Here we go…again

by Elisabeth Slay
Staff Writer

Filled with excitement and anticipation, we arrived minutes before the previews were scheduled to start. My best friend, Andi, did always like to arrive just in time.

We entered the theater just as the lights went out and after 30 minutes of, “Oh I want to see that,” our movie started.

“Here we go again,” Andi chuckled, and I laughed as Amanda Seyfried began her first song. Little did I know, however, just how disappointed I would be two hours later.

Sequels seem always to be tricky because people either love them or hate them and of course they’re never as amazing as the original.

“Never as amazing” was once again the case in the “big movie” of the summer, Mama Mia: Here We Go Again.

I found this movie to be a re-run of the same songs and the same storyline. Once again, we are introduced to “Sophie” who is the daughter of “Dynamos” star “Donna.”

This time Sophie is pregnant and trying to throw an amazing party for the reopening of Donna's hotel.

She wanted to honor her mother who is, I can’t believe it, dead.

That’s right they killed off Meryl Streep who is one of the essential aspects of the original Mama Mia.

This time Donna is only featured as a younger version of herself played by Lily James.

Audience members are taken on the journey that “started it all” and while I find Lily James to be talented some of the other younger version actors fell flat.

I will say I appreciate the concept of looking into Donna’s past and looking forward to Sophie’s future.

The transitions between the time periods were interesting, but really for me, the best parts were the flashbacks.

The current storyline was confusing at times, and randomly Cher pops up to play Donna’s mother?

That was clearly an attempt to have another big-name actor in the film. Don’t get me wrong. I love Cher, but why not feature her more in the flashback story?

While there were some new songs and the cast performed them well. Honestly, I was bored.

They sang a lot of the same songs from the original film, so there wasn’t a lot of variety.

The few newer ABBA songs, however, were great. I just wish there were more.

While I enjoyed seeing a musical with my best friend it wasn’t the best movie of the summer, not by a long shot.

All in all, Mama Mia: Here We Go Again was quite…anticlimactic.

Copyright The Gayly. 9/8/2018 @ 10:58 a.m. CST.