It’s funny to think that the last film I reviewed was Bill and Ted Face the Music, a sequel that came out years after the original, with many of the cast returning and its main selling point being nostalgic fondness for the original. The same applies to Coming 2 America, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – but this type of sequel can easily misfire.

Set thirty-three years after the first film and directed competently enough by Footloose 2011 alumnus Craig Brewer, we find Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), his wife Lisa (Shari Headley) and their three daughters all living happily in Zamunda. The prince seems to have done well with his ‘McDowalls’ burger business, but problems arise with the death of his father Jaffe, king of Zamunda (James Earl Jones), whose dying words reveal that Akeem has an illegitimate son named Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler) who was conceived during the previous visit to America while Akeem was drugged.

Following a funeral complete with a speech by Morgan Freeman, Akeem and Semmi return to New York to find this long-lost son, bring him back to Africa, put him through a series of tests to see if he is worthy of the throne, and possibly marry him to the daughter of the neighbouring kingdom ‘Nextdoria’ led by General Izzi (Wesley Snipes).

Of course, when the son is found he is as far from royalty as you could expect. He lives in Queens with his mom and his uncle Reem (Tracy Morgan) – who prides himself on being the male figure in the son’s life that Akeem was not.

The Eddie Murphy people loved is back with the same likeable, entertaining personality. Hall is very much on the same level, and James Earl Jones also manages to make an impact in his brief time on screen. Snipes is fine but tries too hard to be a cartoonish villain. On the other hand most of the new characters are rather annoying, especially the one-note Morgan.

There’s nothing here that you couldn’t see coming. But even with two of the original film’s writers involved, the jokes just aren’t as good. They try to throw in some modern touches such as referring to the preacher from the first film as a sexist but that hardly needed to be spelled out. In the barbershop scene we have the same actors as before but something just isn’t clicking as well as it did the first time. This is especially true of preacher who has his outrageous personality and energy sucked out of him; that was definitely the biggest disappointment for me here. If you’re going to bring back old characters, it might be a good idea to let them do some decent stuff.

Coming 2 America gives what it promises, but it’s nothing very special and it won’t be a key part Murphy’s legacy. However, it will serve as a reminder, especially to the under-30s, that this talented individual hasn’t spent all his career voicing a CGI donkey.

Director: Craig Brewer
Writers: Eddie Murphy (based on characters created by), Barry W. Blaustein (story by)
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley
Andrew Moodie
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