Mamma Mia! - How can I resist ya?

12:25pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

MAMMA MIA! (PG) AT the time I remember wondering how on earth they were going to make a stage musical around Abba songs, and then being blown away with the result. The show was delightfully jolly, with the audience singing along to all their favourite songs.

The three women who created that worldwide smash stage hit were director Phyllida Lloyd, screenwriter Catherine Johnson, and producer Judy Craymer, and again they gather together only this time to bring it to the big screen.

On the Greek island of Kalokairi, free-spirited Donna (Meryl Streep) runs the hotel Villa Donna with her daughter Sophia (Amanda Seyfried) and Sophie's fiancé Sky (Dominic Cooper).

Sophia doesn't know who her father is, but having found her mother's diary has whittled it down to three men Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan) a business man, Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgård) an adventurer with a yacht, and Harry Bright (Colin Firth) a banker.

Determined to have her real father give her away at her impending wedding she sends invitations to all three men for the big day, without telling either her mother or Sky.

They roll up excited to see the woman who broke all their hearts 20 years ago and Sophia has some explaining to do, as they think their invitations have come from Donna.

Sophia begs them to keep a low profile so Donna will have a terrific surprise at the wedding - but things don't go entirely to plan.

In an interview, the multi-talented Streep said of this film: "It reminds you about everything that is good about being alive," and so say all of us.

This is a glorious production, which is also stunning to look at. For a moment there was a possibility that the beautiful Greek scenery would threaten to overwhelm the proceedings, but after starting in a reflective mood within five minutes everything literally bursts with excitement and enthusiasm.

Is there no role Streep cannot play? What a great example of beauty, energy and talent she is, never mind someone only a year off getting her bus pass.

She really is heart-stopping as Donna with a voice to match, but then so are Julie Waters and Christine Baranski as her hilarious best friends; and the all men are simply gorgeous. Firth is cute rather than the smouldering Darcy, Skarsgård is as far removed from the Danish oil rig worker Jan Nyman in Breaking the Waves (1996) as it is possible to get, and Brosnan really can sing.

The only thing that doesn't work is the young romance; Seyfried is a doll, but Cooper in the thankless small part of Sky is far too bolshie, though he can sing.

One mustn't forget the genius of Abba; it is quite extraordinary how all their songs have such an expressive story to tell, which might result in some surreptitious hanky hunting.

This is a musical delight for mothers, fathers and daughters, but is likely to stick in the craw of most teenage boys!

10/10

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