August 25, 2008
Looking back on our last summer, what’s the film that’s packed-out the multiplexes? Forget The Dark Knight, the box-office smash this year is Mamma Mia, a sunny-side-up musical that’s making lots of money, money, money. And deservedly so.
A blockbuster to its toes, it’s a dazzling movie with scintillating scenery, clever choreography and a knowing wit. The name of the game is entertainment and the makers of Mamma Mia teach this summer’s films a cinematic lesson: beautiful and inventive, funny and feelgood, it’s a ‘pop corn’ film of the highest order.
Based on the perennially popular songs of Abba, it’s a canny reworking of the stage-show – shot by the show’s director Phyllida Lloyd with the same choreographer and producer. Young Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to be married on the Greek island where she helps run her mother’s hotel. Not knowing her father, she sends invitations to the three men who might be the one – thanks to her mum’s revealing diary.
Cleverness is the word: kids, parents and grandparents will happily think the film’s pitched at them. And they’d be right. The casting is also cleverness personified: a fabulous Meryl Streep, curve-balling her career yet again, Julie Walters camping amusingly and a trio of men (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth) gamely throwing aside their professional pride.
And it works. Best of all are the songs, vibrantly re-produced by Abba’s Benny Andersson and sounding better than ever. Streep has a fantastic voice and young Amanda Seyfried gives an amazing performance with a vocal range to match. Critics unfairly gave Brosnan a bruising for his singing – but it’s perfectly okay, ramped up by Benny’s gravelly guitars.
Stunning locations, multi-angle shots and funny choreography make for a memorable event. Cinema’s sound and visuals are used to the full. Only toward the end does Lloyd lose it, rushing toward a hastily silly conclusion that struggles to fulfill the upbeat tone of the movie’s better half.
Abba’s songs were always pretty much from a woman’s perspective and Mamma Mia is no different. Precociously punning on penis jokes and even oral sex, it’s still a winsome working-out of modern-day fairytale dreams. Recruiting all-age Greek extras for the sublime Dancing Queen sequence was a lovely touch.
Streep gives a belting rendition of The Winner Takes It All, beautifully investing it with her acting gravitas. And Lloyd knows how to win the audience back after the squibby finale – camping it up over the credits with our sequined stars singing Waterloo.
Does your mother know about this film? She should. Do you feel the summer slipping through your fingers? There’s still time to catch the film that’s banked more than Batman. When all is said and done, Mamma Mia is the star of the year’s summer cinema. Thank you for the music.
A blockbuster to its toes, it’s a dazzling movie with scintillating scenery, clever choreography and a knowing wit. The name of the game is entertainment and the makers of Mamma Mia teach this summer’s films a cinematic lesson: beautiful and inventive, funny and feelgood, it’s a ‘pop corn’ film of the highest order.
Based on the perennially popular songs of Abba, it’s a canny reworking of the stage-show – shot by the show’s director Phyllida Lloyd with the same choreographer and producer. Young Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to be married on the Greek island where she helps run her mother’s hotel. Not knowing her father, she sends invitations to the three men who might be the one – thanks to her mum’s revealing diary.
Cleverness is the word: kids, parents and grandparents will happily think the film’s pitched at them. And they’d be right. The casting is also cleverness personified: a fabulous Meryl Streep, curve-balling her career yet again, Julie Walters camping amusingly and a trio of men (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth) gamely throwing aside their professional pride.
And it works. Best of all are the songs, vibrantly re-produced by Abba’s Benny Andersson and sounding better than ever. Streep has a fantastic voice and young Amanda Seyfried gives an amazing performance with a vocal range to match. Critics unfairly gave Brosnan a bruising for his singing – but it’s perfectly okay, ramped up by Benny’s gravelly guitars.
Stunning locations, multi-angle shots and funny choreography make for a memorable event. Cinema’s sound and visuals are used to the full. Only toward the end does Lloyd lose it, rushing toward a hastily silly conclusion that struggles to fulfill the upbeat tone of the movie’s better half.
Abba’s songs were always pretty much from a woman’s perspective and Mamma Mia is no different. Precociously punning on penis jokes and even oral sex, it’s still a winsome working-out of modern-day fairytale dreams. Recruiting all-age Greek extras for the sublime Dancing Queen sequence was a lovely touch.
Streep gives a belting rendition of The Winner Takes It All, beautifully investing it with her acting gravitas. And Lloyd knows how to win the audience back after the squibby finale – camping it up over the credits with our sequined stars singing Waterloo.
Does your mother know about this film? She should. Do you feel the summer slipping through your fingers? There’s still time to catch the film that’s banked more than Batman. When all is said and done, Mamma Mia is the star of the year’s summer cinema. Thank you for the music.