Mama Mia!

Mama Mia!

I'll be honest, the reason I bought this movie is because I had recently purchased an HD TV and this was not only on blu ray, but also had a free digital copy. I had not seen the movie in the theaters, but I do enjoy musicals (yes, it is possible to like musicals and women) and Abba music is infectious. For those who have not seen it and don't know anything about it, Mama Mia is a jukebox musical, meaning that instead of original songs, a story is made to fit with songs that already exist. They are popular because they choose popular music, of course. Other examples include Across the Universe made from hits from the Beatles and Rock of Ages with hits from the 80's.
I didn't know if they were going to have the actors sing or have voice doubles. Glad to say the actors sang. They may have been cleaned up some, but hey, they tried. I hate musicals when they cast actors who don't sing. What's the point?
The reason I really love musicals is because I love music. Nothing conveys emotions better than music, and that is the point of this blog, I love experiencing my emotions. It's not so much about the expression of the emotions in musicals, it's about the reception of the emotions. You feel it a lot better with music. Then, whenever you hear the song you will be reminded of the emotions. Monologues are great, but a solo is even better.

Let's get started.

So we meet Sophie, a young woman about to get married. She's never known her father and findsan older journal of her mother's and finds that there were three men she had been with in a month's time and any one of them could be Sophie's father. She feels that she has to meet her father, so without her mother, Donna, knowing she invites all 3 men to her wedding. She feels that when she meets her father there will be an instant connection and she'll know exactly which one it is.
The three men arrive on the docks to catch a ride to the small island where Donna owns a hotel, but two of them (Sam and Harry) had missed the ferry. Lucky for them the third guy, Bill, has his own boat and offers a ride. All three men had short summer flings with Donna but none of them know that about the others. As far as they know Donna invited them when in truth she hates them all for leaving her. Sounds like a recipe for wacky sitcom fun, right?





Donna reunites with her friends for Sophie's wedding. When she was young she and her friends were a signing group, Donna and the Dynamos. They come to stay at Donna's hotel which is falling apart. She complains about never having a day off in 15 years, and since it's a musical, sings about not having enough money. I think it's so funny how all of the native Greeks who work at the hotel or who otherwise live on the island sing backup parts in the song. She is singing something and walks into a room and the line is echoed by the people who are in that room even though they aren't really anything but extras. It melds so perfectly together I can't help but enjoy it.






Here comes the wacky sitcom fun. Donna found out that Sam, Bill, and Harry are on the island and is sneaking around trying to get a better feel of why they are there while singing the title song, "Mama Mia." She was mad at Sam for leaving her but from how she feels when she sees him again she's not sure if she's not more mad at herself for letting him go.

One of the most fun parts of the movie- you can't do a movie with Abba music without Dancing Queen. Donna's friends Rosie and Tanya are trying to cheer her up because she's upset about the three men who could be Sophie's father being on the island right before her wedding. She's afraid that they'll ruin the wedding for Sophie. To get her out of her slump her friends start singing Dancing Queen and she can't help but start to get into it and join in. All 3 of them then start to sing and dance around the island picking up more and more women along the way. By the end all the women on the island are down on the docks singing and dancing along and Donna and her Dynamos jump in the water for the finale.





The night before the wedding everyone is partying. The boys have a bachelor party offscreen and the girls have a bachelorette party that gets crashed first by Sam, Bill, and Harry, and then later by all the boys. During a song and dance number all three of Sophie's possible fathers realize that they are Sophie's father (because none of them know the others also had relations with Donna) and all 3 pledge to give Sophie away at her wedding. It is humorous to us the audience, but it is too much for Sophie and she passes out after wrestling with the fact that there are now three men who think they are her father, her mother is going to be furious when she finds out Sophie invited them, she's about to get married, and she's been drinking. But that makes a great segue to move to the next morning.





You know the best part about musicals? That you can be singing right next to someone and they don't even hear you. Donna and Sam sang a duet but neither one was aware of the other. Coincidentally the song, SOS, is about reaching out to another person who doesn't get the cry for help.







Best line of the movie: "Typical. You wait 20 years for a father and then three show up at once."

More Sitcom craziness at the wedding:

So Sophie and Sky are about to get married and Donna announces that Sophie's father is in attendance at the wedding and all three guys stand up. Sophie says she invited her dad and Donna realizes why all three men are on her island. Donna is mad at Sophie for an instant, but then asks Sophie to forgive her for never giving her a father. Sam then comes to the front and is upset that he may not be Sophie's father after all. Harry gets up and says he'll be happy with a third of Sophie. He's gay so Donna was the only woman he'd even been with. He never thought he'd have a daughter. Then Bill gets up and asks for his third too. They all say that they can find out who is really her father if she wants, but the three of them are more than happy to share her. Sophie's about to proceed with the wedding when she realizes she finally knows who she is and isn't ready to get married. She wants to see the world with Sky (why she can't do that while married to him I don't know). They start to leave when Sam asks everyone to remain there at the church. He tells Donna that he's still in love with her and has been trying to tell her since the moment he got on the island. He asks her to marry him so as not to waste the wedding. She thinks he's still married to his first wife so she refuses until he tells her that he's been divorced for years but has loved her even longer. Sam sings to Donna, and it's really funny because the priest joins the band and hits some chimes with a hammer as part of the song. She then accepts his proposal and they get married. The wedding feast prepared for Sophie is now a going away party for Sophie and Sky and a wedding party for Sam and Donna. Sam sings one more song as his toast.

At this point the first time I saw the movie I was actually upset. Not at the plot, of course. It's sweet the way things turned out, but because the movie was over and they didn't have my favorite Abba song. When you finish a song with the line "When all is said and done" it seems like that's the end, right? Wrong. Without barely a pause Rosie decides she wants to date Bill and starts singing "Take A Chance On Me" to him. Finally! She chases Bill around and wins him over by the end of the song.
Everyone is dancing around the courtyard and a mosaic that had cracked earlier in the movie as a sign that the hotel was run down burst apart and water started shooting up, the fabled Aphrodite's Fountain was found. It's waters are said to bring true love and eternal happiness. Seems like a great way to end a movie. Everyone is dancing in the water while a reprise of Mama Mia is playing.
Sophie and Sky then row away on a little boat after getting a send off from all three fathers.

And in case that last ending was too mellow, they start playing Dancing Queen during the credits. You can end on a high note again.


Musicals are very fun. It's a shame that when a boy likes a musical he's given labels. Weird too, since most musicals feature romance between a man and a woman. One day society will get it right.

Wacky hijinks, Abba music, and a story about family, all in all a great flick.