Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley
Mamma Mia! - 3 Stars (Very good)
Every single now and then a film comes along that makes no pretense of featuring great acting, singing, directing and writing, but seeks to be only what it is—just plain fun! The most current of these uncommon films is "Mamma Mia!", released in 2008.
Based on Abba's hit single of the identical name, Mamma Mia! 1st opened as a musical at the Prince Edward Theatre in London in 1999. The original Broadway production opened in 2001 at the Winter Garden Theater in New York, and has run for more than three,100 performances by means of April of this year. It has now toured in far more than 140 cities in America.
Mamma Mia! was nominated for Finest Musical and Very best Musical Score at the 2002 Tony Awards. The director of the original Broadway play, Phyllida Lloyd, is also the director of the film. The musical book and screenplay are each by Catherine Johnson.
According to Range, Producer Judy Craymer and writer Catherine Johnson "were broke when they 1st attempted to place the show with each other . . . and now are two of the wealthiest ladies in England."
That would be simply because Mamma Mia! set a new mark for the largest weekend premiere ever for a film musical--+ million. It also became the highest grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom, and would go on to turn into the highest grossing musical film worldwide, producing + million with a production spending budget of million.
Combine the movie with the stage productions and Mamma Mia! has grossed billion in income given that opening in 1999. Considerably of the success has to do with Abba, the Swedish pop/dance group that became 1 of the most internationally well-known entertainment attractions from 1972 to 1982. If you do not recognize Abba, you would acknowledge its music.
Mamma Mia! is a treasure trove of Abba music composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and contains "Dancing Queen", "Super Trouper", Figuring out Me, Realizing You", "Take a Opportunity On Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Income, Cash, Money", "The Winner Takes It All" and "I Have a Dream".
Mamma Mia! requires location on a Greek Island where the never ever-married Donna (Meryl Streep) runs a not really successful hotel with her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is about to be married to Sky (Dominic Cooper). Donna invites her two very best friends to the wedding—Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski) the three of them formed a trio on stage at 1 time.
Sophie, who has never ever known who her father is (her mother does not know either), finds her mother's diary from 20 years ago and discovers that her mother was intimate with 3 young males at that time—Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Vivid (Colin Firth) and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), one of whom is her father. Not realizing which 1, she invites all 3 to her wedding and her mother has a fit. See the film for how it all gets resolved.
In spite of acquiring Golden Globe nominations for Greatest Picture and Best Actress (Meryl Streep, who else would it be?), Mamma Mia! took a lot of hits at assessment time, not the least of which was "this need to be the only musical in film background made up practically entirely of men and women who can't sing". It is correct that the film did not benefit from having the cast carry out its own musical numbers.
Mamma Mia! did not win any main awards worth talking about, but the excellence of Abba's music and the fun atmosphere of the presentation cannot be denied, which is why I gave it a 3-star (great) rating rather than two-star (typical) rating.
I would rather not hear Pierce Brosnan sing again. You can say something you want about Meryl Streep, but don't forget this: She has been nominated as Best Actress or Greatest Supporting Actress for 14 Academy Awards and has won 2 Oscars, and she also has been nominated for 21 Golden Globe Awards and won 5 occasions, more than any other actor in the history of either award show.
Do not fight it, if you want some entertaining entertainment, see Mamma Mia!
Read much more of my film evaluations on films with a lot of substance, depth and feeling, such as: "A Christmas Story" - "My Huge Fat Greek Wedding" - "Secondhand Lions" - "The Chorus (Les Choristes in French)" - "Waking Ned Devine" - "Chariots of Fire" - "Steel Magnolias" - "Chocolat" and "Radio" These are all excellent films. Locate my articles at: http://www.edbagleyblog.com http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviews.html
Write-up from articlesbase.com
