A pointless sequel to the classic 1980's blues musical, this brings back Dan Ackroyd and a few others from the original film, but minus John Belushi, it's a big question mark as to why. There's plenty of action and music and farce, but the story is ridiculous. At least Kathleen Freeman is back as the penguin, now promoted to Reverend Mother Mary Stignata, and gone are the broken rulers, replaced by an electronic wired whip. She gets a little bit more footage here too, and she's hysterical as ever, proving that even in a bad movie, Kathleen Freeman could do no wrong.

The story has Ackroyd now out of prison, finding out that his brother is dead as is his other partner, so Ackroyd goes out of his way to recruit the illegitimate son (Joe Morton),a St. Louis cop who has no interest in following the footsteps of the father he did not know that he had. There's also the pointless addition of an obnoxious kid, an orphan being reared by Freeman, "borrowed" and never returned.

Going on the run, they encounter Russian mobsters, a white supremacist group, members of a tent revival meeting and all sorts of weird musical acts including the returning Aretha Franklin, getting a rather uncomfortable cue to break into "Respect". A good version of "Rawhide" is followed by a great gospel number at the revival meeting where Morton is transformed into a blues brother by floating into the air and coming down minus his cop's uniform and now clad in the black suit, tie and hat.

At one point, the Blues Brothers all look like Jim Carrey in "The Mask", showing the lack of real originality as it ripped off other cultural phenomenons of the time. There's a lot of talent here, but the lack of a strong story a good script and decent flow makes this a major disappointment. It's an indication of why Hollywood sequels in the past 40 years have mainly not worked. John Goodman, then at the height of his character actor fame, seems to be completely out of place here other than to remind us how much Belushi is missed.

I like John Landis, and I consider Blues Brothers(along with An American Werewolf in London) his best movie. This sequel is one of his weakest sadly, it has its moments, the cinematography and production values are very good, Dan Aykroyd visibly tries to bring some vigour and energy into his role and the music is absolutely top-notch. However, Landis's direction feels a little inexperienced this time around, while the story is a mess, no scratch that the story is almost non-existent and the first half is pretty much a complete re-hash. The script lacks the wit and quirks that were so evident in the original too, while the pace is uneven, mostly too rushed and the energy is severely lacking, almost as if a helium balloon was burst and any energy that went with it was lost. Aykroyd tries hard, but John Goodman(who I like) is wasted with a poor character and bad dialogue. Overall, disappointing but the music is worth a listen so it isn't a complete waste. 4/10 Bethany Cox

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."