Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Truly Dreadful Film

That was an excellent one.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Just like the original this is "A Mission From God". Same theme, new characters, music off the charts in blues, blue grass & soul. Given the loss of John Belushi & Cab Calloway, this was a solid tribute & sequel to these gentlemen. Not everything in the movie was the same. The performances were great, another variety of solid blues songs played. Dan Aykroyd in some places was lacking in his acting, mostly in the beginning, others he was rocking. Goodman as well. The subplot of taking a troubled kid and turning him into Elwood Jr. was cool; the young actor was actually quite good as a harmonica player or at least impersonating a harmonica player if they dubbed the music for him. Frankly, I couldn't tell. The chase scenes in this movie were awesome and more creative in the comedy aspect given this is 1998. These days it's outdated. The ending was another prime example. Screams "If I were a tax payer, I'd be ticked off." Smokey & the Bandit + Grand Theft Auto with a flair of the original Blue Brothers movie = Blue Brothers 2000. Some people may like this movie; others wouldn't. It's slow to start, but by 30 minutes you're get hooked, whether you love the music or the absolute ridiculousness. Halfway through, I was smiling for just the art of slapstick comedy put in as well.

The whole movie seemed like a throwback/tribute to the original. It didn't really try at all to stand on its own merits, it just came across as an excuse for the cast (most of whom were in the original) to relive the good ole' days. Most of the scenes and plot points mirrored those of the original film. Aside from that, the signature clothing (black suit, black fedora, sunglasses, etc.) and the Bluesmobile, this movie is almost unrecognizable from the original film.Out of the two stars of the original, only Dan Aykroyd survived to make this film. (RIP John Belushi.) Unfortunately, Elwood Blues must have gone to the grave with Jake Blues, because Dan Aykroyd's reprisal of his role is disgraceful. Elwood's voice, accent, mannerisms, and overall attitude have totally changed...for the worse. A once mysterious, serious, resourceful, and charming character has been warped into a worthless goofball, and this change sets the tone for the rest of the movie as well.The original movie, though very funny, had a serious tone to it (at least the performances seemed that way), but Blues Brothers 2000 is just goofy and cheesy. The only thing that I can compare the goofiness/cheesiness to is a kids movie...which makes sense since one of the main characters of this movie IS a kid, "Buster Blues". After visiting The Penguin from the original movie, Elwood gets stuck mentoring an orphan boy, Buster, who turns out to be a blues prodigy. Add John Goodman's equally goofy character, "Mighty" Mack McTeer, into the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster.The only things that saves this movie from being a 0/10 are the outstanding musical sequences (with the exception of Johnny Lang's "contribution"). With the exception of John Belushi, the original band is reunited in this film and they do not disappoint! The Blues Brothers Band and the various cameos from famous musicians throughout the movie are reason enough to watch it. The final sequence, a Battle of the Bands contest, is particularly good.To Summarize: the movie sucks, but the music is great! Watch it at least once, especially if you've seen the original.

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? 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 receives 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 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 meet our Tagalong Kid character who goes by the name Buster.We also meet Cabby who is reluctant to join until he receives 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.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 nonsense 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 Caribbean 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.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. It's pretty iffy overall - the musical numbers are fun and there are some good scenes but most of it is completely weird.Also why doesn't it ever explain the cause of Jake's death? I'm serious. We don't ever get an explanation 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.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.Blues Brothers 20000 doesn't hold up well and compared to the original just flat out fails.I give it 2 out of 10 stars and only 1% out of 1000, the music was the only strong point - the rest was just plain weird.I don't recommend seeing this one, instead...just stick to the original movie and you'll be fine.

So many people regard this movie as horrible because of the original. I loved the original just like everyone else, but I don't completely hate a movie just because of that. Yes, John Belushi had passed on and wasn't able to be in the movie. However, I bet that he would of wanted it to take place. Had he still been alive, I'm sure he would of been one of the first people signed on for it's production. It has a great cast with a light storyline just like the first. Amazing music just like the first. The only thing missing is Mr. Belushi himself, but that is in no way a reason this movie should be voted a 4/10. Believe me, if you liked the first one movie, give this movie a shot. Go into with a care free mind and you will enjoy it just like you did the first. You will want to dance around, just like you did the first. Enjoy!! :)