Mamma Mia!

This evening, I saw Mamma Mia! for the 2-1/2 time. The first time was at the Turmpalast, a movie theater in Frankfurt that shows films in their original versions (i.e. original language or o.v.). When I first walked into the room showing Mamma Mia!, I laughed. There were maybe 100 seats and the screen was maybe 8 feet long and 3 feet high. I have seen bigger screens in friends' homes back in Atlanta. A bit of a disappoint to be sure, but once the film began, I forgot about the screen size and enjoyed the movie, especially because it featured my fave Colin Firth, who is good no matter the film, or the nature of his character (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The 1/2 time was a few weeks ago when our local theatre was showing Mamma Mia! in o.v., but only two times. The kids are familiar with some of ABBA's music and I thought they would like this little school-night surprise. David met us for a quick dinner at McDonald's and then we went to see the movie right next door. We were put into the wrong room at first (it was packed) and boy, were we surprised when the actors started speaking German! We hightailed it out of there and found the correct room. In the o.v., the dialogue is dubbed into German, but the songs are in their original English with German subtitles.

It didn't take long for dear, sweet Rebecca to decide that she wasn't all that interested in Mamma Mia!, no matter how cute Colin Firth was. We were in the back row, but her jumping from seat to seat and my hissing at her to behave were starting to bother the 10 or so other audience members, so, Rebecca and I left.

The next time was tonight. Feeling quite cheated after the previous viewing, I invited our neighbor Anne to join me, this time to see the German version. She asked, "But will you be OK seeing it in German?" I answered, "Well, I've seen it before so I know the story, and they break out into song every 5 minutes. Yeah, I'll be OK."

While we were waiting for the the film to start, I laughingly told Anne about the tiny screen at the Turmpalast. Her eyebrows rose and she said, "But that was how all movie theaters were when I was growing up! These huge screens are pretty recent." Oops. Definitely felt like a spoiled American.

The film was great, even in German, but I think I can now wait for the DVD to see it again.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Colin Firth, and enjoy smart dialogue and a strong female lead character, do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy of Pride and Prejudice (1995). Your life will never be the same.