DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
WRITERS: Barry W Blaustein, David Sheffield, Justin Kanew, Eddie Murphy, Kenya Barris
STARRING: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Kiki Lane, James Earl Jones, Leslie Jones, Wesley Snipes, Morgan Freeman, Shari Headley, Teyana Taylor, Jermaine Fowler, Louie Anderson, John Amos, Tracy Morgan and Bella Murphy
Who else is super-excited that after 30 years, we are finally traveling back to Zamunda with Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), his friend and sidekick Semmi (Arsenio Hall), and it seems that Akeem’s Father, King Joffer (James Earl Jones) has some strict rules that he must obey, if he ever plans to be taking over the thrown of his land someday…
And to everyone’s surprise back in Zamunda, it seems that Akeem really did sew some of his Royal oats during his last trip to the States, thus giving him an heir from a one-night stand with Mary (Leslie Jones) producing his newly discovered son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler). Excited by this new discovery, and hell bent on making his son fit to be King of Zamunda someday, Akeem finds himself meeting with much resistance on this newcomer taking over the throne, especially from his oldest daughter Meeka (Kiki Layne), and his American beauty Queen Lisa (Shari Headley), as he should have at least considered his eldest daughter taking on this responsibility!
And as the adventure continues in Zamunda, it seems that Akeem had better take heed to the wishes of the ladies in his life, as General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) has plans to figure out a way to make sure that his children are considered in the arranged marriages that need to take place throughout the land…
Filled with every last character that we loved from the original film, Coming 2 America not only turns out being the ultimate blast from the past, but this storyline and its new characters seem so natural throughout, it’s as if we never left Zamunda behind. Murphy is exactly as perfect as I hoped he would be, stepping back into the roles of Akeem/Clarence/Saul and the fabulous musical legend, Randy Watson too! Arsenio doesn’t miss a beat either, stepping back into the roles of Semmi/Morris/Reverend Brown and Baba too. The only thing that set me back at this point, with this fabulous film, and in seeing Murphy and Hall reprise these roles, is that it seems as if neither of them have aged a day, causing me to reflect on my own reflection in the mirror, which doesn’t seem to have boded so quite so well the past 30 years, but anyway, back to the film… It’s also super-fabulous that Murphy convinced all of the actors from the original to join him again for this joy ride, including James Earl Jones, John Amos, Louie Anderson, Paul Bates and our favorite American Beauty, Shari Headley too! And get ready to embrace all the new, fabulous characters this time around as well, as Kiki Layne, Leslie Jones, Wesley Snipes, Jermaine Fowler and Tracy Morgan just seem to add to the depth of the storyline this time around, thus bringing us many new reasons to totally enjoy this fantastic new sequel. I was so extremely happy by all the joy I felt viewing this film at its advanced screening this week, that I just couldn’t wait to share with all of you, that you have to make plans to catch COMING 2 AMERICA when it hits on Amazon Prime Video TODAY 3/5, as this is definitely one of those films that you just cannot miss viewing!
5 STARS
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 