★★★★☆
The first thing that hits you is the brazen cheek. A movie that’s a relaunch of the Mamma Mia! phenomenon is sold as a movie about the relaunch of the Mamma Mia! phenomenon? Yes, the invites are handed out in the opening scene, and they talk about marketing and media coverage as the “Villa Donna” — the sleepy Greek guest house run by Meryl Streep’s all-singing, all-stomping Donna in the wildly successful 2008 original — is rebranded and repackaged as the “Hotel Bella Donna”, and prepared for its “grand reopening”. No one actually walks into frame and says, “It’s because this is the sequel!” but, you know, we get it.
Within seconds, alas, the suspicion that this might be a tacky Hollywood cash-grab appears