Blues Brothers 2000

Contrary to popular opinion, this is not a sequel. It is supposed to be a tribute to the original. People who bash this movie without reading Aykroyd's interviews are ignorant to the intent here. This movie was originally to be a sequel back in 1981 just before Belushi died. When that happened, the idea for another adventure fell away. But after almost two decades, Aykroyd wanted to do something to revisit the classic film and pay homage to his friend and co-star Belushi, so he assembled this "Concert Movie", which is supposed to be all about THE MUSIC, not the story. The only reason a story was put in was to keep it moving from musical number to musical number, because everyone knows that straight concert films are pretty boring, even if you really like the performer(s). So here it is, for the true Blues Brothers fans to enjoy. P.S.-And if your problem with the plot was some of the cartoony style actions that occur (Cabel being pulled heavenward and his clothes magically "changing", et cetera), remember that the original had the same things. In the first one the entire band's clothing "magically" changes for a concert, but if you know that this is merely a representation of the character's psychological state and not a literal change, then the film works much better. The same idea works for the much-maligned "zombie" sequence near the end at Queen Mousette's mansion. Also, people complain about the Bluesmobile in this film being able to drive underwater. Well, in the first film the car flew, performed flips, and was nearly indestructible. In fact, if you watch the DVD of the first film, you find in the deleted scenes and "Making-of" section that the Bluesmobile is supposed to be "magic", because it was parked each night inside a power transformer. How is that for cheesiness on the first film? So that also explains Elwood's ability to smuggle himself in the dash of the car in this one, and the car being able to crash land from a fiery loop-de-loop at the fairgrounds. Even though I wish this film could have been a little edgier and darker in tone like the original, I do find its bold and effective use of color to be magnificent and fascinating. Perhaps this film has a little more depth than people expect, so they incorrectly perceive it to be a lackluster and shallow mindnumbing entertainment. I know better ....... Remove the stars in the address to e-mail me.

As good as the original Blues Brothers movie was, as bad is this sequel: After a rather boring warmup of old scenes which are by far not as good as the original ones, it looks like the producers have run out of money - because the end is where there was the first hope that there will be some action. OK, I concede the songs are great again, but the plot...forget it. If you like the music of the old Bluesbrothers movies, you might consider to buy the soundtrack - that contains everything which is good about that movie.

I have to admit that some parts of this movie were clever indeed. It was cool that they tied in the deaths of John Belushi and Cab Calloway into the movie's plot, making the characters they played dead as well. If Jim Belushi took the part of Joliet Jake, that would have been a disaster. Still, the plot of this movie could have used some serious work. For instance, in the original movie, the Blues Brothers (a) were actually brothers and (b) were on an actual "mission from God". Their goal was to make some honest money to save an orphanage from shutting down, while trying to flee from the police at the same time. The movie brought back blues legends such as Aretha Franklin and James Brown back into the spotlight, and it helped contribute to the death of disco. Eighteen years later, Jake's dead, Cab Calloway's dead, the orphanage has been shut down, so why are they being chased by the police? Because a half brother of Elwood got p***ed off at finding his real past? The kid, I must add, was a nice touch, and it was cool to see twice as many blues legends in this movie, including some new artists like Johnny Lang and Erykah Badu. But there should have been a better plot, because it seemed as though the Blues Brothers Band were going from event to event for the hell of it. Where's the plot in that? Police, leave these guys alone. The big mistake in this movie was its attempt to outdo the original movie. The music was great, and I highly recommend buying the soundtrack. However, don't expect to see a plot in this story. Otherwise, enjoy.

When "Blues Brothers 2000" came out, it got some of the worst reviews that I'd ever read (I don't remember whether this stemmed from the absence of John Belushi or not) and lasted about two weeks in the theaters. But it had a truly great soundtrack, starring just about every blues and rock 'n' roll singer alive at that time. Maybe the car pileup was ridiculous, but it was pretty funny. Overall, it was good that they didn't try to have different people play Jake and Curtis (and John Candy's character). New additions John Goodman and Joe Morton add interesting dimensions. As Dan Aykroyd reminds us several times throughout the movie: "The lord works in mysterious ways."

Dear John Landis,

I have just watched Blues Brothers 2000. I am a fan of the original movie and didn't expect much from the sequel (no offence).

It's good that you made no effort to change the plot from the first one and just rehashed the first movie. Also I was amused by the way that one of the highlights of the film was a hugh car crash with several minutes of cars flying over cars flying over cars etc (it's good to see film-making has come so far since Smokie and the Bandit!).

In fairness to you, you managed to get a lot of good artists together and a lot of good songs. So here's my suggestion for the furture - whenever Dan Akroyd wants his next career boost and asks to do a BB3 - why not just record a pile of good songs and release a CD instead?

That way I won't need to sit through another poorly plotted, overdone, messy copy of a much better film.

What a mess! Hang your head in shame (but tap your feet to the beat!)

yours sincerely,

Bob the Moo