Mamma Mia! The Movie

Just returned from watching Mamma Mia! the movie with Yen – thanks for the free premiere tickets that she shared with me, I enjoyed every minute of it. :) Though the ‘premiere’ really isn’t anything special as we merely got to watch it earlier (legally) than the rest of the Malaysians, since this movie is a few months late here.

But anyhow! If you love listening to ABBA, you’ll find yourself singing to the brilliant golden oldies that sounded remarkably similar to the original – I know I did, I found my mouth lip-syncing to my favourite songs (which are a lot by the way) being presented in over-exaggerated dance sequences, which were all quite fun to watch and listen to.

Most of my favourite numbers were in it – tracklist include I Have a Dream; Mamma Mia (duh! and I love the scene accompanying this); Chiquitita; Super Trouper (my favourite song from ABBA actually :D); Money, Money, Money; Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man after Midnight); Lay All Your Love on Me; The Winner Takes It All; Dancing Queen (compulsory song I swear, I love the over-the-top scene for this song too); Voulez Vous; Waterloo; Thank You for the Music, and the list goes on. There were a couple of songs that weren’t familiar to me as it wasn’t in the ABBA Gold – Greatest Hits album that my parents bought nearly a decade ago for me, but they were nice to listen to. :)

I’m at loss as to what else to describe without revealing anything else – the plot was alright, and as it’s a musical, certainly seems a little unbelievable at many parts, but it was good all the same. Most of the songs managed to tie in nicely with the story, and this movie has many comical elements that I didn’t expect.

I have to compare this movie with Across the Universe, as it’s the only other musical that I’ve actually remembered watching (forgotten all about Moulin Rouge already, and I’m not too sure either if I’ve actually watched it from start to finish) – and I have to say, that I expected the songs in Mamma Mia to be revamped completely, because that’s what AtU had done. Mamma Mia however retained most of the original elements in their songs, which I wasn’t at all disappointed, and they all sounded absolutely melodious to listen to. Also watch out for the minor plot twist. :P

When the credits rolled with their final song, everyone started clapping (me included too wtf) – that should show you how we loved the movie. :P When the rest were standing up to prepare to leave, I thought it was an incredible experience to find so many people who like listening to ABBA gathered in a single place – they were singing/lip-syncing to the song too! I have to say this, and I’m afraid this is repeating what I had said in the past, but I’ve been teased and bullied for being an ABBA fan as a primary school kid, and it feels fantastic to be in a single room where nearly everyone else is a fan too. =) Screw trying to fit in wtf.

All I can offer is this – listening to ABBA’s songs again in this movie made me feel awfully nostalgic, there’s an air of familiarity with their hit singles that I feel happy listening to. The entire movie has been a fun thrilling ride, if you allow yourself to soak in with their songs, and I feel naively happy, hopeful, and simply excited when I watched most of the scenes with the songs. If you love ABBA, like watching musicals in general, or have a broad taste in music – you’ll enjoy this movie.

And Meryl Streep is such a good actress! And I thought Pierce Brosnan’s voice sounded a bit off singing the songs, but it could just be me.

I can’t wait for the actual musical that’s coming here to our shores this coming December, as reported by TheStar on its front page earlier yesterday (15th).

Seems like I’ve been listening to a lot of oldies lately – not that I’m complaining. :) Thanks to Jess who first rolled the ball when she first recommended Across the Universe (the movie) to me, that was partly because of Jim Sturgess who was in it wtf. And then it led me to being in love with the songs, and then made me explore The Beatles, which I wouldn’t have thought of doing before. And ahh now my love for ABBA has been rekindled. <3

And for a completely out of topic news, discovered yesterday that I got 27/30 for my Business Finance test. :))) That basically means 27% of my entire course – and hopefully I can score the finals next month.