On a Greek island, a young 20-year-old woman named Sophie is excited to get married. However, she doesn’t have a father around.

But with the help of her mom’s diary, she finds 3 possible men who could be her dad. Their names are Sam, Bill, and Harry. Desperate to follow the tradition of having her father walk her down the aisle at her wedding, she invites all 3 guys.

Her 2 friends, Ali and Lisa, who are also going to be her bridesmaids, worry that Sophie’s mom will find out and get angry – especially because she used her mother’s name, Donna. But Sophie assures them that everything will be fine.

Sometime later, the 3 men Sophie invited are on their way to the island and are confused. Once they meet her, she tries to hide them from her mom.

Yet her mother, Donna, sees one of them, and is shocked. At some point, she sees the other 2 guys. All of them promised Sophie that they wouldn’t tell Donna that her daughter invited them. So, they each make up a reason for why they are there.

Sadly, Donna doesn’t want them at the hotel. So they get back on their boat and begin to leave.

But Sophie catches them just in time and swims up to the boat. The men end up telling her about the good times they had with Donna when they were young.

Later Sophie returns to the island and comes across her fiance, Sky. She tells him her plan, which does not result very well.

That night, Sophie and her female guests are having a bachelorette party, hosted by  Donna, and her friends, Rosie and Tanya. During it, the three possible fathers sneak in.

Sophie asks each of them the same questions. Their answers are pretty much all alike. Sophie still can’t figure out which one is her biological dad.

The next morning, everyone is getting ready for the wedding. But stakes are beginning to rise between Sophie and her mom as well as Sky.

Sophie is mad that her mother hid her father’s existence throughout her life. When Sophie asks Sky for help, he gets angry since she hid important details from him, such as inviting her possible fathers.

Donna admits to Sophie that her mother disowned her after getting pregnant. But she tells Sophie that she is happy to have her as a daughter.

She helps Sophie get ready for her wedding. But there are still many things that Sophie wants to resolve. Can she?

Despite receiving mostly mixed reviews from both critics and the general public, this movie kept me engaged all the way through. One of the biggest reasons is because it’s a musical with lots of songs. And they were all made by the Swedish music group, ABBA. That’s a unique feature of this musical, compared to others.

You probably know that this was also a Broadway show. I saw it as a teenager and enjoyed it. Of course, some changes were made for the film.

But one change that displeased me was cutting the song, “Thank You For the Music,” because I really like it. Nevertheless, I moved past that.

Some parts were also a little confusing. I will admit that I found out certain details and answers to this movie on Wikipedia. I wish they had been made clearer in the actual film.

Otherwise, there were a lot of strengths. Aside from the musical numbers, the pacing was also fast. It made the movie feel like it was going by in a breeze.

The casting choices were also interesting. A good percentage of the actors were British, including the ones playing Sky and the ladies portraying Ali and Lisa. Amanda Seyfried, who depicted Sophie, is American. So is Meryl Streep, who was Donna.

It’s not unusual for British actors to play characters of other European nationalities, such as French or German. So, at some point during this movie, I no longer felt surprised by the number of actors from the UK.

The character development was strong, although there were so many characters. But that’s okay, because most of them had unique traits and distinct features and personalities.

I admired Sophie’s relationship with her mom and possible dads. I also liked how Donna interacted with Rosie and Tanya. They were all sweet.

As usual, there were a lot of twists and turns. See the film to find out what they are.

Overall, I enjoyed Mamma Mia! It was a fun movie with great musical numbers and a strong concept.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.