Loses a bit from the big screen, but still great.

I am a BIG ABBA fan, (and yes, I am a straight male who will be 47 in March...)   I grew up with them in the seventies. Some people call their music "Bubble Gum" music. I call it "feel good" music. If their music was so bad, then why were they offered 1 BILLION (Yes, that's with a "B") for a 100 concert reunion tour in 2000? It's really too bad they turned it down.

I have seen the play once, and it was just so much fun. Not much of a story, Sophie (played very well in the movie by Amanda Seyfried) lives on a Greek island. She is the daughter of Donna, a single mother/ex hippie who runs an inn on the island. (Meryl Streep.)

Sophie is is getting married, and finds her mom's diary. She discovers that she has 3 possible fathers, all from "flings" that her mom had just before she was born. She wants to find out who the real father is, so she secretly invites all 3 to her wedding. They all show up on the island, and Sophie has to deal with all the emotions of getting married, AND trying to find out who her real father is, and her mom has to deal with not only planning for the wedding, but the shock of seeing 3 former lovers that she has not seen for 20 years, and who, for all intents and purposes, thought she would never see again, suddenly showing up again in her life. (As one of Donna's friends notes.... "It's very Greek." :)

All of this is wrapped around the music of ABBA.

The interactions between Streep and her two  friends who come to the island for the wedding is hilarious. Sophie, along with her bridesmaids, trying to hide the fact that the fathers are on the island from her mother are also very funny. When the bridesmaids find out that Sophie invited all 3 fathers, and that her mom doesn't know about it, they say it best.... "Oh.... My..... God!"

As I mentioned, I had seen the play once.   When I found out that they were making a movie of the play, I was so excited. I saw the movie in the theater 10 times! My mom's seen it in the theater even more than that!!!    I've never seen a movie in the theater 10 times, not even as kid!    

This movie is the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time.  People just break into song for no reason, which makes it fun.   Watch the musical number "Dancing Queen" and try not to sing along, or at least try not to tap your feet.  When I saw it at the movies, people in the audience were singing along, clapping, and even dancing in the aisles. They were having a blast!!! What is so wrong about that??? People have to be so serious these days.... One newspaper reviewer actually called the movie "An episode of 'My Two Dads' set to crappy Swedish music." Lighten up, dude!!!!!

The movie is great, even if Pierce Brosnan can't carry a tune in a bucket. He tries to sing "S.O.S." and "I do I do I do I do I do" (But at least he gives it the old college try, even if he does get a "D Minus".) Seyfried has a beautiful voice, (stick around for her singing "Thank you for the music" during the credits.) Colin Firth, who plays another of the potential fathers, singing "Our Last Summer", also has a very good singing voice. And the visuals of the Greek isles, especially the church at the tip of the island which is the setting for the movie, are mesmerising. (And to top it off, the two male members of ABBA, who were involved in the creating of the play and turning it into a movie have cameos! Look for a man playing a piano on a pier during "Dancing Queen", and a bearded Greek God playing a lyre during the end credits.) 

Meryl Streep is amazing in this movie.   In this movie, she does some drama, she shows a lot of emotion, and she does a lot of comedy, too.  You can also tell that her and all the other cast members are having fun making the movie.   Meryl  is normally such a serious actress, but to see the "Grand Damme" of American cinema bouncing on a bed like a little kid, and then doing a cannonball, fully clothed,  into the ocean, well that says it all. And Boy, does she have a set of pipes! She steals the movie with her version of "The Winner Takes It All."   The movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Comedy/Musical", and Meryl was nominated for "Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical."   Both nominations were well deserved, but sadly, neither won.  An actress and movie I have never even heard of did.  Still, just the nomination was a great compliment.  

One con I mentioned is the sexual innuendo.  I think they could have toned it down a little.   Sure, the movie is PG-13, but the play is very "family friendly."  They didn't need to add the sexual innuendo ( for example.....   a lady singing into a vibrator, or another lady using a plant as a makeshift penis) into the movie.   It would have been just as funny without it.    In my opinion, it makes it less "family friendly."  

If my review looks familiar, A lot of  it is based on my review of when I saw it in the theater.  In my review, I stated.... "The DVD will be fun, but seeing it with a crowd and hearing the reaction of the crowd was what made it so much fun in the theater."    I was right.    It's still a great, fun movie, but it's just not the same as seeing it on the big screen, with a crowd.   Still, the DVD is WELL worth getting. 

There are two versions of the DVD.   The single DVD of the movie itself, has the movie, and you can add the lyrics to the songs.  (Or as I call it, the "Karaoke" versionof the movie that played in certain cities. ) Out of the 10 times I saw it in the theater, I saw the sing along version 7 of them.   It's a lot of fun seeing the lyrics come across the screen, and being able to sing along.      You can also watch it with a feature commentary by director Phyllidia Lloyd, and it has a song that was cut from the movie, "The Name of the Game."  

However, I recommend shelling out a few more bucks, and getting the two disk special edition.  The second disk includes a blooper reel,  (Very short.... I wish it could have been longer.)   Deleted scenes, Varying length featurettes including "The making of "Mamma Mia the Movie",  "Anatomy of a musical Number, 'Lay All Your Love on Me' "  "Becoming a Singer", "Behind the Scenes With Amanda", "On Location in Greece", "A Look Inside "Mamma Mia the Movie' ",  the music Video "Gimme Gimme Gimme",  and a longer look at Abba Member Bjorn Ulvaeus' (He was the Greek God) cameo.   Also, I don't know if this is a bonus, or how long they are going to do it, but my special edition came with the "Mamma Mia" soundtrack CD.  

A great movie, well worth getting.    It must be, as it sold over 1.7 million DVD's just it's first day in circulation.     (According to "E!" Online.)