There is so many reasons why I should love this movie. It has many of the original cast returning (those still with us). There is a plethora of musical stars appearing to sing original songs. It’s a follow up to an absolute classic of a movie, it has Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, Joe Morton, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King and many, many more. Its directed by the Legend that is John Landis and is a musical comedy. So, it’s going to be hard for me to explain why I don’t really like it that much as possibly I should.
I will start by explaining the first joke is that it was released in 1998 and they called it 2000!! Well with that great start a classic comedy is bound to follow isn’t it. I think the real problem with this film is not Blues Brothers 2000 but with Blues Brothers. As it is so far superior than this movie that it is constantly living in the shade of that classic film. It could be another case of LEAVE GREAT THINGS ALONE again but I think in this case its slightly different. For me the death of John Belushi in 1982 also meant the death of the Blues Brothers just two years after that film was released. It just feels like they wanted to bring back a classic by looking at what was good about the original film and then let’s see what we can rehash together to make a new film some 18 years later. What worked back then - comedy, police chase, famous singers, known actors, pissed off Nazi activist and one of the best directors to pull it all together. Well each one of those was ticked off as done so why didn’t this film work for me. It would appear by the 46% rotten tomato score others thought it didn’t work either.
The basic plot is that Joliet Jake Blues has died and Elwood returns to the orphanage and its suggested that he mentors one of the orphans Buster who then becomes an honouree member of the Blues Brothers. They decide they should put the band back together and follow the similar beginning to the last film and rope everyone in. They also recruit Mack (John Goodman) the barman who becomes the joint lead singer of the band with Elwood. The Nazi’s have been replaced by Russian gangsters who have arrived to burn down Mack’s bar taken on the evil cartoon element of the movie. A Police officer played by Joe Morton (you may know as Dr Dyson from Terminator 2) goes from gamekeeper to poacher as he sees the light and joins the band. The police are chasing them over a stolen wallet and they believe Buster has been kidnapped. Also, just to add to the list of people hating them Jake accidently destroys a boat owned by a militia and now they are after the Blues Brothers as well. They conclude the movie by entering a battle of the bands competition which is being organised by a Louisiana Voodoo Witch so they get turned to stone and green and battle against a supergroup of blues legends that even I recognised them!
To sum up this movie, it has all of the component parts but they don’t mingle together because you mixed a cake together and it turned into the greatest cake ever made doesn’t mean that using similar ingredients mean you get exactly the same cake again isn’t true. I enjoyed many elements of this movie but the problem with this movie is it isn’t the original and could never be. Which means I am like so many other people I’ve spoken to about this film they can like it but they will never love it.
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