This exuberant sequel to 2008's blockbuster movie musical finds super troupers Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and co reprising their roles
This exuberant sequel to 2008's blockbuster movie musical finds super troupers Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and co reprising their roles.
However, with the new film going back and forth in time, there's a fresh crop of faces as well. Lily James plays the younger incarnation of Streep's free-spirited Donna. As we accompany her on a dizzy post-graduation jaunt from 1979 Oxford via Paris to the Greek island of Kalokairi, we witness the romantic flings that led to all that paternity confusion last time around - with Hugh Skinner, Josh Dylan and Jeremy Irvine playing the younger versions of her three suitors.
Meanwhile, back in the early 2000s, Donna's winsome daughter Sophie (Seyfried) is preparing to re-open the island's hotel in honour of her late mother.
Some of the ABBA songs may not be quite so well known this time round, but director Ol Parker ensures that everything is as cheekily enjoyable as before.
His cast have a blast, too. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters are on song again as Donna's wisecracking friends and Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies prove a good fit as their younger selves, while James lights up the screen with her incandescent charisma and even manages to rock gold lamé platform boots and ruffled bell-bottoms.
Only one thing could make the film even more sparkily camp - and, sure enough, Cher turns up as Sophie's glam grandmother Ruby in time for the glittering finale.
