I am a huge fan of movies and an even bigger fan of musicals. So when you put the two together, I'm in movie musical heaven...most of the time. Today, not so much.

I've seen the musical version of "Mama Mia" two times now, once in Las Vegas and once in L.A. It is a fun, feel-good production that literally keeps your feet tapping throughout. It just doesn't quite work as a movie. It has a stellar cast and some cute moments, but for the most part it was acted as a live-theater production on film: over-acted, overly choreographed with direction that really only works on a stage where you have to be "big" to make sure everyone in the audience can see.

The scenery is beautiful and the songs, themselves, are still fun. But you're left waiting for it to get better and it just never does.

I still walked out of there humming the songs and wanting to see it again, just the live-theater version instead of the film.

"Mama Mia" opens nationwide today.