The flicks
How Swede it is the second time around in MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN getting mad, gettingg even and g getting slightly dull in THE EQUALIZER 2
HERE is a rare sequel that markedly improves upon everything everybody so enjoyed about the original.
That first Mamma Mia! was a jukebox musical reimagined as an all-ABBA karaoke session, conducted on cut-price ouzo night.
Now, here comes Here We Go Again, which pulls off the same feat as before, but with a feelgood factor that is a sure shot of pure, giddy uplift.
While the soundtrack must settle for second-choice selections from the Swedish supergroup’s bulky back-catalogue, the songs used are beautifully, joyfully and (thank heavens) tunefully handled here.
Proceedings kick off with the sobering realisation that Meryl Streep’s Donna is no longer with us, having passed away the year before.
To honour her memory, daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to open a boutique hotel (christened the Bella Donna) on her mother’s idyllic Greek island base of Kalokairi.
While plans for the launch strike a few snags — Sophie’s husband Sky (Dominic Cooper) has gone AWOL, and her three dads (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth) may not make it to the big party — a long chain of flashbacks is gradually unspooled.
This forms the origin story of how the younger Donna (played by an irresistible, upfor-anything Lily James) first found her way to her spiritual home of Kalokairi … and conceived Sophie in comically vague circumstances en route.
After covering bases in a better-thanexpected first two acts of its story, Here We Go Again then pivots gloriously into the savingthe-best-till-last zone.
It all goes down at the fateful opening night of the Bella Donna, and it is all about the spectacular entrance made by an uninvited guest: Sophie’s notoriously estranged grandmother Ruby (played by the notoriously ageless Cher).
The arrival of Cher feels very much a magic movie moment, especially when it suddenly dawns on you she is the Trojan Horse for a showstopping version of the ABBA classic Fernando. (The ultra-ridiculous excuse for how this song ties in to the narrative is priceless.)
And then, just when it seems it is already mission accomplished for Here We Go Again, another magic moment is conjured out of thin air. If you are the type of Mamma Mia! fan truly mourning the absence of Streep as Donna, let’s just say that her spirit — never far away in the scenes anchored by James — manifests itself in a surprise rendition of ‘My Love, My Life’ that will help the healing process no end (and start some serious waterworks while doing so).