Dan Aykroyd originally wrote The Blues Brothers and it's sequel back in the late 70's, combined in-between phone book covers. While they took that huge script, and condensed it into The Blues Brothers, with nothing much else talked about the sequel.
So The Blues Brothers is released and it's instant success, becoming one of the all-time great musical comedies. So you would think a sequel would be in the works? Maybe, until a certain Blues Brother overdosed two years later. So a Blues Brothers sequel was out of the question?
Years later Aykroyd gets an itch to do this sequel, writing a whole different script with John Landis. The original cast is secured except for a few of the deceased, and you would think, hey man! This should be good! Ehh, maybe.
So here's the premise: Elwood is released from Prison 18 years after the famous events of the original. He is released, and is notified that his brother Jake has died. So after waiting a while he goes to work for Willy Hall, his old drummer. He meets Mack, the bartender. Mack becomes Elwood's partner. He also comes back to the Penguin, who sets him up to be a "mentor" to a young boy, Buster.
So Elwood is working and finds out Cab, who also has croaked, had a son, who ironically has become the Chief of the Illinois State Police. The club where Elwood was working has now been burnt down after an encounter with the russian mafia. What will they do now? HINT: "THE BAND, ELWOOD! THE BAND!"
So the "new" Blues Brothers; Mack and Buster, go off with Elwood to reunite the old band. So after nabbing the boys, much in the same way as the original, they set off to some "gigs." Of course, with the Illinois State Police on their tail, led by Cable Chamberlain, whom Elwood now calls a "brother." The rollers finally catch up with them, at a religious meeting feauturing the beloved Rev. Cleophus James! After a re-awakening by Cable (movie magic as John Landis would say), they set off, to a mysterious "Battle of the Bands" down in Louisiana.
As it turns out, it's at the mysterious Queen Mousetter's estate. After a just plain weird tryout, they get in. Their opponents? The Louisiana Gator Boys, an all star squad featuring B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Gary U.S. Bonds, Bo Diddley, Billy Preston, and more. Stiff competiton, eh? Well, after the cops catch up with them at the gig, Elwood and Buster flee. Where do they go? We don't know, we are left with a single shot of the Blues Brothers Cop Car and 50 Illinois State Police cars following it.
This film was decent, had a decent plot, and of course excellent music. It's definitley missing that gritty Chicago feel, which made the first film so great. The Blues Brothers just aren't the same. John Goodman looks un-comfortable singing, and J. Evan Bonifant is a little freakin' kid, both definitley don't fit as Blues Brothers. This film is dragged down by the gaping hole that is the absence of John Belushi. Through no fault of the film's own, of course, but John and Dan Aykroyd fit. This is not the case. The end also gives off too much of a fantasy type feel, which adds to the problem of the film losing it's edge. It tries to be like the original, with the Church scene as a shining example, and fails. Simply because there is something missing.
Imagine an Animal House sequel. Without Bluto Blutarsky, and D-Day. A decent film, maybe, but not the same.
