Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

An optimistic straightforwardness a full class better than I expected. It lacks originality, but maybe that's not because of the subject matter itself, but perhaps because it openly contradicts the continuity of the story. The young versions of the fatherly trio also don't help, especially Harry and Bill, who have lines that almost exclusively relate to what they would like to do with Donna. It's precisely because of them that the storyline from the past annoys me more than entertains me, even though Lily James is as charming as ever and she perfectly imitates Meryl Streep's gestures. What the sequel unfortunately has in common with its predecessor is the dragged-out ending featuring a long overdue cameo from Cher. Usually, her presence doesn't bother me, but this time she truly looks like her wax figure from Madame Tussauds came to life. And yet despite all of the above, I can't stay angry for too long. It's enough for the old guard, led by Colin Firth, to do pretty much anything at all and the whole spectacle instantly gets the desired zest it had been striving for all along. (18.09.2020)

At first glance, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again has the same ingredients as the first part, but the result is much worse. It has an even weaker plot and dialogues, its story is told in a very ignorant way and it is directed boringly and unimaginatively. The first storyline is about the main protagonist from the first part sending out invitations to the grand opening of his hotel, after which the invited guests arrive and then a party follows. In the second storyline from the past, her mother acts like a girl who sleeps with every good-looking guy who sings a song to her. The first Mamma Mia! was in fact terribly stupid and superficial, but it had such an innocent joyful charge and energy that it was easy to accept it as a non-binding and undemanding summer break, excuse its naive plot, primitive candy dialogue and lazy dance choreography and instead enjoy the sea and Greek exteriors and listen to ABBA. Exactly this charge and energy, however, are missing in this sequel, and therefore there is nothing to excuse its shortcomings. The only things that are a bit worthwhile are some of the actors and the mentioned songs, which tighten up and revive a lot of things the second time around, even though some of them were heard ten years ago in the first film. (18.07.2018)

I can’t understand how this film has a higher rating than the first one – though I expect it to significantly fall with time. I like the first one a lot, it’s quirky, funny, nice. This sequel, on the other hand, borders on the peak of cringe perhaps every five minutes. It's true that I like Lily James, and I think she did a good job with the goofiness of her older self as portrayed by Meryl Streep, but overall it just didn't work for me at all. In the first one the whole Meryl and 3 men – 3 possible fathers – plot was very funny, but left room for imagination, here it took a definite form and I just didn't like it. I give 1 star for Lily, for the scene when the visitors arrive at sea and last but not least (how to describe it without spoilers): the final scene in the church... otherwise really quite an ordeal. (18.10.2018)