Okay, this is a movie I have been looking forward to for a long time.
I have seen the stage show twice, and loved it! The music is a ton of fun, and it's so funny how they find a way to get it into the show.
Finally this afternoon, Doug and I went to see it. Overall, a little disappointed. There were parts that I thought were very good, and I was overall pleased with Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried in their roles. The men, not so much. And I didn't care for Christine Baranski's portrayal of Tanya. Pierce Brosnan, while a great actor, cannot sing!
This is the thing with Mamma Mia! It is so campy, and silly - putting it on the big screen just seems a little melodramatic. And if you're not going to tone it down for the screen, I think you should go with Broadway stars who can sing and dance. In other words, either tone it down and use the actors they did - or go for the gusto and use Broadway stars who can pull off the campiness of the thing. These actors that we know and love just end up looking kind of silly...or can I say...stupid, up there.
The whole thing is loaded with innuendo, some of the dancing is suggestive, and it shows a bare male bum. I think I also heard the f word in there once but I couldn't be sure. That's the disclaimer for kids, because my girls LOVE the music (we have the original Broadway soundtrack) and they want to see it so badly. But alas, I think it's a little much for them.
Although most of us know the premise, that Donna (the Meryl Streep character) has a daughter (the Amanda Seyfried character) with one of three men - in other words, she lived a promiscuous life, the show actually has a pretty positive message in the end.
I give it a moderately positive review. If you haven't seen the stage version, you might really like it. If you have, you'll probably be a bit disappointed.
Oh, and they took out a couple of the songs, and added one at the end that I didn't care for. They also cut several of the songs short. If you see the movie, you should listen to the Broadway version too so that you can compare them. Unfortunately, it's a lot more expensive to see the better version!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Our lives and times
Family, Friends, and Blogs we Like!!
Followers
FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS
6 comments:
Thanks for the balanced review. Haven't seen it, on stage or in the theater, but I have daughters who love the music and want to see it. This gives me some info to use about whether we see it and whether we let our oldest daughters see it. Thanks!
Oh - My youngest daughters won't be happy, but they were unlikely to be allowed to see it anyway!
So are you offering to lend me your CD? I am not familiar with the Broadway show but I am a sucker for good Broadway music. We had fun with Ashlyn, I hope she did. Zack was very disappointed, no, sad, that Elise didn't come too. After we saw Jen at Wal-Mart I told him she would be coming, woops on my part! Anyway, we seriously need to get together so our kids can go wildly crazy, mine have been wanting to forever. How can it be that we live 1 minute from each other and haven't gotten together all summer? Perplexing! The trampoline and sprinkler are always ready and we are home more than away. You have an open invitation to drop by :o)
I think I'll wait until this comes on DVD to see it. I guess you were the "gineau pig" to see it first, lol! BTW, our kids had so much fun playing with your kids. We'll have to get them together again soon!
I haven't seen the stage version so maybe that explains why I liked it so much. I thought Amanda Seyfried was terrific. I agree that Pierce Brosnan is not much of a singer but you have to give all of them credit for trying. Claire liked it, too. I went to see it when it was the BYOB movie at the theater and she danced in the aisle. Good thing there wasn't too many people there!
Yes Amy, you can borrow my CD! I'm trying to think if there is anything inappropriate in the lyrics! If there is, it would all go over the kid's heads anyway. The music is so much fun!
Brianne - I'm glad you liked it! I'm looking forward to seeing it again myself. I think now that I know kind of what to expect I'll like it more the second time. I think my biggest bummer of the thing is that they left some of the music out. Like at the end, at the wedding, they do a full version of "I Do, I Do, I Do", where in the movie they only did the first few lines. And it was one of the funnest songs, I thought! Anyway, I hope you get to see the stage show sometime to compare. They are both good in their own way.
Post a Comment