Mamma Mia Blu-ray Edition
From the hit Broadway musical the film Mamma Mia brings the songs of ABBA to life starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried who is only trying to finally meet father.
Film making 22/25
Cinematography 22/25
Audio 23/25
Bonus Features 24/25
Total 91/100
Mamma Mia is a Broadway musical featuring the songs of the pop group ABBA that has now made its way to film starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and many more. Sophie, Amanda Seyfried, has one wish for her wedding, to have her father give her away but first she has to find out who her father is.
When she finds a diary of her mother’s, Donna played by Meryl Streep, Sophie decides to invite the three men she reads about in the diary that could be her father from her mother’s past. She secretly invites them to her wedding and through several classic ABBA hits the story as well as the fun unravels.
Donna, Sophie’s mother played by Meryl Streep, does not know she will see the three men from her past that she spent time with all those years ago. When guests start to arrive on the Greek Island where Sophie and Donna live and run a small hotel the three men also arrive and Sophie tries to hide them until the wedding.
Donna finds out they are on the island and when they do tell her that Sophie invited them they lie and say they are there just by happenstance and not for the wedding. Donna and Sophie dance around the facts of them being there for awhile and finally they all find out that one of them may be the father of Sophie.
Donna did not know that Sophie knew they could be the father and during the wedding ceremony she tells them that it does not matter if she ever finds out. Sophie is just glad to have someone to be her friend as well as father and she asks if they could all give her away.
At the same time Sophie decides not to marry her fiancé Sky played by Dominic Firth, as he was never really serious about marrying her, he just loved her and wanted to spend time with her. When things got out of hand and everyone assumed they would marry he did not have the nerve to tell anyone his real feelings, but Sophie really knew.
The story is really good and they did a fantastic job of tying the songs into the story for the most part with hits from the pop group ABBA like I Have A Dream and Dancing Queen. The music is great and the actors do a wonderful job of singing even if some of them are not the most talented, I guess you really do not have to be a great singer to play a part in a musical.
There are a total of 21 musical numbers from ABBA songs and songs from ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus who also helped in the Broadway musical production. Both members take on cameo roles in the movie as well as creating some of the songs and got back together with old members of the group at both the stage musical and film openings.
There is one musical number that was left out of the film but it is in the Blu-ray edition so you get some really good extras with the Blu-ray edition of the film. The Blu-ray also has plenty of other extras like the usual commentary and three short pieces on making Mamma Mia called Birthing Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia Filmmaking and Mamma Mia Cast.
There is also a bonus feature on the anatomy of a musical, a very short outtakes segment and several other bonus features on the Blu-ray disc. You also get all the musical numbers in a live karaoke type Sing-Along where you can watch the numbers with or without subtitles to sing with the stars of the show to some ABBA greats.
The Blu-ray version also includes the Digital Copy so you download the movie to your computer as well as the U-Control special so you can record and save favorites of the movie and get behind the scenes extras while watching. Mamma Mia also comes with the BD Live feature so there will be additional content when the movie releases for download over the internet directly to your internet capable Blu-ray player or PlayStation 3.
Mamma Mia is a fun romp through one pop bands greatest hits and a fun way to spend a little time with some great music of the 70’s and 80’s. I can easily understand why Mamma Mia is such a hit at both the Broadway musical and when it was first released in theatres.
Mamma Mia the stage musical has won Olivier and Tony awards for Best Musical and several other things and the film has won Best Musical and Best Actress with a few nominations. Mamma Mia is also the highest grossing musical film of all time and has been a hit both in the United States as well as worldwide.
With all the praise you would think there was something here and there is a great movie with plenty of fantastic musical numbers from a really great pop group. Mamma Mia is a must see for anyone who remembers the pop classics like Dancing Queen and Waterloo or just enjoys a good musical in exotic locations.