Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

It's hard to ignore the sad and conspicuous absence of the late John Belushi, but this long-delayed sequel to 1980's The Blues Brothers still has Dan Aykroyd--as Chicago bad boy and blues rocker Elwood Blues--to keep the music alive. Once again, Elwood's trying to reunite the original Blues Brothers Band, and this time he's got a strip-joint bartender (John Goodman) and a 10-year-old orphan named Buster (J. Evan Bonifant) joining him at center stage. Believing that Elwood has kidnapped the kid, the cops are hot on his trail as the reunited band hits the road for the Battle of the Bands in Louisiana and the All-Star Blues Jam that ends the movie in a rockin' blaze of glory. It's a shameless clone of the first film, and nobody--especially not Aykroyd or director John Landis--seems to care that the story's not nearly as fun as the music that's used to stretch it out. Of course there's a seemingly endless parade of stunts, including a nonstop pileup of police cars that's hilariously absurd, but what really matters here--indeed, the movie's only saving grace--is the great lineup of legendary blues musicians. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Junior Wells, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Jonny Lang, Eddie Floyd, and Blues Traveler are among the many special guests assembled for the film, and their stellar presence makes you wonder if the revived Blues Brothers shouldn't remain an obscure opening act. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Excellent music, pitiful script

Elwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd) is released from prison only to find that his brother Jake (John Belushi) has died in his absence. And that's not the only thing that's changed. The orphanage where he grew up is closing, and Sister Mary Stigmata asks for his help in raising money for the children's hospital that will be taking its place.

The answer to which is, of course, putting the band back together. Oh, and in the meantime, the good sister wants Elwood to spend a couple of hours with Buster, one of the last kids from the orphanage.

There are the usual hijinks with putting the band back together, and Elwood forgets about taking Buster back. So the cops, including Cab, the illegitimate son of Curtis (Cab Calloway, who also died in the meantime), who's sort of an honorary stepbrother, are after him for kidnapping the boy. And of course there are a bunch of other groups after him, including some of those from the first movie who are after revenge.

Once again, it's a race to get to The One Gig that'll earn them the money they need. This time, it's a battle of the bands in New Orleans.

The problem is, my summary sounds a lot more cohesive than the plot is. Starting with the obvious question of why Elwood was the only one in jail (at the end of the last movie, they were all in jail. Granted, the other band members might have had lesser sentences, but Jake's should have been the same as Elwood's).

The Mission From God wasn't really a mission from God, this time. The orphanage is closing regardless, and Elwood's quest is more along the lines of a charity drive, so there's no urgency there.

Buster and Cab... well, I didn't much see the point. They seemed like tangents to me. Cab's story could have been pretty good--learning about and then eventually embracing his musical heritage--but it's barely touched on.

And then once they get to New Orleans, there's some completely out-of-left-field magical voodoo effect that make no sense and doesn't have anything to do with the plot. It's almost like a few minutes of footage from another film got spliced into this one by mistake, except that the same actors are in it.

On the other hand, there's the music. It's no surprise that the DVD has 3 stars, while the soundtrack has 4.5. The sheer number--and quality!--of famous musicians who appear in this movie is amazing. In the jam sessions at the end, we made a game of trying to see who could identify more of them.

Mostly, the plot is rushed through to get to the music. Which is, I suppose, understandable, unless you compare it with the original, in which the plot, while simplistic, still made sense, and was funny as hell. It feels like they tried to add too much to make up for the absence of Belushi and Calloway, when a simpler plot would have worked better--it could have been more completely explored, and it wouldn't have been so obvious that the plot was sacrificed to the music.

It was great music, though. So much so that my kids argued with me about giving this 3 stars, saying it deserved more just for the music.
November 19, 2008

one of the best!

This is a must see if you enjoyed The Blues Brothers. It follows on in the same madcap way with more excellent music, You will not be disappointed, September 28, 2008

Oh, please, no.........this didn't happen!!!

Making a sequel of the 1980 megablockbuster "Blues Brothers" after the 1983 death of John Belushi is, at its gentlest, a very bad idea, and at its starchiest, a universe-altering affront bordering on celestial heresy.

The uneven and overall creepy sequel named "Blues Brothers 2000" (which came out in 1998) is--simultaneously--very good and very awful. The ghost of John Belushi floats above the whole affair, and that ain't good. Oddly, the music in the sequel is really, really good, and much bluesier than in the original film.

"Blues Brothers 2000" seems like an awkward, almost surreal mixture of big budget, big names, pencil-thin script ideas, and fear of the ghost of John Belushi. This movie tries--and fails--to be many things at once: a movie for true blues fans; a movie for kids; a light-hearted comedy; a gritty, insider-winking-at-clever-jokes-about-the-blues-community chuckle parade; and a worthy sequel to its predecessor.

You will not be wrong in calling this film a train wreck. Dan Ackroyd's attempt at a Chicago accent (.......he sounds--alas--Canadian) is not up to snuff for me, a pure Cook County product. Also, when watching this dumbed-down-below-dumb script, I continuously found it hard to believe that sober adults would have knowingly agreed to be part of this project.

You know what? Last night in the Wal-Mart parking lot I saw one of those cool grasshoppers that look like they're actually a little green stick. Very cool! Anyway, that grasshopper who looks like a stick and lives outside of Wal-Mart...even he--an INSECT--would have thought that the script of "Blues Brothers 2000" was stupid as all getout.

So...the movie gets three stars nonetheless because the MUSIC in it is absolutely first-rate, as long as you ignore everything that actors Dan Ackroyd and John Goodman sing on the soundtrack alongside a Mount Olympus of blues gods.

Long live the Chicago blues! September 10, 2008

Great

I love this movie, it's funny, the music is great & it has a great cast. The musical talent in this movie is amazing.
This is a real band playing real music, no lip syncing here. If you like The Blues give it a try it's really a good movie. June 3, 2008

The Original: 10 stars! The Sequel: 4 stars

4 stars for Effort. The best part is the speech that Elwood gives the Band when they want to quit after they run out of gas, etc. LOVE IT! 100 Stars for that speech! Very poignant. & there are alot of other fun scenes in this movie. I think that most Blues Brothers fans will enjoy this movie, but think that the original was Far superior. The worst parts: a phone-sex office scene? An excellent blues band in a strip club? Awful! I mean blues music should be fun and enjoyed, but I also feel that the roots & essence of it are highly spiritual. To me, those scenes cheapen The Music. I would also have liked it better if they "introduced" a few more lesser known Blues talents, in addition to showcasing the already famous ones. There are too many starving artists around these days, who won't sell out to the corporate ilk. Come on, Danny and John, help 'em out a little! I recently visited Memphis for a week. We went down to Beale St. on a Sat. nite, in the expectation of hearing some good live blues. Could only find ONE club that had it, an actual real live blues band, out of ALL of the clubs in that area (checked out every club in the Beale St. area - at least 25 clubs)! & the band stopped playing there at 10 PM. Everywhere else had disco, commercial retro cover/note-for-note copy rock, Rap, or "dueling pianos". & of course, there was NO live Jazz anywhere. B-O-R-I-N-G. Went to BB King's Club/restaurant: The band was playing a note-for-note cover version of "Celebration" by Kool and The Gang! It was like a Wedding band! Of course we immediately left. Shame on you, BB, and shame on you, Memphis. Doesn't Anyone care about Authentic music anymore?! Memphis advertises it's city as the "Home of The Blues"! Pathetic. & while I'm on the subject, where's The Blues music at "The House of Blues" chain/restaurants/bars, which were originally started by Danny Akroyd?? Most of them feature commercial/non-authentic-blues music. Lame. As Frank Zappa said, "Corporate Music Sucks". Right On, Frank. April 10, 2008

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