'MAMMA MIA! THE MOVIE'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

You can dance, you can ji-ive, having the time of your life ... and now you can sing, as ably or off-key as you like, to "Mamma Mia!" If Pierce Brosnan can croon, badly, on screen, you can warble in the privacy of your family room, thanks to a sing-along option on the DVD of this blockbuster.

If you trigger that option on the disc -- on either the single or double-disc set -- you find a see-through strip across the bottom. The lyrics appear in blue and turn gold as they're sung and, perhaps knowing some baby-boomers might be watching, they are in big, clear type.

"Mamma Mia" is a film version of the stage musical about an independent single mother and owner of a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island. Her daughter is about to wed and wants an answer to the question, "Who's my daddy?" She secretly invites three men who were her mother's paramours at the right time.

Meryl Streep, again proving she can do anything, is the free-spirited mother, golden-throated Amanda Seyfried is her daughter and the long-ago boyfriends are Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard. Cast also includes Dominic Cooper as the fiance and Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as Meryl's best friends.

In the grand scheme of movies, "Mamma Mia!" doesn't deserve a slot on anyone's Top 10 list for 2008, but it's sure a lot of fun. Its ABBA songs, such as "Dancing Queen, "S.O.S.," "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me," are joyous and addictive.

The two-disc set includes deleted scenes, which flow from one to the next and mainly show Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard preparing to leave for their trips to Greece; a making-of featurette; anatomy of the musical number "Lay All Your Love on Me" in which Seyfried talks about how chilly and windy it was on the beach and a choreographer discusses picking the dancers who hop around on flippers and pop out of the water; and a look at the actors turned singers.

Skarsgard told his agent he couldn't sing, until he learned the skill was needed for "Mamma Mia!" and then he could. Brosnan said, "Before I knew it, I was in the booth and I was singing. I wasn't alone because I had Stellan and I had Colin right there, equally terrified."

The one-time James Bond adds, "So you record the songs and that's one terror and then comes the day when you have to sing the songs in front of 200 people. I just surrendered to the experience." And now you can, too.

Movie is rated PG-13 for some sex-related comments. Single disc has suggested price of $29.98, two-disc, $34.98, with Blu-ray $39.98.

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