'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' Stages An Amazing Cher Comeback

Ten years after Meryl Streep fell in love, sing and dance to the marvelous songs of Abba, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is here with the complete cast & more, and let me start with--I absolutely enjoyed this! This coming from someone who's not fond of the first one, and I'm almost sure that a revisit will change that.

The cast of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Photo by United International Pictures

Ol Parker's Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again begins with Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) preparing for the re-opening of their villa in Greece, as we learn that her mother Donna has passed away a year prior. Indeed, a huge event for Sophie as she lives the legacy of her mom. These events are juxtaposed with the young Donna (Lily James) after she graduates in Oxford with her best friends Tanya and Rosie--the Dynamos, as she live an adventurous life. Through her trips, she meets the young Harry, Sam and Bill which leads her to live in the island of Kalokairi where she eventually resided. It is a back and forth of lively and bittersweet moments for both young Donna and Sophie, and it is almost impossible not to sing along with them.

Lily James has never been this memorable, vivacious and lovely, as the young Donna Sheridan. To begin with, she has huge shoes to fill in but her exotic aura and charm, as different as Meryl Streep's Donna, is remarkably watchable. Highlights are her Andante, Andante as she wanders around an old abandoned house in the island, and gritty and cheeky Mamma Mia with the hilarious and cute Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies as the young Rosie and Tanya. Amanda Seyfried, on the other hand, has matured so much--both as an actress and as her character that there were times where Cher looks more youthful. She doesn't have the Gimme Gimme Gimme material this time, as she's given a more mature developed storyline.

The rise in excitement, however, only started when 'big dick energy' role model Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard enter the picture. Baranski and Walters' comedic scenes are highly needed as they support the worrisome Sophie. This time, they were given much more material without being outshined by Meryl. Firth and Skarsgard are bonkers. The Dancing Queen sequence in particular where they mimic Jack and Rose's 'I'm Flying' scene in Titanic is flat out laugh-out-loud hilarious. It makes one think that they're either having the time of their lives, or they just want to get over with the silliness that they bring to the film.

Cher in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again; Photo: United International Pictures

There are so many silly numbers and sequences but the highlight, without exaggeration, is throughout Cher's epic arrival until her final number with the cast singing Super Trouper readily and goofily. Her arrival is reminiscent of Rey's first encounter with Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens, or Meryl Streep coming out of the elevator in The Devil Wears Prada. But her grand entrance is just the start. As Sophie's grandmother who rarely showed up in their life events, she makes up for the missing time. Like Donna, she's also a wanderer. She even speaks Mexican, and in most definitely the best number and scene of the movie, she sings Fernando with her Andy Garcia, who was introduced in the beginning as the manager of Sophie and Donna's villa only to be revealed as Cher's long lost Mexican lover named Fernando. So cliche and wacky, but also exceptionally entertaining, especially when they started to dance together that the whole audience died of pleasure.

Cher steals the show without a doubt, and the film perfectly stages an amazing comeback for her, even when Meryl's Donna arrives as her spirit while singing a touching rendition of The Day Before You Came with Amanda Seyfried.

This whole movie is so special that it will surely put a smile on everyone's face after the end credits. Whether it may be out of cheesiness or just pure entertainment. It's that pleasant.