Super Trouper Duper ; Cinema

By TARA CAIN

MAMMA MIA! (PG)

STAS: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Stelan Skarsgard.

DIRECTOR: Phylida Lloyd.

DUST off your dancing shoes – Mamma Mia!

is a delight!

Director Lloyd and writer Catherine Johnson, who master-minded the smash-hit stage version of the all-singing all-dancing musical, work their magic here too with an all-star cast.

From the opening strains of I Have a Dream to thee full-cast rendition of Waterloo in glittery catsuits and platform boots, this rollicking romance set to the ABBA songbook is 108 minutes of pure, undiluted joy.

It’s so much fun, Mamma Mia! should be prescribed on the NHS.

You’ll leave the cinema elated-and perhaps a little tearful after Streep’s heartbreaking solo on Winner Takes it All-and it doesn’t matter a jot that most of the male cast can’t hold a melody.

Indeed, it adds to the film’s bound-less charm as the cast throw themselves with unrestrained gusto into each brilliantly choreographed number, including impressive mid-air splits from Streep as she bounces on a bed singing the anthemic Dancing Queenwith co-stars Christine Baranski and Julie Walters, the latter scene-stealing with her comic exploits.

The Greek islands of Skiathos and Skopelos provide a breathtaking backdrop.

You’ll wish you were here.

Sophie (Seyfried) is poised to marry her hunky fiance Sky on an idyllic island where her mother Donna (Streep) runs a decrepit taverna.

But the blushing bride-to-be has no one to give her away because Donna refuses to reveal the identity of Sophie’s father.

So Sophie invites the three old flames who could be her old man – divorced architect Sam (Brosnan), intrepid travel writer and explorer Bill (Skarsgard) and banker Harry (Firth) – in the hope that one of them will be able to walk her down the aisle.

Mamma Mia! skips merrily through ABBA’s greatest hits – sadly a number of songs (Knowing Me, Knowing You, The Name of the Game and One of Us) have been cut to keep the running time trim.

Streep is marvellous as a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard embrace their roles without restraint, having as much fun making the film as we do watching it.

VERDICT:****

Watch this if you liked:

Muriel’s Wedding

Love, Actually

Grease

(c) 2008 Coventry Evening Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.