Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Here we go again indeed. Everybody’s back, with new faces including Cher as Amanda Seyfried’s absentee grandmother and Andy Garcia as the manager of the hotel she’s building on that Greek island. Meryl Streep’s character has died and appears only in a ghostly cameo. In flashbacks, Lily James plays her younger self, with Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies as younger Christine Baranski and Julie Walters (all good matches). Never mind the story, the ABBA songs are the point, and they’re as irresistible as ever, well-delivered with clever transitions and spirited choreography to cover the fact that songs are shoe-horned in where they don’t always fit. As with Mamma Mia 1, the best number is under the closing credits, but this time people will stay to see it: a full-cast curtain call to “Super Trouper.”