Most people found her ACTING brilliant, standing there only with her clothes to act with, incredible! But her SINGING is an entirely different story..

I have found a lot of people who don't like the way she SINGS that song don't really understand WHY she sang it that way.

Donna has "hit bottom" at that point. It's as simp[le as that. Unless you have been there (and I have) you can't really understand what the character is going through.

Plus, trying to explain "hitting bottom" to someone is pretty hard.

Andy.

I have to hit the bottom, and that only improved my singing, it didn't make it worse..

The point is, Meryll Streep is an AMAZING actress, but not singer..

"Hitting bottom" means depression, losing all hope and faith in humanity and the world around you.

I'm not sure I see a connection between that and becomming a better singer.

In any event, I think Streep was wonderful vocally and acting-wise.

Andy.

The connection is to use the depression as an advantage in your singing, so instead of letting it pull you down, you can make it raise you up! Nothing sounds more beautiful than a truly heartbroken singer singing a desperate love song!

The most important element in MT is acting. Singing is always secondary. That said, Streep's singing is good, good enough to measure up with the West End leads I have seen conquer the singing of that role.

I could not disagree more with you, I believe that the singing is the most important thing in a show like Mamma Mia! Of course the acting is important, but I would rather have a woman who can act well enough with her voice than having a middle-degree singer who is a very good actress singing a song. But it might have something to do with my first meeting with this musical, which was on Broadway with Carolee Carmello, and she really touched me, not by her acting, but with her singing, I had a hard time not crying during songs, such as "MONNEY, MONNEY, MONNEY" and "MAMMA MIA!" because her singing was so great.

Sounds like you'd have been just as happy to see Mamma Mia!: In Concert as that show. It's been a source of long debate as to what is more important, good acting or good singing in a musical. But you have to ask yourself, what is the performer trying to do? Impress me with his or her belting, perfect pitch, etc or fit the song's feeling into the scene. I think it is important that the performer must first of be able to sing competently. After that, are we looking for acting or aural gymnastics?

Plus we are talking about a movie as opposed to a live performance. Good singing can still come through on film but I think other things come into play. In a movie musical, I think the acting has a bigger role than on stage. Streep and Seyfried are not broadway diva material but they suit the screen fine. Would you rather see an actress belting out "The Winner Takes It All" in perfect pitch or Streep emoting as she did. I personally, for a film, go with the latter. I'm watching a moment in a movie not a concert performance. For me, I can't think when I've seen anyone sing a musical scene with more feeling as Ms. Streep did. I think it should be shown as an example of how to emote in a song to MT students everywhere.

I would never replace meryll streep with anyone, and I love the movie, I've seen it three times all ready. But that is because it is so much fun and of course of Meryll Streep's brilliant acting! But I find the ending of the movie quite doll with Slipping Through My Fingers and The Winner Takes it All in the way they've made it. That still does not mean that Meryll Streep is a terrific actress, nor that the movie is good. It's just that I find it totally different from the stage version. And when you can compare it is often in favor of the Stage, not the Movie.

I also agree that on screen, acting is the first choice, then singing, but the way Meryll Streep sings "THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL" just flips a switch inside my head, I just don't like it.

Pounce is absolutely correct.

I liked the movie a lot.
The soundtrack is great...except for Pierce Brosnan (who sounds like adying walrus)

Meryl did a great job...she really gets into the character with every role she does.

I loved Amanda Seyfreid.

I llove the film but hte stage show was much better.

I thought the movie was...intriguing. Here are my points of interest, just little thoughts I had:

-Pierce looks the part, but his singing was...awful.
-Meryl was great, singing wise! Acting wise she was good too, but it was distracting how she kept gyrating and grabbing her crotch during "Mamma Mia!"
-Amanda Sefried, awesome.
-The 2 best friends of Meryl's character were great! Especially in "Does Your Mother Know?"
-But on a different note, that black guy was not good, in my opinion.
-I wanted Bill to have a beard! That's how I saw him when I saw the production in Chicago.
-Harry was good, too. Me gusta. The whole thing with him being outed on that trip was funny.