Marcus Theater’s screening of “Mamma Mia” and “Mamma Mia 2” was not a success in the box office. This past summer, “Mamma Mia 2” was finally released after the original “Mamma Mia.”

The first film left off with Meryl Streep who played Donna, getting married to Hilton McRae who was played by, Sam Carmichael. Five years later, Donna’s daughter Sophie played by Amanda Seyfried, is having a baby with her boyfriend Sky, played by Dominic Cooper. It is not a question that Donna has passed away, but in the film, Sam who is played by Pierce Brosnan, Sophie’s father, steps up as a role in Sophie’s life as she prepares for the baby.

The viewers were shocked when they found out that Meryl Streep was not going to be in the second movie. It was a huge disappointment to Streep’s fans and “Mamma Mia.”

With Streep gone, the vibe that was in the first movie was not there. Junior Aleja Longtin said, “I feel like it wasn’t the same without her.”

The movie production was not as well put together as the first. Usually the first movie in a sequel is the best, and in this case, it was. In the second film, they changed who played the three young males. Hugh Skinner played Harry, Josh Dylan played Bill and Jeremy Irvine played Sam.

“The characters were different, it did not end up the way she wanted it to be,” junior Dasha McGee said.

Also, there were different actors than in the last movie. As said before the young versions of the potential fathers, Colin Firth who plays Harry, Stellan Skarsgard who plays Bill and Pierce Brosnan who plays Sam, were changed to different actors.

Longtin said, “People were different, they were not the same as the first movie.” In the first movie the young male actors were different it confused her.

Another problem the second film had was too many flashbacks. The flashbacks were confusing so it was hard to keep up with the plot.

“They kept on switching off from the past to the present and it was just confusing,” McGee said.

The movie was fast-paced and overpowering. It did not leave a lot of room to process what was happening. The characters seemed out of place and were not in the right era.

Longtin said, “The actors, they could have taken more time with them, it felt as though they were rushing.” The movie was all over the place, so it was hard to keep up.

People go to watch movies for fun, entertainment and favorite actors. Without Meryl Streep in the second movie, people go for the music. Abba, a British music group, was used for both movies, but they failed too.

“But nearly every performance is utterly joyless,” said by Kristen Paige-Kirby, an Express Senior Arts Writer from the Washington Post.

The music in the second movie was not as relatable to the plot as the first movie was. It was just plain sad to hear and watch the Abba songs not really make a connection to the audience as it did the first, which is why it was never a good choice to have those songs in the second movie.

The first movie had flashbacks from the current time and going back to young Donna with her boyfriends, which was confusing enough, but the second movie was even more confusing. Not having Donna there, being dead, they still had flashbacks about Donna and that was just really weird. The audience thought she was dead, but then she was alive.

McGee said, “My cousin ended up seeing the movie and she said ‘it was weird.'” McGee proceeded to explain that the movie contradicted itself by having Donna in the movie and not in it at the same time.

There was not as much diversity in both the movies. In the first movie, there were seven more females who played in the cast than males. There were a lot more females in the movies, which caused Longtin to be a little skeptical towards the second movie.

The movie was very different from the first. It had different characters, songs that did not match the plot or the dances and the flashbacks were very confusing. It was not well put together as well as it should have been, it was childlike. The producers and editors should have fixed the movie or even looked over it if they wanted the best outcome.