Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs
3. The Godfather-Inspired Plot Structure
The narrative structure for this movie earned many pre-release comparisons to The Godfather Part II, which famously peppers its story with flashbacks to the younger life of Vito Corleone, as performed by an Oscar-winning Robert De Niro.
Here We Go Again similarly cuts indiscriminately between the present day, where Sophie (Seyfried) is planning a grand opening for her mother's hotel, and the circumstances that led to a free-spirited Donna eventually falling pregnant with her.
It's a neat trick which helps the movie generally keep up a decent pace despite its overt length, and by spreading the cast over two time periods, things don't ever get too cluttered for their own good.
While it's obviously not a patch on the aforementioned gangster classic, there are clearly far worse things to take inspiration from and be compared to.