Coming 2 America movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: Coming 2 America

Available March 5, 2021 on AMAZON Prime. If you don’t have an Amazon Prime membership yet, here’s a Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial coupon when you click on this link!

RATING: PG-13 (The original was rated R)

LENGTH: 1 hour 49 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

We’ve waited 33 years for a nostalgic sequel to this story. Was it worth the wait? It was going to have a theater release in August 2020, but the pandemic led to Paramount Pictures selling the worldwide rights to Amazon Studios. The original Coming to America had charm and originality, but sadly, this movie has neither. It sounds like Eddie Murphy has high hopes for this one because he has already declared that the next one in the franchise will be filmed when he is 75 years old. Arsenio Hall will be 80.

THINGS I LIKED:

It was fun to see almost the entire cast of the original Coming to America movie come back to pay it homage with a sequel. Sadly, one missing is Madge Sinclair who previously played Queen Aoleon Joffer. She passed away from cancer in 1995. Samuel L. Jackson’s character from the first movie was going to return with a cameo of his robbing McDowell’s again, but Jackson was too busy filming another movie that he didn’t have time. Eriq La Salle, who played Darryl in the original movie was also too busy directing Chicago P.D. Complete Series DVD Season 1-7 Box Set that he wasn’t able to make a cameo performance.
Who doesn’t love James Earl Jones? He and his voice are legendary. In real life, he recorded the “This is CNN” greeting for the station, so you might recognize his voiceover work in this movie when he identifies the Zamunda station by recording, “This is ZNN.” There is also a comment about General Izzi claiming to be the “inspiration for Mufasa”, which is the name of the lion James Earl Jones voiced in The Lion King.
Everyone loves Eddie Murphy. His daughter in real life plays his character’s middle daughter, Omma. Did you notice that Akeem’s oldest daughter’s name is Meeka, which is Akeem spelled backward? If you’re a true Eddie Murphy fan, you’ll notice some Easter-egg moments from other movies like Dolemite, Trading Places, and Delirious.
Jermaine Fowler loved the first Coming to America so much that he recorded the barbershop scenes onto his family’s answering machine so that callers could hear the old men’s banter when they called on the phone!
Singing performances include cameo performances by Terry Ellis, Rhona Bennett, and Cindy Herron as En Vogue, Cheryl James and Pepa as Salt n Pepa, Gladys Knight, and John Legend.
The African costumes were fun and creative.
The movie was mostly filmed at the home of the hip hop star Rick Ross. His house is so huge that they just dressed it up a little to make it look like a palace. He owns a ton of acres too, so even the scenes of the African plains were filmed in his gigantic backyard! For the film, the design crew changed the wallpaper in Rick Ross’ dining room and installed a 60-seat dining room table. Rick Ross loved them both so much that he was able to keep them as a thank-you gift. He also stars in the movie as Nexdorian Commander.
The movie premiered in several locations, including the Queens Drive-In in New York City, a location featured in the original movie and in this sequel. They gave away a swag bag to attendees of the premiere that included a container of Soul Glo.
There are quite a few references to Kenya through words and items in the movie.
Keep watching during the final credits to see some funny outtakes and bloopers and a musical clip from the amazing John Legend!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The movie felt like such a big money grab that I was embarrassed for Eddie Murphy.
Some of the cameo performances felt like Eddie Murphy just owed people a favor or something. Eddie Murphy wanted Tracy Morgan in the movie, even though Arsenio Hall pointed out that he and Eddie were about the same age, so it wouldn’t make sense.
Some of the characters will get on your nerves.
There is some poorly done CGI.
The story is so forced with a nonsensical ending.
I always write down funny lines and interesting lines when I watch movies so I can share them with you, but I didn’t find anything worth noting. Sad, right?