The past timeline works because it’s not a comedy. It’s a romance that knows it is destined to fail. Watching young Donna fall for Sam, knowing that he eventually betrays her by returning to his fiancée, gives every sunny duet a shadow of future pain.
In the past (1976), we meet a 22-year-old Donna (Lily James) as she graduates Oxford and embarks on a backpacking trip across Europe. We watch her stumble, literally and figuratively, into the arms of the three men who will become Sophie’s potential fathers: the earnest Harry (Hugh Skinner), the brooding Bill (Josh Dylan), and the dreamy Sam (Jeremy Irvine). Mamma Mia- Here We Go Again
★★★★☆ (4/5)
A Sun-Drenched Soap Opera: Why Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Outshines the Original The past timeline works because it’s not a comedy
The film operates on two timelines. In the present (five years after the first film), Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is preparing the grand reopening of the Hotel Bella Donna in honor of her late mother, Donna. When a storm leaves her stranded alone, she panics, questioning her relationship with Sky and her ability to live up to her mother’s legacy. In the past (1976), we meet a 22-year-old
Fans of the original, anyone grieving a parent, and people who believe that every problem can be solved with a choreographed dance number on a Greek pier.