“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” is “everything you ever want” and “everything you ever need,” critics are saying.
“Much like its predecessor, ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ is escapist fluff of the highest order — joyful, filled with beloved pop songs and incredibly bizarre,” wrote Chicago Tribune’s Katie Walsh. “Go ahead and treat yourself to this raucous seaside summer confection, you deserve it.”
TheWrap’s film critic Nicholas Barber wrote in his review, “as for the writer-director, Ol Parker, he doesn’t come up with any urgent artistic reasons for the existence of its follow-up, ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,’ but he does make it surprisingly watchable, and he manages to overcome some mountainous obstacles.”
Overall, the sequel to 2008’s “Mamma Mia!” holds a score of 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the musical performances and the heartfelt nature of the film.
Picking up a decade after the first film, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!” sees Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) prepare for motherhood by learning about how her mom, Donna (Meryl Streep) became pregnant with her while meeting the three men who later came back into her life as Sophie’s potential father.
The ensemble cast sees Cher, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper and Christine Baranski return, with flashback scenes that include Lily James as a young Donna with Jeremy Irvine, Hugh Skinner, and Josh Dylan. Ol Parker (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) wrote and directed the film.
See the best reviews below.
Chris Hunneysett, Daily Mirror:
“Get the biggest beach party of the summer started with this exuberant and surprisingly heartfelt sequel to the smash hit musical romcom of 2008. With the original pulling nearly half a billion pounds at the global box office, this sticks rigidly to the successful formula of much loved stars supported by an attractive young cast, in a gorgeous location armed with a nonsensical script and the best pop tunes on the planet… I’m not saying it’s a great movie, but if you’re in the mood for irresistible sun-kissed feel good poptastic silliness then it’s terrific.”
Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune:
“Much like its predecessor, ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ is escapist fluff of the highest order — joyful, filled with beloved pop songs and incredibly bizarre. Go ahead and treat yourself to this raucous seaside summer confection, you deserve it.”
Simon Thompson, IGN:
“‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ knows exactly what it is, what its target audience wants, why and how. Changing things up, ticking boxes and tapping toes, it’s charming, entertaining and way better than many may be expecting it to be.”
Scott Mendelson, Forbes:
“‘Here We Go Again’ is a bright, cheerful, colorful, large-scale musical montage of gorgeous people singing and dancing to mostly happy tunes. You might even say that it’s everything you ever want, everything you ever need, right in front of you.
John Boone, Entertainment Tonight:
“The younger cast are great, especially James, in the unenviable position of being compared to Streep — but that would mean forsaking A-list talent like Brosnan, Firth and Baranski, among others, who are also great! You won’t hear me complaining about Baranski traipsing around in a caftan and purring, ‘Be still my beating vagina.’ Music-wise, ‘Here We Go Again’ does retread some of the same ground as the first — ‘Mamma Mia,’ naturally, ‘Super Trouper’ and ‘I Have a Dream’ are a few of tracks that get repeated — but the song and dance numbers are all zany fun, best when they’re big and ridiculous and full of joy. Writer-director Ol Parker, taking the reins from original helmer Phyllida Lloyd, appears to understand that, and his movie is cheesy and colorful and everybody is acting for the back of the theater. Which is not only what we expect from a ‘Mamma Mia!’ movie, it’s what we want.”
Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair:
“There’s not really a point, exactly, to ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,’ the sequel to the smash-hit 2008 film arriving in theaters on July 20. But why would there need to be? The pleasures of Ol Parker’s film are simple and sensual, its riot of color and sweet, nostalgic songs proving wholly agreeable even without much of a plot to hold it all together. I went into the movie a bit of a skeptic–about jukebox musicals, about unnecessary sequels, especially ones without the original’s main star–but left entirely won over, cheered and a little teary. ‘Here We Go Again’ is uncomplicated joy in complicated, despairing times.
Ben Travis, Empire Magazine:
“You’ll cackle at Christine Baranski’s crackling dialogue, cry when Meryl sings ‘My Love, My Life’, and when all is said and done you might even be tempted to go again.”