Sunday 29 July 2018

Theatrical Experience: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Director - Ol Parker
Writers - Ol Parker, Richard Curtis and Catherine Johnson
Starring - Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Dominic Cooper, Cher

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is The Godfather Part II to Mamma Mia's original Godfather. Boom. That's called a hook right there. Comparing the ABBA karaoke musicals to two of the most revered movies ever made. Boom. You're hooked. You need to keep reading to see how I justify it. Well, let me let you in on a little secret, it's all razzle dazzle, much like the outfits in this film.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Godfather Part II are both simultaneously sequels and prequels to their predecessors. They use their structure to draw parallels between the main parental figurehead's life and how they got their station in the first film and the direction of their adult child's life after the events of the first film. The Godfather Part II explored Vito Corleone's violent rise to power in the criminal underworld as he became the titular Godfather while showing Michael's continued descent into the criminal life after assuming leadership as the end of The Godfather. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again explored Donna's (James) post-graduation dreams as she travels to the Greek island of Kalokairi while having whirlwind romantic encounters with the three men who would go on to share paternity of Sophie by the end of Mamma Mia while Sophie (Seyfried) attempts to honour her mother's memory by reopening the Bella Donna Hotel on the same Greek island.