Emotion that starts with Meryl Streep [below] as Donna. Not only does she bring an honesty, sex appeal, depth and heart to the role, but she sings. And for those wondering, yes she sings very well too.

Donna's friends Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters), provide some wonderful comic relief without pushing into stupidity.

Strong perfomances by Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, and Colin Firth as the possible dads provide a solid supporting cast. They all sing pieces of songs, Brosnan and Firth, both solo on a couple of numbers, and while admittedly they're a bit wobbly as singers, they have the acting chops to pull it off.

The real breakout performance is Amanda Seyfried, as Sophie. It's not often we get to see an actor throw herself into a role with such unabashed freedom. She laughs with her girlfriends, cries with her mom, flirts with her fiancé, and sings numbers like 'The Name of the Game' with an excitement, joy and honesty that make her impossible not to watch.

Her scene with Meryl Streep singing 'Slipping Through My Fingers' rips your heart out - it's an intimate musical moment that has just the right touch.

The big musical numbers are fun too. 'Dancing Queen' starts with Streep, Baranski and Walters singing one of the numbers from their old musical act, and ends with a fantastic, everybody-on-stage sequence, [above] where the residents of the island are dancing and singing on the dock.

A great movie musical moment.

Don't let the 'people breaking into musical numbers' keep you away from 'Mamma Mia!' Note that while 'Mamma Mia!' does have a happy ending, the themes are not the simple 'boy meets girl - boy loses girl' type. Sophie's search for her real dad and Donna's own back-story as an abandoned single mom are heart wrenchingly real.

Having suffered through some real cringeworthy musicals in my lifetime ('The Wiz' 'Godspell' and 'Xanadu' spring to mind), it's great to see that Hollywood will still 'take a chance' (ha! That's an ABBA song!) on a production like 'Mamma Mia!' It has an old-fashioned feel, with a great anchor in Meryl Streep, a wonderful fresh performance by Amanda Seyfried, and a buoyant and honest perspective that makes for a great movie musical.

'Mamma Mia!' is rated PG-13 for some sex talk and bawdy sex-related humor. It's relatively harmless stuff, and would probably go over the heads of young kids. Still the real relationships that are explored are worth a bit of that.