Tonight, I went with my mother to see the long-awaited sequel to 2008’s Mamma Mia, starring the ever-amazing Meryl Streep and the songs of that stalwart 70’s group Abba.

Let’s just say the plot for that first film was flimsy and full of holes. The second one was nearly nonexistent. But who goes to see a musical for the plot?

Musicals are all about the spectacle, the songs, the scenery. They’re truly about feel good moments. Musicals exist in a world where people spontaneously break into song and dance without any warning and where apparently everyone knows the words and dance steps even if they’ve never heard the song before.

But Mamma Mia 2 was worth it. I promise to keep this spoiler-free, so I’ll just mention that there are a couple of moments where the joy is overwhelming and palpable and a moment or two where a bit of sadness prevails.

I think we need more musicals. We don’t need more reality TV and crime procedurals based on true events. We need something to escape to, a world where anything’s possible and where people end up mostly living happily ever after.

I’ll probably pick up Mamma Mia when it hits the shelves at Target on some future Tuesday. Now all of you go see it in your nearest movie theater. You will thank me later.