Following the successful movie versions of "Chicago" and "Dreamgirls," the Broadway musical has again provided effective screen fodder.

The latest, "Mamma Mia!" (Universal), proves a lively and colorful adaptation of that wildly popular worldwide hit. The property is probably the most successful of the so-called "jukebox musicals" that take pre-existing pop songs --- here, those of Swedish supergroup ABBA --- and shoehorn them into a narrative structure.

For anyone who hasn't seen the show in one of its touring or international incarnations, the story concerns young bride-to-be Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), whose mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), runs a guest villa on a Greek isle. Sophie's purloined her mom's old diary and read about the three men with whom Donna had affairs two decades earlier. Sophie impulsively invites them to her wedding, in her mother's name, hoping to learn which of the three is her birth father.

Neither Donna nor Sophie's fiance, Sky (Dominic Cooper), knows of Sophie's scheme, as the girl is sure they would vehemently disapprove.

The three remarkably obliging fellows who dutifully answer Sophie's letter are businessman Sam (Pierce Brosnan), banker Harry (Colin Firth) and adventurer Bill (Stellan Skarsgard).

Donna's man-hungry girlfriends from the 1970s --- divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski) and cookbook writer Rosie (Julie Walters) --- are also on hand to support her for the impending ceremony and to provide comic relief. Along the way, Tanya has a questionable "flirtation" with one of Sky's twentysomething buddies, and elsewhere, Rosie chides Donna for her "Catholic guilt ... like a nun" when they were younger.

Original theater director Phyllida Lloyd has skillfully adapted the show, with beautiful on-location shooting in Greece.

The stars --- none of them especially renowned for their musical talent, though the marvelous Streep has some singing credits --- handle their songs with surprising aplomb. She's the focal point, and not only does she display impressive vocal chops, especially in her dramatic "The Winner Takes All" number, but manages a fully rounded characterization of an independent woman coming to terms with her past, her daughter and her heart.

The songs by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus are less purely dramatic than the ones the team would later write specifically for their stage musicals, "Chess" and "Kristina Fran Duvemala," so at times the numbers here feel much like highly polished music videos, but writer Catherine Johnson's script goes a long way to make them seem reasonably grounded.

The movie is, in many respects, joyful, humane and life-affirming with little visually offensive, and there are good messages about friendship, family, self-sacrifice and reconciliation. But a strong caution must be raised about the underlying and pervasive "anything-goes-for-love" message and the other problematic elements that follow below.

The film contains an overall freewheeling morality, light sexual references and innuendo, casual treatment of marriage, divorce and nonmarital relations, some vulgar gestures, brief rear-nudity sight gag, an anti-Catholic remark and a few crass words. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L --- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 --- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Space Chimps (Fox)
"Space Chimps" is a lively computer-animated children's adventure that, despite some obvious limitations, provides warm family entertainment and offers lessons about maturity, resourcefulness and self-sacrifice.

The fanciful story has its roots in some memorable real-life events. On Jan. 31, 1961, a Cameroonian chimpanzee named Ham --- an acronym for the Alamogordo, N.M.-based Holloman Aerospace Medical Center where he trained --- was launched into space as part of NASA's Mercury program. A little more than 15 minutes later, he splashed down in the Atlantic and was safely retrieved.

Having helped pave the way for astronaut Alan Shepard's successful flight less than four months later, Ham was rewarded with an apple, and went on to grace the cover of Life magazine. He died in 1983 and lies buried in the front lawn of the International Space Hall of Fame, also in Alamogordo.

Within the context of the film, this champ of a chimp is known as Ham I, a source of pride, but also of intimidation for his happy-go-lucky circus performer grandson, Ham III (voice of Andy Samberg).

When a $5 billion space probe goes astray, the researchers behind the project --- under pressure from the smarmy senator who controls their funding (voice of Stanley Tucci) --- include the unfocused Ham in the rescue mission's all-simian crew, hoping to exploit his heritage. Rather than concentrate on his training, however, Ham busies himself with tweaking his pompous commander Titan (voice of Patrick Warburton), and flirting unsuccessfully with sensible Lt. Luna (voice of Cheryl Hines).

After a perilous journey, the trio arrives on the planet Malgor to discover that control of the probe has enabled overbearing alien Zartog (voice of Jeff Daniels) to become its dictator. Zartog quickly takes Titan prisoner, leaving Ham and Luna with only one, unlikely ally. Kilowatt (voice of Kristin Chenoweth), a tiny fugitive from Zartog's power, has a head that starts to glow and a voice that turns operatic whenever she's frightened, which is much of the time.

With the path ahead lying through the Valley of Really Bad Things, the moment has arrived for Ham, under the inspiration of his distinguished ancestor, to exchange high jinks for heroism.

The quality of the animation may be less than stellar, and the plot trajectory easily predictable, but director and co-writer (with Rob Moreland) Kirk De Micco's lighthearted film has enough humor and spirit to divert young viewers. As they await the 1970s musical joke included just for them, meanwhile, parents will find the content unobjectionable.

----John Mulderig

Days and Clouds (Giorni e Nuvole) (Film Movement)
Mature, generally perceptive drama in which an idealistic middle-age Genoese executive (Antonio Albanese) and his art restorer wife (Margherita Buy) find their relationship strained after he is forced from his job by his business partners, an economic and social crisis they try to conceal from, among others, their 20-year-old daughter (Alba Rohrwacher). Director and co-writer Silvio Soldini's intimate, award-winning portrait of a marriage under siege upholds the value of long-term mutual commitment, though it downplays the devastating consequences of physical infidelity. In Italian; subtitles. Brief, nongraphic adulterous sexual activity, much rough and crude language and sexual references. (A-III, no MPAA rating).

Harry Forbes is director and John Mulderig is on staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.