“Waterloo,” performed in a Napoleon-themed French restaurant by young Harry and Donna, is a big delight, and it’s no surprise that the most infectious earworms are reprises of the title song, this time with Donna performing on a rinky-dink stage at a Greek tavern with her Dynamos, and “Dancing Queen,” an unabashedly crowd-pleasing sing-along and dance party down to the dock to greet some incoming ships. While some of the deep-cut covers (“One of Us” and “Why Did It Have To Be Me?”) are only passable and sometimes even insipid, the placement of the songs don't feel as shoehorned into the narrative as some did in the first film and serve more of a purpose to the context of the story. There are easy standouts, like young Donna breaking out into the lively “When I Kissed the Teacher” with her two pals on the graduation stage and “Angeleyes,” as older Tanya and Rosie lead Sophie in the number in the hotel courtyard. Just hearing a collection of ABBA songs and surrendering to their energy is the “name of the game,” but because “Mamma Mia!” already covered the Swedes' catchiest and most recognizable hits, that leaves “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” to run through a lot of second-tier, B-side tracks. Back in the present, Sophie’s one father, Sam (Pierce Brosnan), is already on the island, helping her with the grand opening, while her other fathers, Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), are on their way because they wouldn’t miss it for the world.
![onchao and flair can talk mia and me rainbow island onchao and flair can talk mia and me rainbow island](https://img.sharetv.com/shows/episodes/standard/1110163.jpg)
In flashbacks, Donna (Lily James) sets out on a spontaneous adventure, which takes her to Paris, where she meets British virgin Harry (Hugh Skinner), and then Greece, where she meets Swedish sailor Bill (Josh Dylan) and Irish-American architect Sam (Jeremy Irvine). When Donna’s closest friends and former musical Dynamos, Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters), arrive to the island to support Sophie, they reminisce back to when Donna was an Oxford University graduate in 1979. Sophie has enough on her plate, but she and husband Sky (Dominic Cooper) have hit a rough patch, with him being in New York and contemplating taking a hotel managing position.
![onchao and flair can talk mia and me rainbow island onchao and flair can talk mia and me rainbow island](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ed/f8/b5/edf8b5f790e12c695b020b470698bcb5.jpg)
The free-spirited, overall-rocking Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) might have died a year ago, but on the Greek island of Kalokairi, daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is preparing to re-open her mother’s inn, now calling it the Hotel Bella Donna in her honor.