YMMV / Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

• Adorkable: Young Harry is a socially awkward, earnest little dweeb, and it's impossible not to love him for it (much of it is helped by Hugh Skinner's portrayal of the character). Highlights include explaining, in great detail, how he plans to "stealthily" hold Donna's hand to Donna, and serenading her with "Waterloo."
• Awesome Music: Like the first film, there are some memorable songs to be heard. "Waterloo" and "Fernando" comes to mind.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Tanya's response to seeing Fernando's gorgeous brother.
  Tanya: Oh, God, I hope his wife's dead.
• Even Better Sequel: If the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are to be believed, the Google audience scores are 87% and 89%. The critics on the other hand, the first film got a 55% on the site. The sequel? 79%!
• Harsher in Hindsight: When Sam proposed to Donna, he said, "It's only for the rest of your life." Unfortunately, "the rest" didn't turn out to be very long.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This fanmade video from 2013, which splices footage from Les Miserables with the trailer for the first Mamma Mia, casts Joly, played by Hugh Skinner, as Harry. Four years later, Skinner himself was confirmed to be portraying the young Harry.
• Ho Yay:
  • Bill and Harry during Dancing Queen.
  • Donna kissing her female teacher during a performance of the gender-swapped When I Kissed the Teacher.
• Narm Charm: Just like the first, the movie knows what it's about. It doesn't try to pretend it's not over-the-top and silly, and it's a better movie for it. "Waterloo" and "Super Trouper" in particular are made of nothing but this trope and they work beautifully.
• One-Scene Wonder: Streep appears in only one scene, but damn, does she make it count. Her duet with Sophie is often regarded as one of the best scenes in the film.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The first film only received 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it a "rotten" film over there. This film, however, managed to receive a 79% Certified Fresh rating.
  Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again doubles down on just about everything fans loved about the original – and my my, how can fans resist it?
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Donna's mother Ruby appears in the third act to attempt a redemption arc for kicking Donna to to the curb in the first film's backstory. This raises the question of why the scenes set in the past omit that element of the story, jumping from Donna's realization that she's pregnant to Sophie's birth, when including a more fleshed-out version could have added more poignancy to Ruby's newfound commitment to supporting her family. Though acknowledging this aspect of her backstory could have made Ruby too unsympathetic to serve as comic relief. Additionally, the film also seems to softly retcon elements of the original backstory, implying Donna simply chose to stay on Kalokairi rather than try to return home.

---