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Hi i'm Nathan aka monstermaster13 and I remember it so you don't have to. Today's review is of a shameful attempt at making a sequel to one of the best 80's movies ever.
Remember Jake and Elwood Blues and their mission from god? Of course you do. Who doesn't love those Blues Brothers and their musical mayhem induced misadventures? John Belushi and Dan Akyroyd made one hell of a comedic duo and the original was one of John Landis's best works next to An American Werewolf In London, Animal House, Oscar and The Three Amigos.
This movie is nothing more than an attempt to try and follow up to the original - and it fails.
John Landis returns to direct even though some say that his directing career sort of went downhill in the late 80's (specifically some say it was after the accident that killed Vic Morrow and those kids during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie) and onto the 90's (although Oscar with Sly Stallone was moderately good - heck Siskel and Ebert both gave it a thumbs-up).
Dan Akyroyd returns as writer and star of this movie as Elwood Blues, at the beginning of this movie Elwood is just getting out of prison when he recieves news from the Penguin (no, not the Batman villain, the nun from the first movie) that his partner Jake Blues has unfortunately passed away. This is never actually explained in the movie at all even though in the opening credits it says it is dedicated to the memory of John Belushi as well as to John Candy and Cab Calloway, who also passed away before this movie got made.
So Elwood tries to get the rest of the old band together, minus Jake of course. Along the way we meet the new guys: First of which is Mighty Mack played by John Goodman. (Come on Goodman, you're far too good to be in a movie like this).
We also met our Tagalong Kid character who goes by the name Buster. So....we don't have John Belushi but instead we have John Goodman and a little kid? Something tells me this is going to be like how some Power Ranger fans thought that Power Rangers Turbo killed the franchise - you know, the whole kid who joins the team even though he's just a kid?
We also meet Cabby who is reluctant to join until he recieves a message from above and is instantly transformed into a Blues Brothers band member. The light shines down on him and he seems to be floating for some reason. I'd hate to steal a joke from Film Brain but.....SYMBOLISM!
Next we have some of the zaniest and messed up car chase scenes ever- the chase scenes in the original were truly spectacular but here they're just completely cartoonish. Such as the Bluesmobile being able to go underwater.
I know the Bluesmobile was able to do all those stunts in the original but this is just taking it a bit too far.
We get it, the Bluesmobile is an awesome car - it can survive anything. This is completely and utterly insane even by this logic. What? Is it it like Linkara's magic gun or something? Is it possessed ala Christine?
After all that nonsence we get to see a few returning cameos mainly by James Brown (r.i.p godfather of soul) and Aretha Franklin. And I admit the musical numbers in this are pretty awesome.
There's also a scene where the band go to see a voodoo queen/priestess by the name of Queen Mousette (this scene is later referenced/paid homage to in the second Pirates of the Carribean movie).
So the voodoo priestess asks the band if they know any calapyso songs to which Elwood tells her that the band can play all kinds of musical but to the calalypso part he says no (this is the second time Dan Akyroyd has actually said no when answering a powerful being such as a ghost, deity or sorceress - the first one being in Ghostbusters).
Because of this she transforms them into green skinned zombies that sing calapyso songs and I admit, their performance of Funky Nassau is pretty good. But this is just flat out of nowhere. It's like I'm expecting MJ to make an appearance and start dancing along with them (hey...it would be Thriller: The Sequel).
And this just comes out of nowhere. So...yeah...it's...a Big Lipped Aligator Moment! Also a few of the band members get turned into stone. Don't tell me Queen Mousette is actually part Gorgon!
There are also several scenes in which several more of the ever-growing enemy list for the bad show up including some russians who get turned into mice. Oh I get it...Queen Mousette is trying to be like Anjelica Huston in The Witches.
There are more wacky car chase scenes, some more musical numbers and Elwood gives a speech which is extremely epic as well as some goofy slapstick including the band getting covered in goo (most likely the same stuff the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man was made out of).
And after all this - the band finally get to perform as the movie ends, during the end credits we see a performance by James Brown along with the band.
So that was Blues Brothers 2000, and was it any good? Not really. While it's not as bad as anything by the likes of Seltzer and Friedberg or for that matter Adam Sandler movies (Billy Madison is an exception), it's still pretty iffy overall - the musical numbers are fun and there are some good scenes but most of it is completely weird.
I admit that John Goodman does well as Mighty Mack but to be honest, I miss John Belushi. He was part of the driving force behind the original movie and the SNL sketches that this and the original were based on and it's just not the same without him.
Also why doesn't it ever explain the cause of Jake's death? I'm serious. We don't ever get an explaination for this at all.
Dan Akyroyd does well but I think even he knows how bad this movie was going to be, as for the other performers - well they did rather well but again....you can't top the original.
John Landis - is one of my favorite directors and while I loved his work on An American Werewolf In London, Animal House, the original Blues Brothers, Trading Places, Oscar and The Three Amigos - I have a feeling that he personally regrets making this movie. I also have a feeling he doesn't view this is as an actual sequel at all much like with An American Werewolf In Paris.
The movie is okay....but it will never be as good as the original. Maybe i'm looking at this through Nostalgia goggles but i personally believe and know that the original is and always will be the best.
