By Hollywood Hernandez
It’s been 30 years in the making but finally one of the most eagerly anticipated sequels in movie history is available on Prime Video (free to its subscribers), COMING 2 AMERICA. The movie is set in present day Zamunda and we catch up with Prince Akeem(Eddie Murphy), his queen (Shari Headley) and his family of three daughters who are well-versed in the culture of their native land.
At the start of the movie King Jaffe Joffer is on his deathbed and reveals a long held secret to his son; he has a son and an heir to the throne of Zamunda living in the United States. After the king holds a big final celebration for himself, which features some big name talent (I won’t ruin the surprise), he dies and Akeem and Semmi, with Arsenio Hall back in his role as the prince’s best friend, head to Queens to find his son and the rightful heir to the crown of Zamunda.
Once in Queens they are re-united with all of the old crew from the original 1988 film. With the help of the men at the barber shop Akeem ventures out to find his son. He finds him outside of Madison Square Garden scalping tickets to the New York Knicks game, and tells him that he is his father.
The young Prince Lavelle, played by Jermaine Fowler, is skeptical and brings him home where he finds his mother Mary (Leslie Jones) and his Uncle Reem, played by Tracy Morgan. After Semmi spills a briefcase, filled with thousands of dollars and gold, Lavelle and his mother Mary decide to accept Akeem’s invitation to move to Zamunda and experience the life of royalty.
Back in Zamunda, Akeem has problems that he has to deal with. General Izzi, portrayed by Wesley Snipes, is still angry because his sister, who still jumps on one foot, wasn’t chosen by Akeem to be his wife.
Izzi, who discovers Akeem has a “bastard son,” devises a plan to match up his daughter, the incredibly sexy Bopoto, played by Teyanna Taylor, with the young prince, to create an alliance with his neighboring country and Zamunda.
Of course Murphy and Hall reprise the characters they played in the original movie and in the sequel the story also involves a strong supporting cast who are more involved in the storyline, rather than relying so heavily on Akeem and Semmi to move along the story.
The story has a younger feel to it with the help of all of the younger generation in the film, which was a wise move because the story has so much more energy than if it was just about a bunch of 50-year-old characters.
In my opinion, COMING 2 AMERICA is a better movie than the original. It’s the excellent big cast of new actors that gives it that something extra. It may be because the film was so eagerly anticipated but I loved it. COMING 2 AMERICA is hilarious and in no way disappoints.
The film is rated PG with a run time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate this movie a JUMBO! You can only see it on Prime Video.
