Product Description

Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Julie WaltersDirector: Phyllida Lloyd

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1359 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray Romance
• Released on: 2008-11-24
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The delirious sight of Meryl Streep leading a river of multigenerational women singing "Dancing Queen" is one of the high points of Mamma Mia!, the musical built around the songs of the hugely popular pop group ABBA. The plot sets in motion when Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, Mean Girls), daughter of Donna (Streep), sends a letter to three men, inviting them to her wedding--because after reading her mother's diary, she suspects that one of them is her father. When all three arrive at the Greek island where Donna runs a hotel, Donna flips out and finds that passions she thought she'd laid aside are coming back to life. But let's face it, the plot is not the point--it's a ridiculous contrivance that provides an excuse for the characters to sing the massive hits of ABBA. Regrettably, first-time film director Phyllida Lloyd (who directed the original stage production) has drawn over-the-top performances from everyone involved, even Streep; every production number hammers its exuberance into your eyeballs. Which is too bad, because Mamma Mia! is a rarity: A middle-aged love story. The kids start things off, but the story is really about Streep and the three guys (former James Bond Pierce Brosnan, former Mr. Darcy Colin Firth, and Swedish star Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Donna's best friends (Christine Baranski, best known from the TV show Cybill, and Julie Walters, Calendar Girls). It's a romantic comedy aimed at the people who were around when all these songs were new, and that's an age group Hollywood largely ignores. For that alone, Mamma Mia! deserves to find an audience. --Bret Fetzer

Special Features
Hi-Def Features:

• Deleted musical number 'The Name of the Game'
• The making of Mamma Mia!
• Anatomy of a musical number - 'Lay All Your Love on Me'
• Becoming a singer
• A look inside Mamma Mia!

Additional Features:

• Deleted scenes
• Outtakes
• 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' music video
• Bjorn Ulvaeus cameo
• Feature commentary with director Phyllida Lloyd

Blu-ray Exclusive: U-Control

Go beyond the movie and customise your own Hi-Def experience. Enjoy interactive features without stopping the movie.

Behind the Hits:

Get the full details and behind-the-scenes trivia on the hit ABBA songs and albums, as you watch the musical performances onscreen.

Picture in Picture:

With just one click, access interactive cast and crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage using the Picture in Picture feature while you watch the movie.

Synopsis
Mamma Mia! became a Broadway smash when it hit Broadway back in 2001. With a story framed around the music of the Swedish pop band Abba, crowds loved its raucous, dance party vibe. Now it comes to the silver screen, with some truly delightful performances from the likes of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. It is the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a young woman living on a picturesque Greek island with her mother, Donna (Streep). Together, Donna and Sophie run a ramshackle island inn, and they are in the midst of preparing for Sophie's wedding. As the wedding approaches, Sophie becomes troubled by the fact that she has never known her father. She was the result of one of her mother's summer flings, and her mother has never revealed her father's identity. When Sophie stumbles upon her mother's diary, she learns that there are three possible men who could be her dad. Without telling her mother, she invites all three to her wedding. When Harry (Colin Firth), Sam (Brosnan), and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) all arrive at the same time, Donna is of course shocked and overwhelmed by seeing her old lovers again after such a long time. She turns to her two best friends, Tanya (Christine Baranaki) and Rosie (Julia Walters), for their support, and vows to just get through the wedding and weekend. Meanwhile, Sophie spends time with each man, determined to learn the truth.

Major hi-jinks and confusion ensues, all amidst the utterly romantic scenery, and the rather irresistible, swelling love ballads. Streep has a lovely singing voice, and to watch her throw herself into this whimsical role is truly a delight. She looks like she is having a ball, and it is hard not to shimmy along with her. Baranski reliably delivers an over-the-top showstopper, and Brosnan's tender singing voice makes his character all the more touching. The film strives to be a jubilant celebration of mother/daughter relationships and the love between good friends, and it is hard to resist its many charms.

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Customer Reviews

What fun!
I know quite a few people who walked out but I loved this film! When I went to see it the whole audience were in stitches. Those that don't like it just don't get it. It's all very tongue in cheek! How can anyone comment on the singing - it's not meant to be perfect singing! It's a real girl (and especially Mum and daughter) film. It's what many of us get like after a few glasses of vino and abba! It's totally feel good and there is nothing wrong with loosing up a bit and having a giggle and sing-a-long.

Remember your hankies!
I went to see this film two weeks ago after resisting all summer, despite the nagging of my mother, sister, best friend and daughter to go and see it! Now I wish I had gone in the summer as it is really a light and frothy sweet rose wine of a film. Despite having made up my mind not to enjoy it, I left the cinema very glad that I had gone. I agree with some other contributors that the acting is not great given the quality of previous films made by some of the stars, and the plot is not exactly brain aching, but that's not the point of this film. The underlying messages of Mamma Mia seem to me to be about discovering what is important in life and seizing the moment...maybe its just my age, but I find myself reliving little moments in my memory and considering my decisions differently. I took my 11 year old daughter (who has just moved up to high school) to see this film; one of the times when we fulfilled the plans we had made before she 'slips through my fingers', and although the scene where Meryl Streep helps her daughter prepare for her wedding had us both in buckets of tears, they were very 'mother-daughter bonding' tears ...On reflection, definitely a film for the 'girls'!

Succeeds in spite of itself
Let's face it, on paper this should have been a car crash of a movie. It's adapted from a stage musical with a minimalist setting and ridiculously contrived plot, featuring a first-time director and a star cast with variable singing ability.

I was invited to see this at the cinema and went with a few reservations. But what do you know? The music of ABBA, which still sounds streets ahead after all these years, soon got the feet tapping. Messrs Andersson and Ulvaeus oversaw the score for this film and wisely stuck (for the most part) to their original arrangements. Any unimaginative staging and editing here can be forgiven: the producers state that their intention was to recapture the joi de vivre of the theatrical production, and they largely succeed.

This Blu-ray release features a decent picture transfer, by no means up to the standard of the likes of Wall-E or The Dark Knight, but vibrant enough for the film's Greek island setting. The soundtrack is DTS Master Audio 5.1 and, predictably, only really kicks in during the musical numbers. Those complaining about the lack of a singalong feature can easily turn on the subtitles: the song lyrics are displayed.