What’s It About
The African monarch Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States and must return to America to meet this unexpected heir and build a relationship with his son. Set after the events of the first film, former Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) is set to become King of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son he never knew about in America – a street savvy Queens native named Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler). Honoring his royal father’s (James Earl Jones) dying wish to groom this son as the crown prince, since Akeem and Lisa’s daughter is ineligible to take over the throne since Zamunda law that has to be a male heir to take the throne. Akeem and Semmi (Arsenio Hall) set off to America once again.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
After 30 years, it’s finally here, and it has everything and nearly everyone the first one had with one big difference. The first one was funny. Coming 2 America delivered on the promise of nostalgia and nothing else. The first film was funny because it was different, loaded with authentic moments, and introduced many characters that added to the movie’s universal hilarity. The sequel adds nothing to the franchise. The same characters make the same jokes that made them quotable and nothing else. The first thirty minutes introduce the old characters, the new characters, and the film’s overall concept. The subtle changes are to be expected given the thirty-year gap. We see how the kingdom has evolved, yet it’s still the same. Since Eddie Murphy is older and wiser, they needed a new “outcast” to focus on. That’s understandable, as the new black sheep is Prince/King Akeem’s bastard son, Lavelle Junson, played by Jermaine Fowler. This film has lots of issues, and Fowler is a crucial one. He has nowhere near the charisma of Murphy, and the movie suffers because of it. Besides, the scenes in Queens were too extreme, the palace antics were over-the-top, and everything in between was trying too hard to be funny. I will admit to laughing at several scenes in the film, not because they were hilarious, but because they would do, say, or show something or someone from the original film every fifteen minutes. As I stated earlier, it’s very nostalgic. I liked this movie because it felt like it provided closure from the first one. It’s still not a good film but only worth watching if you’ve seen the original.
OUR RATING – A LONG-AWAITED 5.5