know what age group this movie is targeted at…). I'm not as familiar with Stellen Skarsgard who played the third "dad", but he was good too!

The whole cast rocked (Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Julie Walters) but one of my favorites was Christine Baranski. She was hilarious.

And did I see cameo shots of Benny and Bjorn in the movie? Methinks I did!

Make sure you stay for the credits!