Mom and dads

It8217;s the story of a bride-to-be trying to find her father on the eve of her wedding, set against the backdrop of an idyllic Greek island, and using hit songs by ABBA. The film uses a screenplay that has already proved successful in a musical by the same name. And from the high points to the low, Mamma Mia! Doesn8217;t strike a wrong note.

The hotel that Meryl Streep8217;s Donna runs may be out of a Hallmark romantic card, her daughter just rightly tanned, her future son-in-law a veritable Adonis, and the story unabashedly contrived, but everything is forgotten and forgiven as the music rolls and washes over you. The best example perhaps is Dancing Queen, which has the whole island tapping.

And isn8217;t it nice that the lead actors are all of the age that ABBA group members would be now? Music has no age, and here is a perfect example.

There have been complaints about the girls in the film having just too much fun, but hey it8217;s two days in a lifetime of raising a kid alone! And on the eve of a wedding! Give them a break.

Leading from the front in this joyride is Streep, as the former wild pop star who is now the owner of a rundown hotel, and who is afraid of what her daughter will think if she finds out that her mother doesn8217;t know her real father. Pierce Brosnan as Sam, Colin Firth as Harry and Stellan Skarsgard as Bill 8211; who could all be the prospective fathers 8211; are also charming as three men chastised in middle-age.

However, the person who really charms your heart is Julie Walters as Streep8217;s friend Rosie, another former wild musician turned dotty writer. She knows her mind, and speaks it too. Not for nothing does she get the song Take a chance on me. In the end, that8217;s what Phillipa Lloyd8217;s Mamma Mia! is about.