Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Load of rubbish!!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Let me walk you through the opening scene...This time, Elwood is getting released from prison. He waits by the roadside, presumably for Jake, but no one shows up. After he's waited through the night (!), the warden comes out and tells him Jake is dead. He continues to wait, and a few minutes later, a woman in a convertible stops and picks him up. Cut to night time, arriving in Chicago, at which point she turns to him and explains who she is and why she picked him up. This means that they spent at least 8 hours in the car without talking. This scene tells you everything you need to know about the objective of the movie, as well as the lazy and sloppy writing and editing.I recently re-watched the first BB, and I was surprised how well it held up. No one would call it believable, but it has a simple plot and internal logical consistency. This movie tries to "recapture the magic" by going for a scene for scene remake, but the "glue" that holds it together ranges from contrived to nonsensical. In the first, they decide to "put the band back together" to get money to save the orphanage where they were raised. In this, Elwood decides to put the band back together because...um...that's what you came for, right? He goes around gathering up the musicians exactly the same way they did in the first, and for some reason John Goodman and a kid put on suits and join him. Seriously, I must have blinked and missed how he ended up with the kid. I would have rewound it, but decided I didn't care. After that, they just check off the scenes they know they have to copy from the first: Aretha Franklin singing to her husband? check, accidentally getting booked as the wrong type up band? check, sabotaging Alan Rubin's job? check, white supremacists? check, police car chase and pile-up? check, and so on.Oh yeah, and halfway through the movie, a bunch of supernatural stuff starts to happen. I don't mean like the tongue-in-cheek stuff with the nun and the "mission from God" in the first; I mean serious miracles and magic spells that are crucial to the plot. Where the heck did that come from?Without giving away any spoilers, don't expect much from the ending, because it doesn't really have one, but definitely watch through the end credits, but they're better than most of the movie.Of course the biggest problem is that Dan Ackroyed can't sing, and he sings a lot! He also can't even lip-sync his own singing, so it looks like they got someone else to sing really badly and just had him fake it. The fact that he's obviously so committed just makes it more cringe-worthy. It ruins pretty much every song by the band, particularly Ghost Riders in the Sky, which could have been awesome.I've giving it 5/10 stars because it has some genuinely entertaining and impressive musical cameos, particularly the "all-star" band near then end that has like 20 famous performers in it. But it turns out all of those are available on YouTube (search for "Louisiana Gator Boys" or "Blues Brothers 2000 phone number song"), so there's really no reason to watch the rest of the movie.

A lot of people put this film down. Lots of great cameos from the old movie and from music legends.I didn't like John Goodman when he went on SNL & tried to be a Blues Brother. Sadly, that started the problem. Goodman replacing Belushi - there's your problem. (I like Goodman in anything else.) If you really watch the film, Elwood finding & perusing Cab was cool. What needed to happen is little Buster, played by J. Evan Bonifant, needed a better relationship/bonding story with Elwood. (Then the part of Jake being gone would have smoothed out easier.) I always said when Buster breaks out the harmonica (it's out of nowhere) - Elwood should have given him a harp before. Like "This is the first cool thing my brother (or Curtis) gave me, etc." Then we would assume he started practicing & was a natural. Again, that could have bonded them together. J. Evan Bonifant won me over with his dance moves during "Respect." He shows a lot of talent in the film and it could have made the film better.I'm told about 3 hours of film was on the cutting room floor, and that could have happened somewhat. Anyway, having "Mac" REPLACE "Jake" was the problem. Letting Elwood mentor Buster, was NOT the problem if you watch & think about what I just wrote.Only my opinion... but it does make sense.

When you look back to the original "Blues Brothers" from 1980, it's really amazing how many people of the cast died since then. There are of course the big one's like John Belushi, Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Kathleen Freeman or John Candy, but also the more unknown one's like Donald Dunn, Alan Rubin or Henry Gibson. I thought that, because of this, a sequel isn't a good idea. That's also the reason why I didn't watch it until now, so 15 years after "Blues Brothers 2000" was released.After watching the movie I was relieved: The film was a lot better than I expected. Especially the music is once again amazing and it's nice to see John Goodman singing that awesome. To be honest with you: Maybe the score was even better than the "Blues Brothers" one. Otherwise, the story was so-so. It feels like you've already seen it. And this isn't even a feeling, it's the truth, as the plot is nearly the same as the original one. Again, the film starts with the release out of prison, again the band will be renewed and then will drive through the country to the one and final big gig. It seems like John Belushi is replaced by John Goodman, Cab Calloway by John Morton, and the Nazis by the Russians. The only missing part is the huge chase with the police, which was easily the best moment of "Blues Brothers". But don't get me wrong, the story is still great. But it's just a copy from the original one without the great characters of John Belushi or Cab Calloway.Overall the film is average, but the music is so good that it's not as important as usual. While the 1980 version is still a classic and one of the best movies ever made, this one is in the middle of the pack with six out of ten points.

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.