Blues Brothers 2000

Nearly twenty years on Cab Calloway, John Candy. Junior Wells and John Belushi are dead, and it was always going to be a tall order for Dan Ackroyd, with John Landis as co-writer and director, to re create the magic.

Only in some ways has the effort has been successful. It wasn't even ecclesiastic! The new Blues Brothers don't even profess to be "on a mission from God."

Elwood Blues (a newly trim Ackroyd, he must have lost nearly half of his middle aged weight for the part!), has just got out of jail. He discovers that brother Jake is dead but surprise, surprise wants to re form the Blues Brothers band.

He buys a beaten up, antique former police car and sets off to reform the famous Blues Brothers Band There's the expected car pile up, and great fun the 1990's smash up is too, and there are many impressive musical numbers featuring many of the stars of the original film.

The music is great but unfortunately the story is boring which might not have been a problem if the new version had more spark to it. There's a young lad called J Evan Bonifant added to the band and he looks cool as a Blues Brother, but the story has little that is new and is a lame duck.

Trouble was John Belushi wasn't on board. Apparently Steve Buscemi was preferred for Belushi's part but wasn't available. He would have been much better than John Goodman, but it's still hard to imagine that anyone could have captured the self destructive mania that surrounded John Belushi.

Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed Belushi's absence so much though if Dan Ackroyd hadn't left himself hanging so awkwardly, trying to carry by himself a very long first third of the film.

Blues Brothers 2000 seemed to need a lot less of Dan Ackroyd, which would have allowed the musicians, who were all great, to really let rip.

There's a lot of very satisfying music in Blues Brothers 2000.

In particular Arethra Franklin's new version of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. was fantastic; a remarkable revitalisation of her great work in The Blues Brothers. It's not often that I applaud during a film but Arethra was fantastic.

The heavens also take a prominent role. There are some great digitally spawned cows up there in the sky and Joe Morton's ascent into Blues Brothersdom is a whiz.

There's the a very satisfying parade of the best and most famous of the Blues genre on the planet ranging from Eric Clapton to James Brown to B.B. King to Dr John. Blues lovers will have great fun picking out their favourite artists.