Sunny as its Greek island locations and its attitude, "Mamma Mia!" earns its exclamation point. The faithful adaptation of the long-running ABBA stage hit that has been packing them in around the world for years, is a crowd-pleasing gusher of escapism.

Meryl Streep plays Donna, a former singer, who has raised daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) alone at a fading resort on a remote Greek island. Sophie finds her mother’s diary from 20 years earlier and discovers that there are three men who might be her father. About to be married to boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper), she sends invitations to the celebration to all three on behalf of her mother but without telling her. Pierce Brosnan (businessman Sam), Colin Firth (London banker Harry) and Stellan Skarsgard (globetrotting adventurer Bill), as the possible dads, show up on the island where Donna is readying the wedding, helped by her free-spirited friends (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski). The scene is set for songs, dancing and romance, all staged brilliantly, with many energetic and colorful performers, and beautifully shot.

"Mamma Mia!" is a delightful piece of filmmaking and a celebration of musical exhilaration with a marvelous cast topped by Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances ever. It is rated PG-13 for some sex-related comments and has a running time of 108 minutes.