Why I don't like Mamma Mia!

With the release of the new Mamma Mia! 2 trailer, the anticipation for the movie has grown quite a bit and as someone who dislikes the musical in a whole, and even more so the movie, I can't say I'm too happy about it.  I've gotten a few comments from people telling me that I shouldn't hate on Mamma Mia!, but I do and I have my reasons to hate it.  I figure it's time I list my reasons for disliking Mamma Mia! again so that everyone knows.

1. As someone who is very against changing the ABBA songs in anyway (I'm always looking for accuracy in everything, like the way tribute bands sing the songs as well as how accurate their costumes are, but you all know how I feel about that!), I was quite upset when I learned that in Mamma Mia! the musical, they changed the lyrics to a lot of the songs.  For example, in the song I Do x 5, they say "Say I do" instead of "I love you" and that just gets on my nerves.  Also in Mamma Mia, they sing "I was cheated by you and I think you know when" instead of "I've been cheated by you since I don't know when."  And then there's Under Attack from the musical not the movie, where they changed several verses.  Basically I am very against changing the lyrics, and I could be wrong, but I may have read/watched an interview where Bjorn said that he wasn't happy that they changed the lyrics. :)

2. The whole plot of the musical is really weird.  It's about a woman who had multiple incidents with men one after the other and so the girl doesn't know who her real father is because of that.  Yes, the whole thing about Sophie wanting to invite her father to her wedding and so she invites all three of them is pretty sweet, I will admit that, but it shows that Donna is a really weird woman.  Maybe in the sequel they're going to try and justify her acts, but still.

3. In Mamma Mia! the movie, I am absolutely horrified by how untalented a lot of the people they chose are at singing.  Pierce Brosnan's singing is atrocious, Meryl Streep can't sing a steady note, and everyone sounds like they have autotune there to help them out.  I understand, they're no Agnetha and Frida, but they couldn't at least chosen some people who can actually sing.  I'm sure the actors in the film are good at acting, since that is what they are, but they're not singers.

4. From what I can tell since I have not (and probably will not) watched Mamma Mia! the musical or the movie, Donna and the Dynamos perform a lot of their hit songs that presumable they wrote.  Um, why can't it be that they're just performing ABBA's hit songs?  Why can't they just be really big ABBA fans who like to break into ABBA songs at random moments as they plan for Sophie's wedding?  :P  I hardly believe that Donna and her friends are capable of writing songs like Super Trouper and Dancing Queen.  But since I haven't watched it, there's a chance I'm wrong about this and that they really are just big ABBA fans who performed their hit songs in their band.

5. The costumes.  I have no idea what these costumes are supposed to be, since I am pretty sure that people in the 70s did not dress this outrageous.  Sure there are some outrageous costumes from that time period, but this is 100 times crazier.  Compare them to Agnetha and Frida's outfits from 1974-75.  Agnetha and Frida's outfits were pretty interesting for the time, with satin capes with floofy stuff on the edges, a paneled skater skirt, layers of gathered frills at the bottom of the jumpsuit, and knee high boots, but notice how simple the colors are and how normal they look compared to the Mamma Mia! costumes.

 I also don't like how when you look for ABBA costumes, you're ultimately going to find Mamma Mia! costumes among the results, and these costumes are definitely not ABBA costumes.  Maybe they're inspired slightly, but they are so exaggerated, they are 100% not ABBA costumes.

I understand that Mamma Mia! introduced ABBA to a lot of people and helped grow ABBA's fan base quite a bit in modern times, and I know a lot of people who only became ABBA fans because of Mamma Mia!, but not all ABBA fans have to be fans of Mamma Mia! and are absolutely allowed to dislike it, just like myself.  So please don't go telling me that I shouldn't hate Mamma Mia!, because I do and these reasons are exactly why.