Peacock is not the most successful streaming service, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a solid library of interesting content. That content includes plenty of original shows and movies but also some titles that are part of the archive.
If you’re looking for one such movie to check out in November, we’d recommend a sequel that is much better than it has any right to be. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is basically the definition of unnecessary, but that’s part of the reason it’s so excellent. Here are three reasons you should check it out this month.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
It adopts the structure of one of the all-time-great sequels
The first Mamma Mia tells a pretty self-contained story. It focuses on a young girl on the verge of getting married who wants to know who her real father is. Here We Go Again didn’t have any obvious ground to till, though, but it found a pretty great story to tell anyway.
The movie adopts the structure of The Godfather: Part II, splitting its time between a sequel to the first film and a prequel that tells the story of how Donna came to be pregnant in the first place. Adopting the structure of one of the greatest sequels ever made is a great place to start, and Here We Go Again ultimately feels like a radiantly optimistic version of one of the best sequels ever made. It didn’t win Best Picture, but it probably should have.
It features a radiant lead performance
Lily James is great in everything, but believe me when I tell you that few actresses have ever exuded more movie star charisma than she does as young Donna. James is given the unenviable task of stepping into Meryl Streep’s shoes, but she does so with aplomb, creating a version of Donna that feels so charismatic that you understand why every man she meets instantly falls in love with her.
It’s the kind of performance that relies almost entirely on radiant energy, and there are vanishingly few actors who could pull it off. Thankfully, James is among them.
The movie has beautifully staged musical numbers
The original Mamma Mia is very fun, but director Ol Parker brings infinitely more invention and life to the musical numbers in this sequel. The Waterloo sequence alone is worth celebrating, but every sequence features elaborate choreography that is beautifully shot and filled with color.
Mamma Mia is supposed to be fun, and the musical numbers in Here We Go Again are thrilling because they feel so inventive and because they feel totally unbeholden to any sort of preexisting structure. They just exist to be great.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is streaming on Peacock.
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