Mamma Mia! Blu-ray Review

"Mamma Mia!" arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer framed at the theatrically correct 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The source material is impeccably clean, devoid of any scratches, pops, or dirt. Black levels are solid, offering commendable shadow detail which is crucial for the film's sunlit settings. Nonetheless, night scenes suffer from an odd flatness which detracts from overall depth. The bright daylight exteriors gain from heightened contrast and considerable depth, though these positives are undermined by oversaturated colors resulting in an unnatural appearance, particularly with waxy-looking skin tones.

The transfer authentically mirrors the theatrical experience, albeit with mixed results. The blue-screen backdrops used in the studio-filmed scenes on an English set are considerably detrimental to the visual quality, manifesting as slightly out-of-focus imagery and an overall fuzzy effect. In contrast, the on-location shots exhibit sharper detail and more natural color rendering. Despite inherent stylistic choices that may not appeal to all viewers, the transfer itself is technically proficient, devoid of artifacts, and precise in reproducing the film’s intended look.

While certainly not a reference-quality disc, this Blu-ray presentation captures "Mamma Mia!" faithfully, warts and all. It delivers a robust encode that highlights both the strengths and weaknesses intrinsic to the film’s production choices. Despite its flaws, viewers can expect a visually authentic replication of how this musical was originally shot and seen in theaters.

Universal's Blu-ray release of "Mamma Mia!" features an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, operating at 48kHz/24-bit. Unfortunately, despite its technical prowess, the audio presentation falls short in several key areas. The integration and use of the surround sound channels are minimal, leading to a front-heavy soundstage devoid of immersive envelopment. The rear channels are underutilized, resulting in a mix that feels compartmentalized, with an evident disconnection between the front and rear sound fields.

The bass performance has been notably enhanced compared to the original cinema release, providing tighter and more articulate low-end frequencies. However, the overall clarity of the soundtrack is somewhat compromised. The music often presents a muddled effect, lacking the crispness found in the original ABBA recordings and their recent CD remasters. While the low bass and upper frequency ranges demonstrate decent spatial depth, the midrange appears recessed and veiled, contributing to a manufactured rather than natural sound.

Dialogue placement is precise within the center channel, yet the cohesiveness between vocals and musical elements is problematic. Studio-recorded vocals often feel isolated from the instrumental score, creating a disjointed auditory experience. Additionally, ADR dialog does not seamlessly blend into the overall mix, further detracting from the natural feel of the audio. Despite these shortcomings, the track still provides technical reliability, but it ultimately delivers a surprisingly lifeless audio experience for a musical production of this caliber.

The Blu-ray release of "Mamma Mia!" comes with an extensive collection of extras that, while somewhat overly sweet, offer a comprehensive glimpse behind the scenes. The audio commentary by director Phyllida Lloyd stands out, although her solo narration can be slow at times. Lloyd’s dedication to the project is evident as she discusses various production decisions, including the choice to shoot on soundstages, voice rehearsals, and collaborating with ABBA’s Bjorn and Benny. The featurettes cover a range of content from the making-of documentary to short insights into specific musical numbers. While some extras provide fascinating tidbits, such as the original musicians recording sessions in "Becoming a Singer," others like "A Look Inside Mamma Mia!" feel too brief. The BD-Live features, such as the innovative My Movie Commentary, also add unique interactive options.

Extras included in this disc:

• Audio Commentary: Director Phyllida Lloyd solo track.
• The Making of Mamma Mia!: Condensed behind-the-scenes featurette.
• Becoming a Singer: Original musicians' return and vocal rehearsals.
• Anatomy of a Musical Number: Dissection of Lay All Your Love on Me.
• A Look Inside Mamma Mia!: Brief look at ABBA and the musical's inception.
• Deleted Scenes: Approximately six cut scenes and outtakes.
• Music Video: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! creative take-off.
• U-Control: Picture in Picture/Behind the Hits: Interactive feature.
• BD-Live: Options for scene sharing, chat, and recording video commentary.

Mamma Mia! seems like it should have been a disaster, and indeed many would say it was. However, I am not one of these. I found the movie surprisingly enjoyable and moving, which integrated the source songs well in order to tell its story. It may be slightly amateurish in places, but this adds to the charm of the film. The actors are having fun, and despite some poor directorial choices the film is still very enjoyable. I must give credit (or curses) where credit is due. The music of ABBA has grown on me over the years thanks to my best friend Eric (who by the way is Swedish!). He is an ABBA addict who plays ABBA at every holiday gathering we have had for years. He taught me the name ABBA represents the first letters of all the group members names, something I never knew before (thanks Errr!). At first I thought ABBA had to be the corniest music ever created, but as I have listened to it over the years; I have grown to enjoy the catchy lyrics, and clever toe tapping qualities of their music. While Mamma Mia is not the first movie to utilize the music of ABBA (Priscilla Queen of the Desert used a few ABBA tunes), it is probably the first movie to use the music of ABBA as the foundation of a storyline for an entire movie. It is about time, as I think ABBA's music lends itself well to theatrical productions, and Mamma Mia as a stage play, and now a movie proves this. The music is easy, accessible, seems timeless, and now introduced to another generation via the stage play and this movie.

I read recently that Universal is considering a sequel to Mamma Mia. I can see why they would consider it. Mamma Mia had a budget of $52 million dollars, but had world wide gross revenue of $580 million dollars, making it the highest grossing musical of all time. In the United Kingdom, Mamma Mia is the highest grossing film of all time. With the Broadway play Mamma Mia still making its rounds in playhouses all over the world, Mamma Mia has turned into a genuine phenomenon. Now this is not to say Mamma Mia is a well made movie, it really isn't. It certainly is not up to the quality of the excellent Hairspray movie, but certainly better than the Producers when we talk about stage plays transformed into movies. The choreography is quite frankly horrible and corny, the acting at times overdone, the singing doesn't come close to looking live produced, or even sounding that way. The staging of mass dancers is extremely poor, as it looks like the director told them to jump and wave their hands, and she would take care of the rest. Instead of filming the entire production on location, they chose to do most of the filming on a sound stage in front of blue screens, which makes everything look slightly fuzzy. The singing is absolutely dreadful with the exception of Sophie's, which isn't bad at all. This movie is campy, cheesy, amateurish, and looks like ABBA music slid in between a paper thin narrative called a story line. In spite of all this, the entertainment factor trumps all of these issues, and helps you ignore them in real time as the movie plays out. I actually enjoyed the movie despite its drawbacks, drawbacks that I don't think the public really even cared about.

Mamma Mia begins in a remote Aegean island hotel, the Villa Donna run by Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep), her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), and Sophie's future husband Sky (Dominic Cooper). Sophie is about to get married and decides to send out three invitations to men she believes could be her father. When Sophie best friends and bridesmaids Ali (Ashley Lilley) and Lisa (Rachel McDowall) show up, she shares the fact she found her mother's diary and it reveals three men who could be her potential father. She believes that if she just spent a little time with each of them, she would know which man is her father.

Sam, Bill and Harry head to the island, but Sam and Harry missed the ferry to Skopelos, so Bill offers to ferry them to the island on his yacht. When they arrive Sophie hurriedly shuttles them off to their quarters, and tells them she invited them to her wedding, not her mother. When Donna eventually sees the three men, she insists they cannot stay. Upset, Donna goes to her friends Tanya and Rosie and tells them her secret. At Sophie's bachelorette party, her mother decides to do a special one night performance of Donna and the Dynamos. The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Sam, Bill and Harry. She plots to get each one alone so she could talk to them. After doing so, she believes that Bill is the man. However when Sam and Harry tells her that they are her father, she cannot bring herself to tell them the truth, so she passes out. The next morning Rosie and Tanya assure Donna that they will take care of the men, while Donna confronts Sophie in the courtyard believing that she wants the wedding called off. Is the wedding going to happen? Will Donna fess up? Who is really going to get married? It may be uncool, but I will happily go on record saying that I like ABBA. The superswedes have concocted some great -- no, make that brilliant -- pop songs that have stood the test of time. They may have once been the '70s answer to Celine Dion (i.e., had a hip quotient of negative ten), but now it's impossible to hear classics like Dancing Queen, SOS, or Waterloo and not admire their craftsmanship, exuberance and sheer pop-ability. Yet, at the same time, there has always been a theatrical quality to ABBA's music that went unnoticed by most critics and even their ardent fans. Which is why I, for one, was not surprised when the band's catalogue of songs were used as the basis for an eventual smash stage musical, Mamma Mia! In hindsight it all seems obvious, a natural progression for a band whose sticky 'n' sweet pop concoctions could now easily serve as a threadbare narrative for an even more saccharine, family-friend musical theater extravaganza. With the Mamma Mia! gravy train still running strong on Broadway and throughout the world, it was only a matter of time before the musical would be turned into a movie. But unlike musicals-to-movies before it that flopped (the dreadful 'The Producers' comes to mind), the big-screen version of 'Mamma Mia!' has become a true cinematic phenomenon, a movie that has grossed nearly $600 million worldwide (and counting) and once again brought ABBA's music to a whole new generation of fans. Unfortunately, unlike superior musical-to-movies like 'Hairspray,' 'Mamma Mia!' is a pretty darn awful film -- an incompetent mess that left me in awe of its absolute ineptitude. First, the plot. Cute little Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) lives on an isolated island with her ex-hippie mother Donna (Meryl Streep), who runs a quaint little bed and breakfast for tourists. Though Sophie is about to be married to a local stud muffin (Dominic Cooper), she's been wrecked with heartache over the absence of her father, whose identity Donna has always kept hidden. So Sophie hatches a plan: since Donna was a big ho in her youth, Sophie invites the three most likely culprits (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgaard, and Colin Firth) to her wedding, hoping that eventually one of them will reveal himself to be dear old dad. Along the way, a host of supporting players (including Donna's aging--

Mamma Mia! delivers an unexpected blend of charm and chaos that manages to amuse despite its glaring flaws. Embedded with ABBA’s irresistibly catchy tunes and driven by spirited performances from Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried among others, it’s an unabashedly joyous tribute that conceals its amateurish edges with infectious energy. The sometimes clumsy integration of songs into plot points only enhances its camp appeal—what it lacks in technical finesse it redeems through sheer exuberance.

The film’s drawbacks are apparent yet don’t overshadow its appeal; from poor choreography that's distracting at best, non-live-sounding singing significantly by Pierce Brosnan who seems out of his depth warbling ‘SOS’, these deficiencies morph into quaint endearments rather than critical deal-breakers amidst an audience eager for levity. Though critical acclaim eludes Mamma Mia!, its substantial box office success highlights that theatricality paired with nostalgia-driven music resonates globally—proving that sometimes entertainment value supersedes technical precision.

Set against idyllic yet occasionally visibly artificial backdrops due to overreliance on blue screen sections rather than authentic Grecian landscapes detracts minimally thanks largely in part to its magnetic soundtrack which ultimately conspires effectively drawing viewers swiftly past any visible shortcomings towards narrative coherence—even amid evident amateur-hour moments during large ensemble numbers feeling more spontaneous than staged - ultimately ensuring repeated joyous revisits rather than serious critique sessions.

The Blu-ray release of "Mamma Mia!" presents a mixed yet overall pleasing package for fans of the film. The picture quality remains faithful to the original theatrical presentation, providing viewers with a vibrant visual experience, though it does not achieve the pinnacle of high-definition transfers available in the market. The audio mix, while competently executed, falls short of being truly immersive, yet it adequately supports the film's lively soundtrack. The disc's array of bonus content is extensive and includes various featurettes, though they generally lack in-depth exploration.

For those with an affinity for ABBA's music, this disc holds significant appeal. The joyous performances of the musical numbers are a major draw despite some shortcomings in vocal execution. While the film's story and choreography may be perceived as lackluster by some, the combination of well-known ABBA hits and the infectious energy of the cast offer an entertaining experience that transcends its flaws. Thus, the Blu-ray serves as an excellent choice for enthusiasts of the musical genre and fans of ABBA alike.

In conclusion, the Blu-ray disc of "Mamma Mia!" may not boast the highest technical achievements in terms of video and audio quality, but it stands as a respectable presentation of a beloved feel-good film. Its assortment of extras adds value, even if they lack substantial depth. Ultimately, the disc does justice to the movie, capturing its spirited essence and making it a worthwhile addition to any collection, particularly for those who cherish ABBA's timeless music and are looking for a family-friendly viewing option that can be enjoyed repeatedly.