Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: MAMMA MIA! (RECOMMENDED) (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

I was able to spin parts of this tonight after watching Mummy #3, the A/V is top shelf, simply amazing. I'm looking very forward to watching this in it's entirety very soon. Movies don't get much more fun then this.

 

[Jason_V]

We watched last night. Gotta tell ya Mamma Mia is still one of my favorite movies of the year and easily the best pure fun movie I've seen in a while. It's an absolute treat to be able to share it with everyone now, especially the scenes over the end credits which had me giggling the entire time.

 

[Edwin-S]

For some reason I cannot find the official review thread for this film, so I am going to put my impressions of this film here, since my first vewing was in Blu-ray.

Quite simply....awful. ABBA should sue these people for ruining their music...especially Pierce Brosnan. It was valiant for him to try but a prerequisite to star in a musical should be the actual ability to sing. The other actors were passable if not particularly good, but Brosnan made my ears bleed.

The film just felt like random bits of music stuck together. People like to sneer at XANADU, but it was a gem compared to this. There could have been a good comedy somewhere in this film but the musical interludes just caused any story to grind to a halt. The ABBA BGM music in the opening sequence just felt tacked on with no actual supporting relationship to the action occurring on screen.

The choreography was unimaginative to say the least. For a good modern musical I would recommend MOULIN ROUGE or CHICAGO over this any day. I'm a bit floored over the theatrical success of this film, especially overseas. It has to be mostly related to ABBA's music. Their music is just so good and infectious that it makes up for the unimaginative, awful treatment that this film gives it.

 

[Mike Frezon]

This seems destined to be one of those films that evokes a love/hate relationship with the audience.

 

[Wayne_j]

It could be hard for ABBA to sue them since two of them were heavily involved in the production of the film including supervising the recording of the music.

 

[Edwin-S]

To be sure. I didn't know two band members were involved. If the two band members are happy with lackustre renditions of their original music then all power to them. It still doesn't change my opinion of the overall quality of the film. I found the film to be mediocre and uninvolving, except for the truly humourous, but ear ache inducing, dulcet tones of Pierce Brosnan's singing. Julie Walters was a pretty close second.

It wasn't all bad though. Streep's rendition of "The Winner Takes It All" was good and Baranski's "Does Your Mother Know" was good as well. My main problem with the film was the lack of flow. It just felt like it was jolting from one song to the next, with the framing story being rushed through to get to the next number. The whole thing felt like a bunch of music videos held together by some thin interstial material.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Edwin: Were you familiar with the play before seeing the film?

Because I had similar feelings as you (although I didn't mind Brosnan's singing so much). Walters was absolutely awful, though.

Anyway, my reaction was more along the lines of: "isn't it odd that the characters suddenly stop their dialogue and break out into an Abba song!?"

I'm wondering if those that don't like the film so much feel the same way about the theatrical musical...or is it just the casting and perforamances in the film that people don't like. It's probably a mix of both.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I wonder if this will become one of those (few) films I own on home media that I will loathe to rewatch w/ the family (whenever my daughter(s) want to give it yet another spin). I guess I may find out soon enough...

BTW, I did manage to convince my daughter that she'd be better off w/ the ABBA Gold CD (for cheap from BMG Music Club) than the movie soundtrack.

_Man_

 

[Jason_V]

The play is roughly the same way. We saw it back in November and the movie follows the stage version almost exactly.

The same criticism could be leveled at any of the musicals turned movies: Rent, Phantom, Chicago and so on. For my money, it was the most fun I had at the theater all year. Mind you, not the best movie...just the most fun. I don't mind Brosnan's singing one bit. Julie Waters is a hoot. Ironically, my least favorite number is "Does Your Mother Know." It feels completely lip synched and as if Baranski isn't singing.

Oh well, to each their own.

 

[Ron-P]

Watched this for the 4th time tonight since I bought it Tuesday, I love it. Easily one of my top favorite films.

 

[Mike Frezon]

You need to watch Enchanted again, Ron!

 

[Michael Reuben]

There was a built-in audience from hundreds (probably thousands) of sold-out performances of the stage show worldwide, all of them with the approval and occasional participation of the two members of ABBA who wrote the songs. The show will celebrate its tenth (yes, 10th) anniversary this coming March.

 

[Southpaw]

Wife and I watched this one Saturday night and we loved it. Thanks for the "spot on" review!
We were humming Abba songs to each other all day yesterday. Of course, we laughed at Brosnan's singing but the movie was so much fun, we didn't care.

 

[Ron-P]

No, what I need is Moulin Rouge on Blu-ray....damn-it! How much longer must I wait?

 

[lukejosephchung]

I first saw "Mamma Mia" in a stage production in July '07. I then brought a friend of mine to see the big screen version this past summer. His jaw was practically under the floor by the end of the closing credits, and he was begging me to get him this blu-ray, he loved the movie so much!

Obviously, I'm in total agreement with him!!!

 

[Parker Clack]

I am a huge musical lover and this was up there with a lot of my favorites. You can take pretty much any musical and wonder why they stopped talking and went into song. Mama Mia was done the way that the vast majority of musicals have been done for years.

I don't know why I wanted to see this. I just did and I enjoyed it a great deal. It was a great escape piece. In particular I really enjoyed the musical number for Voulez Vous which is a song I had never heard before.

I Highly Recommend this film just for the fun of it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well, allow me to poop on this party big time!

My family gathered around my Mom's new 46" Panny plasma
to watch Mamma Mia! on Blu-ray.

How much did we enjoy it? It was turned off 3/4 of the way through.

I'm a fan of musicals...but this.....utter trash! I have never seen
something so sloppily put together in my life. The story was as thin
as paper, performed by actors who embarrassed themselves, with
god-awful choreography that I dare I say looked as if people were
thrown together in a scene for the first time and told to dance.

The worst part? Having to hear Pierce Brosnan attempt to define
musical notes.

I'll give high kudos to the quality of the Blu-ray transfer. It was
probably the only thing holding our interest. We really gave this
film as much of an opportunity as we could. However, it was a
very painful viewing experience. I hope to never see something
as bad as this film again.

By the way, I really should say something positive in this post.
I am in love with Panasonic plasma displays. I would recommend
one of these babies to anyone.

 

[Mike Frezon]

After Ron & Parker's posts, all I can do is quote myself from earlier in this thread...




And, Parker, I understand about the strangeness of breaking into songs during musicals...but in terms of Mamma Mia! it just seems especially odd to me because the principals are breaking out into Abba songs that were on the radio all-the-time during my youth...rather than songs specifically written to advance a particular storyline. That was the only point I was trying to make about my view on this film.

 

[lukejosephchung]

Ron, all I can say to your reaction is that if you have even a fraction of a cynical bone in your body, this movie ain't for you! "Mamma Mia" very simply requires total and utter suspension of disbelief in order for it to work on you. Without that, I'm amazed you even managed to make it 3/4's of the way through it!
Unfortunately, that also meant missing the meat of the story in the last half-hour and the best part of Meryl Streep's acting and musical performance. She was absolutely brilliant in singing "The Winner Takes It All" and we finally understood quite clearly why she was still carrying a grudge for Brosnan's character after all those years!

 

[Edwin-S]

MOULIN ROUGE uses popular music just like MAMMA MIA, except that in that film it works and is done well, unlike MM.