Exploring the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Stick around until the end of the video to find out how you can make a stunning website. Hello everybody, welcome to Mike's mic. My name is Mike. Today I'm talking about Mamma Mia. I don't know if I ever told you guys that I can play the piano. Well I can't. Mamma Mia! Against all odds I'm back with another video. This video is about the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe, the MMCU, not to be confused with the MMCU, the Mike's Mike Cinematic Universe. Let's touch on scale here quickly, okay? Did someone say scale? Yeah. The Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe sits inside the Mike's Mike Cinematic Universe. Set- theory okay the Mamma Mia cinematic universe is a subset of the Mike's Mike cinematic universe reminder that the Mike's Mike cinematic universe is everything I've ever spoken about such as hoodwinked everyone I've ever spoken to or been seen with such as Charlie XCX and everything that's ever happened to me such as my parents thinking that I was being kidnapped in 2011 in Italy because I butt dialed them on bumper cars and they heard muffled screaming got it the Mamma Mia movies are brat track 2 cult classics If you haven't seen them, they're basically a narrative that's crafted to fit hit songs by the pop group ABBA. Or more accurately, they are film adaptations of a jukebox musical based on ABBA songs. And these movies are ensemble mega-serves. Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, and then in the sequel, Lily James, Andy Garcia, and Cher. Wagon wheel, what tootie. Did you know Cher's name on her passport is literally just Cher. Like she doesn't have a last name. So I don't know, anytime I see an ensemble cast, I just think British. Like the concept of an ensemble cast is British to me. There are so many films that are so ensemble and so cast and so British. Something that I will say about the cast here is there's definitely a, hmm, como se dice, variation in singing ability. Like Meryl and Amanda are doing a lot of heavy lifting here, especially in the squeak wall. More on that later. A great thing about the cast, especially in the first movie, is they do such a good job of invoking a vibe. Like, you can tell they're having fun. I keep seeing online that they were just drunk and partying the whole time while filming, which makes a lot of sense. So the first movie is a creative and fun story about a bride-to-be named Sophie inviting three men who might be her father to her wedding, and the drama that comes with her mother Donna reuniting with these three old flames. And somehow the plot matches up with the lyrics of a bunch of songs by ABBA. Single penny left for me. Don't sit down there. That's too bad. It's broken. The second movie, Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, it wanted Mamma Mia's nachos bad. I'm gonna say right now that Mamma Mia 1 is a classic, like it's just a classic, and Mamma Mia 2 is low-key a chop. Which might sound controversial but I have my reasonings which I'll get to later. The chain of events here is ABBA, Mamma Mia Musical, Mamma Mia movies, so let's work through that. ABBA is one of the biggest pop groups ever, and that's just fact, you can't argue with me. 150 million records worldwide, don't lie. Here is a list of ABBA songs that I feel like most people would know. Dancing Queen, Super Trooper, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Take A Chance On Me, Fernando, The Winner Takes It All, Mamma Mia, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Waddle In, Money Money Money, S.O.S. Like that list of hits is bonkers. All released within a five year period, mind you. I would have been going crazy in the late 70s when these were dropping literally every couple of months. Just bang after bang like oh my imagine going to the club and there's a new Ariana Grande song and you're like oh yes love it go back two months later new Ariana Grande song for five years I mean the album ABBA gold greatest hits went 21 times platinum in the UK over 1000 weeks on the chart if we're talking charts it's interesting to see that in the United States ABBA never had a number one album and they only had one number one single dancing queen but I mean is that really that strange That country isn't really known for making great decisions. At least they put three ABBA songs in Glee. Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All, which actually is one of only eight songs that Sue sings. The winner takes it all! My chart deep dive showed me that not only does the UK love ABBA, giving them 10 number one albums, but Australia goes hard for ABBA. We don't play about ABBA down here. ABBA and Pink. I had ABBA SingStar on PS3. I specifically remember my mum saying, Make sure the ABBA singing game is working before your aunties get here. Like, it was serious for us. Without ABBA, we wouldn't have one of the best songs ever. Hung Up by Madonna, which samples Gimme Gimme Gimme. So from ABBA's success came Mamma Mia! The Jukebox Musical. Which means a musical in which the majority of songs are popular pre-existing songs as opposed to original works for the musical. A lot of you theatre nerds probably knew that already, but I didn't. This musical has been played in more than 60 countries and has grossed more than $4 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. Producer Judy Kramer first met with ABBA in 1983 and it was the song The Winner Takes It All that made her think, Hmm. Maybe there's a little something something of a theatrical nature here. I think she needs some sort of Nobel Prize for that because that is so impressive. To conceptualize a plot out of a bunch of seemingly unrelated songs, like what? Kramer got Katherine Johnson to write the book for the musical and Johnson also wrote the screenplay for the Mamma Mia movie. And the two formats are obviously very similar, so let's talk about the plot in the context of the movie. As I said before, Meryl and Amanda and later on Lily are going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Yes, in acting, especially in the squeak. But mostly in the singing department also just as a generalization I find the female characters in these movies so much more likable than the male characters Which does make sense considering the two biggest players are Donna and Sophie played by Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried at the end of the day It's Mamma Mia not Papa Pia Okay, so the first movie Amanda Seyfried's Sophie sends wedding invitations to Sam Carmichael Bill Anderson and Harry Bright. Let's get into these three guys, okay? P.S. Brosnan is Sam Carmichael, who's a high-flying American architect. Stellan Skarsgård is Bill Anderson, who's an adventurous Swedish writer. And Colin Firth is Harry Bright, who's an English banker. Sophie doesn't know which one of these three is her father, so she's invited all of them to her wedding and she'll just work it out when they get there. Like, she'll know her father when she sees him. Sort of like how Detective Park in Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder... thinks that he can tell a criminal just by looking in his eyes, right, right? Sophie hasn't told these men that the others are coming, and she also hasn't told her mother Donna, played by Meryl Streep. We are of course Streep Nation here, she can do no wrong. I like Donna as a character too, so it's a double like. I like Donna and I like Meryl. I like Amanda Seyfried, but Sophie kind of pisses me off. Basically Donna outsold. Sophie also wrote these wedding invites so that Sam, Bill and Harry would think that Donna was the one that wrote them. Messy. Time for a fun fact. Bill in the musical is Australian as a sort of homage to how much Australia loves ABBA, but they changed him to be Swedish in the movie because that's where ABBA's from. That's cute. However, if they didn't change Bill from being Australian, we could have had Hugh Jackman as Bill and we know that man can sing. Maybe that's why they didn't put him in, because there would be such a dramatic difference in ability of him compared to Pierce Brosnan. Ooh. Sophie's friends Kia 1 and Kia 2 arrive on Kalakiri. I simply could not care less about them. They're not the d***. The Dynamos, if you don't know the Dynamos you'll know them soon. Thank God the first thing that Kia 1 and Kia 2 do once they get to the island is tell us their names via song. Because other than that, who the hell are you? Also, another flop, Sophie's husband-to-be, Sky. Sophie tells her friends that she found her mum's diary from the year that she was pregnant with her and starts reading it out to them. Sam rode me over to the little island. We danced on the beach and we kissed on the beach. Where is the grace and the decorum? Why are you airing out your mother's business like that? Also a couple of days ago I had an epiphany in my sleep that literally woke me up. Grace Ann Decorum is such a great drag name. Even Grace Ann with the hyphen decorum. Grace Ann Decorum, your Snatch Game was silky smooth, but lately your consistency has been worse than off yogurt. I'm sorry my dear. But you're up for elimination. So Sophie's reading Donna's writing about Sam, saying how they freaked it and he's the one. And then Sophie's singing Honey Honey while reading the diary. Honey honey nearly kills me. Uh-huh honey honey. So it seems that canonically Donna has written the lyrics to Honey Honey in her journal. Okay lyricist. From the diary Sophie reads out that Sam was actually engaged and left Donna on the island to go home and get married. Two weeks later. Bill enters the DCU, the Donna Cinematic Universe. Bill's so wild, he's such a funny guy. One thing led to another, and dot, dot, dot! She took him to her island and freaked her. Welcome to my island. Hope you like it. My life is an ABBA musical. Then Harry a week later, same story, they freaked it. Harry turned up out of the blue. So I said I'd show in the island. Then we meet Donna. You sound like you're having fun already. Oh, we are. I used to have fun. Oh, we know. Meryl Streep, you'll always be famous. And these overalls, yuh. The three potential dads arrive on the island together on Bill's yacht after missing the ferry. It's a B plot, don't worry about it. They just get to the island at the same time. Also, Amanda Seyfried singing the end of Honey Honey here Honey to save Elise, you're a doggone beast Reminded me of Beast? Yeah How dare you On their sail over to the island, the three guys were like, wait So all three of us are going to this wedding on the bride's side And we all got random invites from Donna after not speaking to her for 20 years Since they think that Donna sent them the invites, they're expecting to see Donna You know who else is arriving on the island expecting to see Donna? Her BFFs Tanya and Rosie the Dynamos. Oh my god these divas. So so so so so iconic. Tanya is a rich three-time divorcee and Rosie is a famous cookbook writer. Donna later calls them the serial bride and little hermit. Donna picks them up at the dock in her Indiana Jones mobile. Donna, Tanya and Rosie used to sing together and the name was Donna and the Dynamos. I just love this trio. You look fantastic. You look like an old hippie. Me when the three middle-aged women on the screen. Me when the three middle-aged women not on the screen. How are any men at this wedding? Gorgeous. Greeks of independent means. Here we go. Donna mentions to her friends that she's kind of like, why is my... daughter getting married so young? She's literally 20. What is she doing? Also, Donna owns a hotel on this Greek island, but it's so run down. And then Donna, Tanya and Rosie sing Money, Money, Money. And it's so good, you guys, you don't understand. Or maybe you do. The song is amazing, Meryl sounds amazing, the staging of the number is great, and the song somehow makes sense in the context of the story. Meryl serving this on a mega yacht, it's simply tense across the board, like this is the peak. One of my favourites of the movie for sure. I think it's because you can just tell that these three women are having the absolute time of their lives on this set. Are you getting any? What do you mean? So the lads, lads, lads arrive on the island and Sophie tries to hide them from her mother. Tells them that she invited them and that she didn't tell Donna, but doesn't really tell them the full reason why they're there. Du Bois nearly run into Donna when she's humming Fernando, not singing Fernando. That comes in the sequel. Donna ends up catching a glimpse of them and has these flashbacks to what they used to look like, according to her. This is important for later. Then Meryl sings Mamma Mia. Does it show again, my, my, just how much I missed ya Everyone collapsed. In fact, so many people collapsed that it tested the reverse of the hypothetical situation of what would happen if everyone on earth jumped at the same time. After seeing Du Bois, Donna's like, what the hell, what are you all doing here, you need to go home. Sophie made Du Bois promise that they wouldn't tell Donna that she invited them. So Donna runs off distraught and her girls Tanya and Rosie try to get her to tell them what happened. And this is when I realized producer Judy Kramer and writer Katherine Johnson were in contention for Geniuses of the Millennium. Tanya and Rosie sing Chikatita. Chikatita, you and I go. And they changed the lyrics from Chikatita, tell me what's wrong. You're enchained by your own sorrow. In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow. To I have never seen such sorrow in your eyes. And the wedding is tomorrow. And sister Christine Baranski delivers these different lyrics as if Tanya is making them up on the spot. And the wedding is tomorrow. That moment was when I knew this was serious. Donna tells her girls that even though she previously told them that Sam was her daughter's father, there are actually two other possible options and they're all here on the island. Why didn't you tell us? Well, I never knew that I would ever. Ever have to. Donna has a meltdown so the dynamos intercept with Dancing Queen. Diggin'the Dancing Queen! Me when I'm the Dancing Queen. A key point to remember here for later discussions is that Tanya and Rosie knew about Sam, but didn't know about Bill and Harry. Also, at this point I'm thinking, why is this all happening on a random island in Greece? Especially since it's called Mamma Mia. Like... Allora andiamo ragazzi? Well, apparently it's because there's another musical called Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, which has a similar Three Dads plotline, and it's older and it's set in Italy. So people think that the creators were like, hmm, let's set Mamma Mia in Greece to throw people off. But the creators said that's not the case. So what's the truth? Also, another thing I came across, this movie is set in 1998. I've seen this movie a few times and I never- clicked to me that that was the intention. It just looks 2008, it feels 2008, they act 2008, but it's canonically 1998 and that's important for squeakquel discussions. So Sophie stops her three dads from leaving while they sing One Last Summer and do dad-like activities with her, like draw and tell stories. Whatever, bring Meryl back. Also again, this is what Bill, Sam and Harry looked like. Ooh, the singing. A fear of slowly dying. Fear of slowly dying. You're not Donna and the Dynamite. Then Skye is singing Lay All Your Love on me. I wasn't jealous before we met. Oh my god, do you hear anything? I feel like Dora. Do you hear anything? Then Amanda Seyfried starts singing. Yay! I've grown up home and should never fall so easily. Me when Sophie sings. Me when her rando fiance sings. Hen's party time. Dara and the Dynamos sing Super Trooper for Sophie and it's a goddamn... gag central supreme deluxe extra patty with cheese and pickles okay also obsessed with Meryl's eye movement here that gives Scooby-Doo moving painting eyes also notice how Sophie's friends are making no impact what are their names again ladies please sing your song again you Harry, Sam and Bill turn up at the hens and Donna flips and runs off and everyone sings Gimme Gimme Gimme, which is one of my favourite ABBA songs. I would have gone feral at the club in 1979. Now pay attention to what Donna says here. Somebody up there has got it in for me. I bet it's my mother. Hmm. Parts of the truth start coming out. The dads individually find out that Sophie brought them there to work out which one is her father. But the way the info comes out. each of the three think they're the father and now they want to walk her down the aisle at the wedding tomorrow. That feels so musical theatre. Withholding information from characters but showing the audience it just feels so musical theatre. Plot plot plot Donna thinks that Sophie's upset because she wants to call off the wedding which is not true. It's the dad thing which Donna is still in the dark about. And there's three seconds of acting from Amanda Seyfried here that I think Sydney Sweeney watched before she filmed Euphoria season two and said you I think I'll order those nachos. Because I, God, I love Sky and I want to be with him. Great. Donna and Sam sing SOS, which is another MMCU smash hit. It used to be so nice. It used to be so good. The song and Meryl singing, not Pierce Brosnan singing. He's getting whacked in this video, but I think it's fair. It's actually kind of funny how he sings his verse and it's like, whatever. And then Meryl comes in and just like. blows him out of the water. Then there's an absolutely filler cover of Does Your Mother Know by Tanya and a Floody Bartender. But it's okay because it's Sister Christine Baranski. So we're going to eat the meal and then say thank you. Sophie finally tells Sky that she invited the potential dads to the island and to the wedding and everything's going to shit. And Sky's like, um... were you insisting on this sodding circus so you can play happy families? I just wanted to have a small wedding with three or four witnesses. Oh my god he's mad. Babes is the wedding gonna happen? Well it would seem so because Meryl is singing Slipping Through My Fingers while helping Sophie get ready. Sophie asks Donna to be the one to give her away at the wedding which is sweet but also solves the lingering issue of three men on the island thinking they're the ones that are going to give her away. None of you flops are. This is Donna territory and in Donna territory we shoot first. and ask questions later. This is not your island. This is our island. And the only reason you're living on it is because we let you live on it. Meryl is acting here. Like, I believe this. She raised Amanda Seyfried by herself on an island off Grace. And that, ladies and ladies, is why Meryl Streep was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. See, that's why you should join Streep Nation. You never lose. On the walk to the ceremony, Sam pops up and gives his emotional speech and Donna sings The Winner Takes It All. The winner takes it all! Debut number one, in my head, on the brain charts. Donna walks Sophie down the aisle and then announces to everyone that Sophie's father is there. And Sophie's like, yeah, I know. But how could you invite him? I don't even know which of the three old flames that suddenly appeared on the island it is. Please, please, please forgive me. Please forgive me. Rachel Berry, one of those nachos. The three guys are in the church like... One, two, three. Carry the one, long division, quadratic formula, PEMDAS? What's it called these days? Sam stands up saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. So she might be mine, or Bill's, or Harry's? And Donna's like, yeah, but you can't stay on your high horse because you left me here, because you had to go home to get married. And Sam says, I went to my fiance and called off the wedding and came back to find you. But he heard that Donna... was off with another guy. I think we've all experienced that scenario, actually. Harry gets up and tells Donna that she was the only girl he ever loved. Emphasis on the only girl, because he's gay now. So then all three dads are like, yes, let's share it. Let's all take one third of father duties. Sophie and Skye, they're on good terms, but they decide not to get married. But then Sam tells Donna that he's divorced. And he's loved her for 21 years. And they may as well get married because it's all set up already. So there does end up being a wedding. Which feels like good old people movie. Yeah. That scene, it's good old people movie. Do you know what I mean? At the reception, Rosie starts flirting with Bill singing Take a Chance on Me. Which, again, I'm like, it's so crazy. that they've managed to make these songs make sense in the context of the plot. And then in the credits, Donna and the Dynamos sing Dancing Queen and Waterloo because they knew Donna and the Dynamos would be the supreme lasting gag of this movie. This is the highest worldwide grossing live-action musical film of all time. And how's this for a fun fact? It sold so many DVD copies in the UK that it was in one in every four households. One in every four guys, let's do that maths. That's 25%, that's 0.25, that's 1 over 4. Let me clutch my pearls. Not Mamma Mia DVD low-key outselling the Bible. So I think we can all agree that the best thing about this movie is Meryl Streep as Donna. So what do they do for the squeakquel? They kill off Donna. At first I was like, why the hell would they do that? But then I read it's because Meryl Streep does not do sequels. And I thought, wait, this is iconic. Fern, I'm Meryl Streep. I've earned my diva ship. So Mamma Mia Here We Go Again came out 10 years after Mamma Mia in 2018 and it's a sort of prequel sequel. It's half events happening now with Sophie and half events happening in the past with 1979 Donna played by Lily James. Immediate issue here, it's a totally original new story so it doesn't have the musical to pull from. Rot roll raggy. Another issue, they used up all the good songs in the first movie. Remember most of those made contextual sense in the story too. So it makes me wonder if they knew there was going to be a sequel when they made the first one. Because it doesn't seem like it, but they say they did. So I'm just kind of like, why did you use up all the good songs then? Another issue, and maybe my biggest issue, young Sam, Harry and Bill. Lily James tries her best to carry them through these flashback scenes, but I think they struggle a bit to match the absolute powerhouse that was the ensemble cast in the first movie. Plus, oh my god, some of the singing. Here is where the story ends. P.S. Brosnan, I apologise, you're suddenly- Mariah Carey compared to the younger version of yourself. Also plot-wise, the young Donna prequel aspect of the film has so many plot holes, but so does the sequel aspect. Remember when Donna said this? Somebody up there has got it in for me. I bet it's my mother. Oh, and wasn't she a ray of sunshine? Well, her mother's in the sequel and it's sure, bitch. Here's another small example of the continuity issues that I have with the sequel part of the movie. The first movie is set in 1998 and then the events of Here We Go Again are supposedly five years later and yet Sophie has an iPhone in 2003. Right, right. Also back to that big issue, no Meryl Streep as Donna. Well, sort of kind of. But it really makes you realize how good Meryl Streep was in that first movie. So the plot. Sophie is reopening the hotel after doing it up in Donna's honor. Again, why is she dead? I get Meryl doesn't do sequels, but come up with something else. They don't even say how she died. It's just a picture of Donna and they're like... Anyway she's doing a grand reopening of the hotel and she's invited everyone from the first movie back to the island plus her grandma Ruby Sheridan but as she rips up the grandmas invite saying oh she never comes anyway. Sophie and Sky are having relationship troubles while talking across continents on their 2003 iPhones. This is all happening in tandem with 1979 Donna flashbacks. In 1979 Donna graduates from Oxford and sings When I Kissed the Teacher with the younger versions of Tanya and Rosie. This is already ridiculous because they look identical to the first movie versions of themselves down to the hair. Like the audience wouldn't be able to recognize them by name alone. Also saying this now, love Lily James. Life is short, the world is wide. I want to make some memories. She gives me Shailene Woodley adjacent. Like I think she would have demolished a role in Big Little Lies. Sequel Tanya and Rosie arrive on the island. Sophie says that Harry can't make it because he's doing business deals in Tokyo and Bill... can't make it because he's winning some award in Sweden. Sam however lives on the island. Tanya and Rosie meet the hotel's new manager, Señor Cienfuegos. Buenos dias. He's still my beating vagina. 1979 Donna meets Harry in Paris. This seems wrong. In the diary entries she meets Sam, then Bill, then Harry. But maybe Harry comes to the island later and she just left the Paris part out of the diary. Wrong. Mamma Mia 2, young Harry never makes it to the island. He also basically begs her to sleep with him in Paris because he's a virgin by singing Waterloo, which is random. Which she does. Which is wrong. Because she's supposed to sleep with Sam, then Bill, then Harry. Anyway, Donna goes from Paris to Greece, misses the ferry to Kalakairi, but then a man named Bill offers to sail her over. What? What is it? I fear a storm is coming. A storm is coming in the prequel and the sequel. 1979 Donna pulls up on the island and sings I Have a Dream while walking through someone else's property and then gets stuck in the prophesied storm with a scared horse. Again, I think we've all been there. She rushes to get help for the horse and runs into Sam. Wrong again. Her Sam diary entry said that they rode to the island. They didn't meet. on the island, don't piss me off. After saving the horse, Donna and Sam hang out. After sleeping with him, in Sam's journal, Sophie finds a picture of his fiancee back home. Wrong again. In the diary, he told her about the situation, but here she is finding this information that he was hiding from her. Then young Sam sings a song, and it is a mega deluxe chop. No more carefree laughter. Supreme. CHOP! Get Lily James back on the screen! Also now that we've seen all the young versions of Du Bois, we can see that they look nothing like the younger versions of themselves from the first movie. Yes, in looks, but also in vibe. This is what I mean about not believing that they knew a sequel was coming when they made the first movie. Also want to reiterate here that I think Lily James is a great actress and singer. I don't want her to be caught up in the wackings. Like, yes girl, frolic in that field. There's lots of parallels between young Donna and Sophie here, so... 2003 iPhone Sophie is also stuck in a storm that destroys her grand reopening party plans. Then she regrets her fight with Sky and Tanya and Rosie Singh angelize with her. Harry leaves his important business meeting in Tokyo and bails to Greece for the opening. Same with Bill leaving Sweden to pull up to Greece and getting his twin brother to pretend to be him to accept an award. Okay, even though this movie was made in 2018, the random twin brother stand-in feels 2000 to 2005. And I know that. 1979 Donna's friends turn up to the island and they sing Mamma Mia They did a good job let's celebrate but we've already seen Meryl do it in the first movie and was even better young Bill turns up Hi there Bill? Wrong young Tanya and Rosie meet Bill and Rosie's obsessed with Bill and sad that he's going off with Donna in the first movie Tanya and Rosie don't even know about Bill and Harry Donna mentions them for the first time when she reveals that Sophie has three potential dads And when they come to the island, Tanya and Rosie are introduced to them for the first time. Like Sawyer said in episode 13 of season 2 of Lost, it's all in the details, and they're wrong. Young Sam comes back to the island looking for Donna, but gets told that she's gone off with another guy, Bill. Which does make sense with the first movie timeline, thank God. Bill, Harry, and a bunch of people they amassed in a B-plot... and Skye arrived to the 2003 iPhone Grand Reopening on boats singing Dancing Queen. The concept of being a dancing queen. I respect how hard this would have been to coordinate and film. So now, everyone who's still alive from the first movie is now back on the island. Sophie got the band back together. There's a scene where 1979 Donna is realizing she wants to stay on the island and she's not drinking and she runs off to throw up. It's giving pregnant with this great shot of someone throwing up in the toilet panning up to show 2003 iPhone Sophie's doing the same thing. She's Pregante. Okay, I think we know what that means. It's the parallels, babe. It's mother-daughter duality. Also, oh my god, the way she's got her hands all over that disgusting toilet. Then Sophie runs off and tells Skye that she's pregnant just based off that. Okay, everyone prepare yourselves because this is where the movie gets amazing. Cher turns up in a helicopter with this James Bond-esque variation of the Money Money Money Instrumental I could not believe it. Well, technically no one should believe it Because Donna's mother is supposed to be dead. Wagon wheel, what else is? You weren't invited. That's the best kind of party, little girl. She looks so good here. Like it's almost funny how good she looks. Her hair's also kind of giving Storm from X-Men 97. I've decided to commit to being a grandmother. Everything Cher does in the 10 minutes that she's in this movie is amazing. You know, so being a grudge holder makes you fat. This joke right here. actually made me pause the movie and laugh because it's so silly. Me stepping out to becoming a good grandmother. A great grandmother. Thank you. Then Sophie sings with the Dynamos while 1979 Donna has her baby and X-Men Storm Cher recognises Señor Cienfuegos as her old flame Fernando, says, Fernando! And then immediately starts singing Fernando. Fernando? Can you hear the drums from that door? Also it's so funny to me that Cher is Meryl Streep's mother in this movie, but they're three years apart in real life. Sophie has her baby, Tanya meets Senor Cienfuegos brother. Oh god I hope his wife is dead. Then the baby gets christened at the same time 1980 Donna christened Sophie, and Meryl turns up. And gasp! Can you- I literally felt like this. Ghost Meryl just turns up and serves vocals with Amanda Seyfried like it's nothing. In the mirror of your eyes, I love my life. The last 10 minutes of this movie is so iconic. It just reiterates to me how flop all the prequel stuff in the first 80% of the movie is. If I wasn't scared to post written letterboxd reviews right now, I'd say Not good and then amazing. My opinion is that this movie needed more Meryl and more Cher. And that's just that. Ghost Meryl leaves the church. End of movie. Suddenly Cher is singing Super Trooper in character for no reason. And I'm having the time of my life. And everyone's dancing and singing with the younger versions of themselves. It's giving dark. Do we know that reference? So even though Meryl doesn't do sequels, she popped in for the last five minutes of this one. Apparently because she had so much fun filming the first Mamma Mia. Another win for Streep Nation. I think it's very clear that even though this movie is fun, it's nowhere near as good as the first one. And that's okay. As far as sequels go, it's not bad. Also, maybe my perspective is warped because I've watched them multiple times in repeat succession. So I'm sort of actively seeing these timeline errors. Maybe if you haven't seen the first movie in 10 years and you watch this one, you'd be like, oh my God, this is the best thing ever. Interestingly, there's also recently been discussion of a Mamma Mia 3. Christine Baranski said in August this year that it's in the works. Meryl said in May that she's having a meeting about Donna coming back somehow in a third film. And Amanda Seyfried mentioned wanting Sabrina Carpenter to play her daughter. Judy Kramer said in 2020 that this was always meant to be a trilogy. Was it? Let me just say there's a phenomenon where if I talk about a movie that's not new, like an older movie, within the next six months there will be some sort of official announcement about the next installment. It's happened like five, six times. Mark my words, they will say something about Mamma Mia. I wonder how Donna's hotel is faring in the threequel. Now that Sophie's reopened it and it's looking glamorous, she's going to need a good website. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace gives people a powerful and stylish online platform from which you can build your own website. Sophie and ghost Donna, get your pen and paper out right now and start taking notes. Squarespace payment, boom. Easy to set up and you can give your customers payment options. Like Apple Pay, Klana, Afterpay, and a bunch more. You can manage your business on one platform. Invoicing's made easy. The workflow is simplified. So you can actually spend time on your business. Squarespace's SEO tools, stunning. Every Squarespace website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions and more so that your website shows up to more people more often in search results. I just know Ghost Donna is foaming at the mouth at that. Go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com forward slash Mike's Mike M-I-K-E-S-M-I-C to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring this video.

I don't know if I ever told you guys that I can play the piano. Well I can't. Mamma Mia!

Against all odds I'm back with another video. This video is about the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe, the MMCU, not to be confused with the MMCU, the Mike's Mike Cinematic Universe. Let's touch on scale here quickly, okay? Did someone say scale?

Yeah. The Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe sits inside the Mike's Mike Cinematic Universe. Set- theory okay the Mamma Mia cinematic universe is a subset of the Mike's Mike cinematic universe reminder that the Mike's Mike cinematic universe is everything I've ever spoken about such as hoodwinked everyone I've ever spoken to or been seen with such as Charlie XCX and everything that's ever happened to me such as my parents thinking that I was being kidnapped in 2011 in Italy because I butt dialed them on bumper cars and they heard muffled screaming got it the Mamma Mia movies are brat track 2 cult classics If you haven't seen them, they're basically a narrative that's crafted to fit hit songs by the pop group ABBA.

Or more accurately, they are film adaptations of a jukebox musical based on ABBA songs. And these movies are ensemble mega-serves. Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, and then in the sequel, Lily James, Andy Garcia, and Cher. Wagon wheel, what tootie. Did you know Cher's name on her passport is literally just Cher.

Like she doesn't have a last name. So I don't know, anytime I see an ensemble cast, I just think British. Like the concept of an ensemble cast is British to me. There are so many films that are so ensemble and so cast and so British.

Something that I will say about the cast here is there's definitely a, hmm, como se dice, variation in singing ability. Like Meryl and Amanda are doing a lot of heavy lifting here, especially in the squeak wall. More on that later. A great thing about the cast, especially in the first movie, is they do such a good job of invoking a vibe.

Like, you can tell they're having fun. I keep seeing online that they were just drunk and partying the whole time while filming, which makes a lot of sense. So the first movie is a creative and fun story about a bride-to-be named Sophie inviting three men who might be her father to her wedding, and the drama that comes with her mother Donna reuniting with these three old flames. And somehow the plot matches up with the lyrics of a bunch of songs by ABBA.

Single penny left for me. Don't sit down there. That's too bad. It's broken. The second movie, Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, it wanted Mamma Mia's nachos bad.

I'm gonna say right now that Mamma Mia 1 is a classic, like it's just a classic, and Mamma Mia 2 is low-key a chop. Which might sound controversial but I have my reasonings which I'll get to later. The chain of events here is ABBA, Mamma Mia Musical, Mamma Mia movies, so let's work through that.

ABBA is one of the biggest pop groups ever, and that's just fact, you can't argue with me. 150 million records worldwide, don't lie. Here is a list of ABBA songs that I feel like most people would know. Dancing Queen, Super Trooper, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Take A Chance On Me, Fernando, The Winner Takes It All, Mamma Mia, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Waddle In, Money Money Money, S.O.S. Like that list of hits is bonkers.

All released within a five year period, mind you. I would have been going crazy in the late 70s when these were dropping literally every couple of months. Just bang after bang like oh my imagine going to the club and there's a new Ariana Grande song and you're like oh yes love it go back two months later new Ariana Grande song for five years I mean the album ABBA gold greatest hits went 21 times platinum in the UK over 1000 weeks on the chart if we're talking charts it's interesting to see that in the United States ABBA never had a number one album and they only had one number one single dancing queen but I mean is that really that strange That country isn't really known for making great decisions. At least they put three ABBA songs in Glee.

Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All, which actually is one of only eight songs that Sue sings. The winner takes it all! My chart deep dive showed me that not only does the UK love ABBA, giving them 10 number one albums, but Australia goes hard for ABBA. We don't play about ABBA down here.

ABBA and Pink. I had ABBA SingStar on PS3. I specifically remember my mum saying, Make sure the ABBA singing game is working before your aunties get here. Like, it was serious for us. Without ABBA, we wouldn't have one of the best songs ever.

Hung Up by Madonna, which samples Gimme Gimme Gimme. So from ABBA's success came Mamma Mia! The Jukebox Musical.

Which means a musical in which the majority of songs are popular pre-existing songs as opposed to original works for the musical. A lot of you theatre nerds probably knew that already, but I didn't. This musical has been played in more than 60 countries and has grossed more than $4 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. Producer Judy Kramer first met with ABBA in 1983 and it was the song The Winner Takes It All that made her think, Hmm.

Maybe there's a little something something of a theatrical nature here. I think she needs some sort of Nobel Prize for that because that is so impressive. To conceptualize a plot out of a bunch of seemingly unrelated songs, like what? Kramer got Katherine Johnson to write the book for the musical and Johnson also wrote the screenplay for the Mamma Mia movie. And the two formats are obviously very similar, so let's talk about the plot in the context of the movie.

As I said before, Meryl and Amanda and later on Lily are going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Yes, in acting, especially in the squeak. But mostly in the singing department also just as a generalization I find the female characters in these movies so much more likable than the male characters Which does make sense considering the two biggest players are Donna and Sophie played by Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried at the end of the day It's Mamma Mia not Papa Pia Okay, so the first movie Amanda Seyfried's Sophie sends wedding invitations to Sam Carmichael Bill Anderson and Harry Bright. Let's get into these three guys, okay? P.S.

Brosnan is Sam Carmichael, who's a high-flying American architect. Stellan Skarsgård is Bill Anderson, who's an adventurous Swedish writer. And Colin Firth is Harry Bright, who's an English banker.

Sophie doesn't know which one of these three is her father, so she's invited all of them to her wedding and she'll just work it out when they get there. Like, she'll know her father when she sees him. Sort of like how Detective Park in Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder...

thinks that he can tell a criminal just by looking in his eyes, right, right? Sophie hasn't told these men that the others are coming, and she also hasn't told her mother Donna, played by Meryl Streep. We are of course Streep Nation here, she can do no wrong. I like Donna as a character too, so it's a double like. I like Donna and I like Meryl.

I like Amanda Seyfried, but Sophie kind of pisses me off. Basically Donna outsold. Sophie also wrote these wedding invites so that Sam, Bill and Harry would think that Donna was the one that wrote them.

Messy. Time for a fun fact. Bill in the musical is Australian as a sort of homage to how much Australia loves ABBA, but they changed him to be Swedish in the movie because that's where ABBA's from.

That's cute. However, if they didn't change Bill from being Australian, we could have had Hugh Jackman as Bill and we know that man can sing. Maybe that's why they didn't put him in, because there would be such a dramatic difference in ability of him compared to Pierce Brosnan. Ooh.

Sophie's friends Kia 1 and Kia 2 arrive on Kalakiri. I simply could not care less about them. They're not the d***.

The Dynamos, if you don't know the Dynamos you'll know them soon. Thank God the first thing that Kia 1 and Kia 2 do once they get to the island is tell us their names via song. Because other than that, who the hell are you?

Also, another flop, Sophie's husband-to-be, Sky. Sophie tells her friends that she found her mum's diary from the year that she was pregnant with her and starts reading it out to them. Sam rode me over to the little island. We danced on the beach and we kissed on the beach.

Where is the grace and the decorum? Why are you airing out your mother's business like that? Also a couple of days ago I had an epiphany in my sleep that literally woke me up. Grace Ann Decorum is such a great drag name.

Even Grace Ann with the hyphen decorum. Grace Ann Decorum, your Snatch Game was silky smooth, but lately your consistency has been worse than off yogurt. I'm sorry my dear. But you're up for elimination.

So Sophie's reading Donna's writing about Sam, saying how they freaked it and he's the one. And then Sophie's singing Honey Honey while reading the diary. Honey honey nearly kills me.

Uh-huh honey honey. So it seems that canonically Donna has written the lyrics to Honey Honey in her journal. Okay lyricist. From the diary Sophie reads out that Sam was actually engaged and left Donna on the island to go home and get married.

Two weeks later. Bill enters the DCU, the Donna Cinematic Universe. Bill's so wild, he's such a funny guy.

One thing led to another, and dot, dot, dot! She took him to her island and freaked her. Welcome to my island.

Hope you like it. My life is an ABBA musical. Then Harry a week later, same story, they freaked it.

Harry turned up out of the blue. So I said I'd show in the island. Then we meet Donna. You sound like you're having fun already.

Oh, we are. I used to have fun. Oh, we know.

Meryl Streep, you'll always be famous. And these overalls, yuh. The three potential dads arrive on the island together on Bill's yacht after missing the ferry. It's a B plot, don't worry about it. They just get to the island at the same time.

Also, Amanda Seyfried singing the end of Honey Honey here Honey to save Elise, you're a doggone beast Reminded me of Beast? Yeah How dare you On their sail over to the island, the three guys were like, wait So all three of us are going to this wedding on the bride's side And we all got random invites from Donna after not speaking to her for 20 years Since they think that Donna sent them the invites, they're expecting to see Donna You know who else is arriving on the island expecting to see Donna? Her BFFs Tanya and Rosie the Dynamos.

Oh my god these divas. So so so so so iconic. Tanya is a rich three-time divorcee and Rosie is a famous cookbook writer. Donna later calls them the serial bride and little hermit.

Donna picks them up at the dock in her Indiana Jones mobile. Donna, Tanya and Rosie used to sing together and the name was Donna and the Dynamos. I just love this trio. You look fantastic.

You look like an old hippie. Me when the three middle-aged women on the screen. Me when the three middle-aged women not on the screen. How are any men at this wedding? Gorgeous.

Greeks of independent means. Here we go. Donna mentions to her friends that she's kind of like, why is my...

daughter getting married so young? She's literally 20. What is she doing? Also, Donna owns a hotel on this Greek island, but it's so run down.

And then Donna, Tanya and Rosie sing Money, Money, Money. And it's so good, you guys, you don't understand. Or maybe you do.

The song is amazing, Meryl sounds amazing, the staging of the number is great, and the song somehow makes sense in the context of the story. Meryl serving this on a mega yacht, it's simply tense across the board, like this is the peak. One of my favourites of the movie for sure.

I think it's because you can just tell that these three women are having the absolute time of their lives on this set. Are you getting any? What do you mean? So the lads, lads, lads arrive on the island and Sophie tries to hide them from her mother.

Tells them that she invited them and that she didn't tell Donna, but doesn't really tell them the full reason why they're there. Du Bois nearly run into Donna when she's humming Fernando, not singing Fernando. That comes in the sequel.

Donna ends up catching a glimpse of them and has these flashbacks to what they used to look like, according to her. This is important for later. Then Meryl sings Mamma Mia. Does it show again, my, my, just how much I missed ya Everyone collapsed. In fact, so many people collapsed that it tested the reverse of the hypothetical situation of what would happen if everyone on earth jumped at the same time.

After seeing Du Bois, Donna's like, what the hell, what are you all doing here, you need to go home. Sophie made Du Bois promise that they wouldn't tell Donna that she invited them. So Donna runs off distraught and her girls Tanya and Rosie try to get her to tell them what happened.

And this is when I realized producer Judy Kramer and writer Katherine Johnson were in contention for Geniuses of the Millennium. Tanya and Rosie sing Chikatita. Chikatita, you and I go.

And they changed the lyrics from Chikatita, tell me what's wrong. You're enchained by your own sorrow. In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow.

To I have never seen such sorrow in your eyes. And the wedding is tomorrow. And sister Christine Baranski delivers these different lyrics as if Tanya is making them up on the spot.

And the wedding is tomorrow. That moment was when I knew this was serious. Donna tells her girls that even though she previously told them that Sam was her daughter's father, there are actually two other possible options and they're all here on the island. Why didn't you tell us?

Well, I never knew that I would ever. Ever have to. Donna has a meltdown so the dynamos intercept with Dancing Queen. Diggin'the Dancing Queen! Me when I'm the Dancing Queen.

A key point to remember here for later discussions is that Tanya and Rosie knew about Sam, but didn't know about Bill and Harry. Also, at this point I'm thinking, why is this all happening on a random island in Greece? Especially since it's called Mamma Mia.

Like... Allora andiamo ragazzi? Well, apparently it's because there's another musical called Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, which has a similar Three Dads plotline, and it's older and it's set in Italy. So people think that the creators were like, hmm, let's set Mamma Mia in Greece to throw people off. But the creators said that's not the case.

So what's the truth? Also, another thing I came across, this movie is set in 1998. I've seen this movie a few times and I never- clicked to me that that was the intention. It just looks 2008, it feels 2008, they act 2008, but it's canonically 1998 and that's important for squeakquel discussions. So Sophie stops her three dads from leaving while they sing One Last Summer and do dad-like activities with her, like draw and tell stories. Whatever, bring Meryl back.

Also again, this is what Bill, Sam and Harry looked like. Ooh, the singing. A fear of slowly dying.

Fear of slowly dying. You're not Donna and the Dynamite. Then Skye is singing Lay All Your Love on me. I wasn't jealous before we met.

Oh my god, do you hear anything? I feel like Dora. Do you hear anything? Then Amanda Seyfried starts singing. Yay!

I've grown up home and should never fall so easily. Me when Sophie sings. Me when her rando fiance sings. Hen's party time.

Dara and the Dynamos sing Super Trooper for Sophie and it's a goddamn... gag central supreme deluxe extra patty with cheese and pickles okay also obsessed with Meryl's eye movement here that gives Scooby-Doo moving painting eyes also notice how Sophie's friends are making no impact what are their names again ladies please sing your song again you Harry, Sam and Bill turn up at the hens and Donna flips and runs off and everyone sings Gimme Gimme Gimme, which is one of my favourite ABBA songs. I would have gone feral at the club in 1979. Now pay attention to what Donna says here.

Somebody up there has got it in for me. I bet it's my mother. Hmm.

Parts of the truth start coming out. The dads individually find out that Sophie brought them there to work out which one is her father. But the way the info comes out.

each of the three think they're the father and now they want to walk her down the aisle at the wedding tomorrow. That feels so musical theatre. Withholding information from characters but showing the audience it just feels so musical theatre.

Plot plot plot Donna thinks that Sophie's upset because she wants to call off the wedding which is not true. It's the dad thing which Donna is still in the dark about. And there's three seconds of acting from Amanda Seyfried here that I think Sydney Sweeney watched before she filmed Euphoria season two and said you I think I'll order those nachos. Because I, God, I love Sky and I want to be with him. Great.

Donna and Sam sing SOS, which is another MMCU smash hit. It used to be so nice. It used to be so good.

The song and Meryl singing, not Pierce Brosnan singing. He's getting whacked in this video, but I think it's fair. It's actually kind of funny how he sings his verse and it's like, whatever.

And then Meryl comes in and just like. blows him out of the water. Then there's an absolutely filler cover of Does Your Mother Know by Tanya and a Floody Bartender.

But it's okay because it's Sister Christine Baranski. So we're going to eat the meal and then say thank you. Sophie finally tells Sky that she invited the potential dads to the island and to the wedding and everything's going to shit. And Sky's like, um... were you insisting on this sodding circus so you can play happy families?

I just wanted to have a small wedding with three or four witnesses. Oh my god he's mad. Babes is the wedding gonna happen? Well it would seem so because Meryl is singing Slipping Through My Fingers while helping Sophie get ready. Sophie asks Donna to be the one to give her away at the wedding which is sweet but also solves the lingering issue of three men on the island thinking they're the ones that are going to give her away.

None of you flops are. This is Donna territory and in Donna territory we shoot first. and ask questions later. This is not your island.

This is our island. And the only reason you're living on it is because we let you live on it. Meryl is acting here. Like, I believe this.

She raised Amanda Seyfried by herself on an island off Grace. And that, ladies and ladies, is why Meryl Streep was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. See, that's why you should join Streep Nation. You never lose.

On the walk to the ceremony, Sam pops up and gives his emotional speech and Donna sings The Winner Takes It All. The winner takes it all! Debut number one, in my head, on the brain charts. Donna walks Sophie down the aisle and then announces to everyone that Sophie's father is there.

And Sophie's like, yeah, I know. But how could you invite him? I don't even know which of the three old flames that suddenly appeared on the island it is.

Please, please, please forgive me. Please forgive me. Rachel Berry, one of those nachos.

The three guys are in the church like... One, two, three. Carry the one, long division, quadratic formula, PEMDAS?

What's it called these days? Sam stands up saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. So she might be mine, or Bill's, or Harry's? And Donna's like, yeah, but you can't stay on your high horse because you left me here, because you had to go home to get married. And Sam says, I went to my fiance and called off the wedding and came back to find you.

But he heard that Donna... was off with another guy. I think we've all experienced that scenario, actually. Harry gets up and tells Donna that she was the only girl he ever loved.

Emphasis on the only girl, because he's gay now. So then all three dads are like, yes, let's share it. Let's all take one third of father duties.

Sophie and Skye, they're on good terms, but they decide not to get married. But then Sam tells Donna that he's divorced. And he's loved her for 21 years. And they may as well get married because it's all set up already.

So there does end up being a wedding. Which feels like good old people movie. Yeah. That scene, it's good old people movie. Do you know what I mean?

At the reception, Rosie starts flirting with Bill singing Take a Chance on Me. Which, again, I'm like, it's so crazy. that they've managed to make these songs make sense in the context of the plot. And then in the credits, Donna and the Dynamos sing Dancing Queen and Waterloo because they knew Donna and the Dynamos would be the supreme lasting gag of this movie. This is the highest worldwide grossing live-action musical film of all time.

And how's this for a fun fact? It sold so many DVD copies in the UK that it was in one in every four households. One in every four guys, let's do that maths.

That's 25%, that's 0.25, that's 1 over 4. Let me clutch my pearls. Not Mamma Mia DVD low-key outselling the Bible. So I think we can all agree that the best thing about this movie is Meryl Streep as Donna.

So what do they do for the squeakquel? They kill off Donna. At first I was like, why the hell would they do that? But then I read it's because Meryl Streep does not do sequels. And I thought, wait, this is iconic.

Fern, I'm Meryl Streep. I've earned my diva ship. So Mamma Mia Here We Go Again came out 10 years after Mamma Mia in 2018 and it's a sort of prequel sequel. It's half events happening now with Sophie and half events happening in the past with 1979 Donna played by Lily James. Immediate issue here, it's a totally original new story so it doesn't have the musical to pull from.

Rot roll raggy. Another issue, they used up all the good songs in the first movie. Remember most of those made contextual sense in the story too. So it makes me wonder if they knew there was going to be a sequel when they made the first one. Because it doesn't seem like it, but they say they did.

So I'm just kind of like, why did you use up all the good songs then? Another issue, and maybe my biggest issue, young Sam, Harry and Bill. Lily James tries her best to carry them through these flashback scenes, but I think they struggle a bit to match the absolute powerhouse that was the ensemble cast in the first movie. Plus, oh my god, some of the singing. Here is where the story ends.

P.S. Brosnan, I apologise, you're suddenly- Mariah Carey compared to the younger version of yourself. Also plot-wise, the young Donna prequel aspect of the film has so many plot holes, but so does the sequel aspect.

Remember when Donna said this? Somebody up there has got it in for me. I bet it's my mother. Oh, and wasn't she a ray of sunshine? Well, her mother's in the sequel and it's sure, bitch.

Here's another small example of the continuity issues that I have with the sequel part of the movie. The first movie is set in 1998 and then the events of Here We Go Again are supposedly five years later and yet Sophie has an iPhone in 2003. Right, right. Also back to that big issue, no Meryl Streep as Donna.

Well, sort of kind of. But it really makes you realize how good Meryl Streep was in that first movie. So the plot.

Sophie is reopening the hotel after doing it up in Donna's honor. Again, why is she dead? I get Meryl doesn't do sequels, but come up with something else. They don't even say how she died. It's just a picture of Donna and they're like...

Anyway she's doing a grand reopening of the hotel and she's invited everyone from the first movie back to the island plus her grandma Ruby Sheridan but as she rips up the grandmas invite saying oh she never comes anyway. Sophie and Sky are having relationship troubles while talking across continents on their 2003 iPhones. This is all happening in tandem with 1979 Donna flashbacks.

In 1979 Donna graduates from Oxford and sings When I Kissed the Teacher with the younger versions of Tanya and Rosie. This is already ridiculous because they look identical to the first movie versions of themselves down to the hair. Like the audience wouldn't be able to recognize them by name alone. Also saying this now, love Lily James. Life is short, the world is wide.

I want to make some memories. She gives me Shailene Woodley adjacent. Like I think she would have demolished a role in Big Little Lies. Sequel Tanya and Rosie arrive on the island.

Sophie says that Harry can't make it because he's doing business deals in Tokyo and Bill... can't make it because he's winning some award in Sweden. Sam however lives on the island. Tanya and Rosie meet the hotel's new manager, Señor Cienfuegos.

Buenos dias. He's still my beating vagina. 1979 Donna meets Harry in Paris.

This seems wrong. In the diary entries she meets Sam, then Bill, then Harry. But maybe Harry comes to the island later and she just left the Paris part out of the diary. Wrong. Mamma Mia 2, young Harry never makes it to the island.

He also basically begs her to sleep with him in Paris because he's a virgin by singing Waterloo, which is random. Which she does. Which is wrong. Because she's supposed to sleep with Sam, then Bill, then Harry.

Anyway, Donna goes from Paris to Greece, misses the ferry to Kalakairi, but then a man named Bill offers to sail her over. What? What is it? I fear a storm is coming.

A storm is coming in the prequel and the sequel. 1979 Donna pulls up on the island and sings I Have a Dream while walking through someone else's property and then gets stuck in the prophesied storm with a scared horse. Again, I think we've all been there.

She rushes to get help for the horse and runs into Sam. Wrong again. Her Sam diary entry said that they rode to the island.

They didn't meet. on the island, don't piss me off. After saving the horse, Donna and Sam hang out.

After sleeping with him, in Sam's journal, Sophie finds a picture of his fiancee back home. Wrong again. In the diary, he told her about the situation, but here she is finding this information that he was hiding from her.

Then young Sam sings a song, and it is a mega deluxe chop. No more carefree laughter. Supreme. CHOP!

Get Lily James back on the screen! Also now that we've seen all the young versions of Du Bois, we can see that they look nothing like the younger versions of themselves from the first movie. Yes, in looks, but also in vibe. This is what I mean about not believing that they knew a sequel was coming when they made the first movie.

Also want to reiterate here that I think Lily James is a great actress and singer. I don't want her to be caught up in the wackings. Like, yes girl, frolic in that field. There's lots of parallels between young Donna and Sophie here, so... 2003 iPhone Sophie is also stuck in a storm that destroys her grand reopening party plans.

Then she regrets her fight with Sky and Tanya and Rosie Singh angelize with her. Harry leaves his important business meeting in Tokyo and bails to Greece for the opening. Same with Bill leaving Sweden to pull up to Greece and getting his twin brother to pretend to be him to accept an award.

Okay, even though this movie was made in 2018, the random twin brother stand-in feels 2000 to 2005. And I know that. 1979 Donna's friends turn up to the island and they sing Mamma Mia They did a good job let's celebrate but we've already seen Meryl do it in the first movie and was even better young Bill turns up Hi there Bill? Wrong young Tanya and Rosie meet Bill and Rosie's obsessed with Bill and sad that he's going off with Donna in the first movie Tanya and Rosie don't even know about Bill and Harry Donna mentions them for the first time when she reveals that Sophie has three potential dads And when they come to the island, Tanya and Rosie are introduced to them for the first time.

Like Sawyer said in episode 13 of season 2 of Lost, it's all in the details, and they're wrong. Young Sam comes back to the island looking for Donna, but gets told that she's gone off with another guy, Bill. Which does make sense with the first movie timeline, thank God. Bill, Harry, and a bunch of people they amassed in a B-plot...

and Skye arrived to the 2003 iPhone Grand Reopening on boats singing Dancing Queen. The concept of being a dancing queen. I respect how hard this would have been to coordinate and film.

So now, everyone who's still alive from the first movie is now back on the island. Sophie got the band back together. There's a scene where 1979 Donna is realizing she wants to stay on the island and she's not drinking and she runs off to throw up.

It's giving pregnant with this great shot of someone throwing up in the toilet panning up to show 2003 iPhone Sophie's doing the same thing. She's Pregante. Okay, I think we know what that means.

It's the parallels, babe. It's mother-daughter duality. Also, oh my god, the way she's got her hands all over that disgusting toilet. Then Sophie runs off and tells Skye that she's pregnant just based off that.

Okay, everyone prepare yourselves because this is where the movie gets amazing. Cher turns up in a helicopter with this James Bond-esque variation of the Money Money Money Instrumental I could not believe it. Well, technically no one should believe it Because Donna's mother is supposed to be dead.

Wagon wheel, what else is? You weren't invited. That's the best kind of party, little girl. She looks so good here.

Like it's almost funny how good she looks. Her hair's also kind of giving Storm from X-Men 97. I've decided to commit to being a grandmother. Everything Cher does in the 10 minutes that she's in this movie is amazing.

You know, so being a grudge holder makes you fat. This joke right here. actually made me pause the movie and laugh because it's so silly. Me stepping out to becoming a good grandmother.

A great grandmother. Thank you. Then Sophie sings with the Dynamos while 1979 Donna has her baby and X-Men Storm Cher recognises Señor Cienfuegos as her old flame Fernando, says, Fernando! And then immediately starts singing Fernando. Fernando?

Can you hear the drums from that door? Also it's so funny to me that Cher is Meryl Streep's mother in this movie, but they're three years apart in real life. Sophie has her baby, Tanya meets Senor Cienfuegos brother. Oh god I hope his wife is dead. Then the baby gets christened at the same time 1980 Donna christened Sophie, and Meryl turns up.

And gasp! Can you- I literally felt like this. Ghost Meryl just turns up and serves vocals with Amanda Seyfried like it's nothing. In the mirror of your eyes, I love my life. The last 10 minutes of this movie is so iconic.

It just reiterates to me how flop all the prequel stuff in the first 80% of the movie is. If I wasn't scared to post written letterboxd reviews right now, I'd say Not good and then amazing. My opinion is that this movie needed more Meryl and more Cher.

And that's just that. Ghost Meryl leaves the church. End of movie.

Suddenly Cher is singing Super Trooper in character for no reason. And I'm having the time of my life. And everyone's dancing and singing with the younger versions of themselves.

It's giving dark. Do we know that reference? So even though Meryl doesn't do sequels, she popped in for the last five minutes of this one.

Apparently because she had so much fun filming the first Mamma Mia. Another win for Streep Nation. I think it's very clear that even though this movie is fun, it's nowhere near as good as the first one. And that's okay. As far as sequels go, it's not bad.

Also, maybe my perspective is warped because I've watched them multiple times in repeat succession. So I'm sort of actively seeing these timeline errors. Maybe if you haven't seen the first movie in 10 years and you watch this one, you'd be like, oh my God, this is the best thing ever. Interestingly, there's also recently been discussion of a Mamma Mia 3. Christine Baranski said in August this year that it's in the works.

Meryl said in May that she's having a meeting about Donna coming back somehow in a third film. And Amanda Seyfried mentioned wanting Sabrina Carpenter to play her daughter. Judy Kramer said in 2020 that this was always meant to be a trilogy.

Was it? Let me just say there's a phenomenon where if I talk about a movie that's not new, like an older movie, within the next six months there will be some sort of official announcement about the next installment. It's happened like five, six times.

Mark my words, they will say something about Mamma Mia. I wonder how Donna's hotel is faring in the threequel. Now that Sophie's reopened it and it's looking glamorous, she's going to need a good website. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace gives people a powerful and stylish online platform from which you can build your own website.

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Transcript for:Exploring the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe

Transcript for:
Exploring the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe