It's 1980 All Over Again
Ackroyd and Landis Revive the Blues

Eighteen years ago I tried desperately to convince my folks to let me see The Blues Brothers with my friend Daniel. Since it was rated R, however, they said no. (I was 13 at the time.) It would be several years before I finally got around to seeing it on video. Between the classic blues music and the outrageous, explicit, wanton destruction of Illinois State patrol cars, it became one of my favorites.

The question with any sequel, of course, is whether it can stand up to the original. With few exceptions, sequels fail to rise to the former's glory. In even fewer cases do they surpass it. The story of Blues Brothers 2000 may not be as good as the original, but it holds its own in the music department.

Blues Brothers 2000 hangs on a threadbare plot, one which seems too reminiscent of the original. Elwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd), newly discharged from the Illinois correctional system, attempts to find purpose in his life now that his only family -- Jake Blues and Curtis (played in the original by the late John Belushi and Cab Calloway) -- have both died. Elwood is asked by one of the nuns at the orphanage to look after a young ward of the state named Buster (J. Evan Bonifant), whom he tries repeatedly to ditch to no avail.

In an effort to find work, he visits a strip club owned by the band's former drummer, Willie Hall. There he meets a bartender Mighty Mack McTeer (John Goodman) who joins him when he tries to get the old band back together. Once the band is assembled, they journey to Louisiana for a battle of the bands contest. Along the way, they are pursued by the Russian mob, white supremacists, the Illinois State police, and the FBI.

Joining the band with Elwood are Mighty Mack and Buster, along with an Illinois State Police commander named Cab (Joe Morton). Cab, an illegitimate son of Elwood's mentor Curtis, finally sees the light of his calling during a tent revival and switches sides in mid-chase.

Yes, there are a number of car chases, burning buildings, explosions, and overt silliness, but it is a watered-down version of the mayhem visited on the state of Illinois in 1980. Even the dancers in Willie's club stay clothed in string bikinis rather than strip. This is a kinder, gentler Blues Brothers movie. Something of which the hard-living John Belushi could never have conceived. This is a Dan Ackroyd movie, pure and simple, more concerned with the music than the mayhem. This is the Blues Brothers for the '90s, as if having a surrogate son in the backseat wasn't a tip off.

All of this is inconsequential. The plot is merely a shelf on which to display the great blues music of veterans like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Sam Moore, B.B. King, James Brown, Dr. John, and Eric Clapton. (This list, however, does not begin to cover all the cameos by blues legends and newcomers in the movie.) The music is incredible, and does a job of capturing the energy and charisma of the original soundtrack.

Don't make the mistake I saw some people make at the end of the movie. Stay through the credits and enjoy all the music, including the end sequence with James Brown. It's worth every minute.

MY RATING: 4 out of 10 for the film, 8 out of 10 for the soundtrack.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 125 min.