Blues Brothers 2000

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

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.

Blues Brothers 2000 is a movie with good intentions, Aykroyd and Landis once again team up to recapture the magic in tribute to John Belushi, and almost all of the original cast are still here. Musically the magic is still there and without a doubt this film is all about the music, but the original Blues Brothers film was about so much more.

Blues Brothers 2000 like the first film has very little plot, and that didn't matter the first time around, but this time; without the comedy, the lack of plot is all too apparent. I just didn't find this film funny, with a few rehashed gags and some new ones that didn't work Blue Brothers 2000 really does struggle to entertain.

John Goodman doesn't try and replace John Belushi, and he actually does a good job in poor role, but the introduction of a kid to the Blues Brothers Band seemed completely pointless and adds absolutely nothing to the film.

The saving grace is the music, with Eric Clapton, BB King, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, etc. and the original Blues Brothers Band, the music is damn good, but this alone is not enough.

Thanks for trying, but must try harder. 5/10

Okay, I have read most of the reviews here for this sequel and I, like most of the people who have responded with reviews of their own, LOVED the original and John Belushi, and I really have no problem with people trashing the film, or John Goodman even, but when someone like this one dude trashes The QUEEN OF SOUL because she's gained weight over the years or because she sings one of her most famous standards. "Respect," that shows NO R-E-S-P-E-C-T at ALL. The woman is STILL the greatest singing voice of the Twentieth AND Twenty First century and it is her VOICE that is the best ever, and that song remains the most beautiful anthem of R&B, blues and soul... and to trash that destroys any credibility you had up to that point as a worthy critic of ANY kind. John Belushi, John Candy and Cab Calloway are dead and nothing can be done about that, but to say this film is totally without merit is silly and so is comparing it to the original Blues Brothers movie, which, by the way, has plotholes you could drive a CONVOY of trucks through. For instance, what the hell were the Good Ole Boys country band p****d about? Didn't they arrive AFTER THE BAR WAS CLOSED EXPECTING TO PLAY? That should have had their cabaret and union license taken away right there, and it's their OWN damn fault. And then the comments about Dan Ackroyd's bald spot. Didn'[t they guy wear a hat the whole time anyway? SO THAT'S a pretty lame critique too. Look, the music was phenomenal, the speech that Dan makes about the Russian mob is classic, inspired Dan Ackroyd writing... and the kid had some decent moves and could play the mouth harp with the best of them (assuming he really DID play the thing) and I loved the "Ghost Rider's In The Sky" rendition done by the band. So don't compare it to the original. It's an homage, for cryin' out loud, though I do wish John's brother Jim Belushi had been in it, but it had something to do with contractual stuff, I believe, anyway. The film is not gold but it's not crap either.