starring : dan aykroyd ( elwood blues ) , john goodman ( mack mcteer/mighty mack blues ) , joe morton ( cabel chamberlain ) , j . evan bonifant ( buster ) , and just about every blues artist you can think of , both past and present directed by : john landis , written by : dan aykroyd and john landiseverybody . . . needs somebody . . . everybody . . . the blues brothers . it's a classic . it's john landis . it's john belushi . it's dan aykroyd . it's blues music . it's great comedy . now it's 18 years later . now it's blues brothers 2000 . it's john landis . it's dan aykroyd . it's john goodman . it's joe morton . it's j . evan bonifant . it's blues music . it's good comedy . blues brothers 2000 starts off just the way you'd want it to - with a card that says " for " followed by the names of john candy , cab calloway , and john belushi . then , with " john the revelator " playing over the soundtrack , we watch elwood blues emerge from prison . he stands and waits for his brother jake ( originally played by john belushi ) , until the prison warden ( frank oz , who was the corrections officer in the original film ) approaches him , puts his hand on elwood's shoulder , and says , simply , " i'm sorry . " elwood understands . he bows his head , silently , in grief . it's a moment that reminds us that these characters , as screwball as they may seem , still have a heart and soul . elwood recieves a letter from sister mary stigmata - now mother stigmata - asking him to come see her . he does , and when he arrives , he learns that his surrogate father , curtis ( cab calloway in the first film ) , has also passed on . it's then that elwood realizes that he's lost his family , and , left yearning for his old friends , he decides that it's time , once again , to get the band back together . but mother stigmata wants him to a mentor to a young troublemaker , buster . and elwood wants his sort-of step-brother ( the sort-of gets explained by stigmata and elwood through a couple of dialogue sequences ) , cabel , who happens to be an illinois state police captain , to join the band . and pretty soon elwood meets a bartender who can actually sing pretty well , mack mcteer . and of course , mack joins the band . and pretty soon , also , the police are after the band , as are the russian mafia , a group of white supremacists , and a collection of orphanage workers who fear elwood's kidnapped buster . and they're all chasing the newly reassembled blues brothers band across state after state as they head to a " battle of the bands " contest in new orleans . naturally this results in lots of wacky chase scenes and the like . it's a blues brothers speciality . the comedy here is good . it's fun . but it's not on the same level as the hilarious , classic stuff from the first film . it does , however , recreate the feel of the first film , and that's important . the city backdrops that line all the scenes as elwood travels through chicago during the first half of the movie add to that feeling , too . the music , though , is pretty much on the same level , and offers a wider variety of blues acts from both today and yesterday , ranging from aretha franklin to blues traveler . it's great fun , very exhilerating , and is sure to get you moving to the beat with some area of your person . it's probably the film's strongest aspect . as far as annoying aspects , well , the fantasy in this film is heavier than in the first . both films ignore the laws of physics in favor of wild comedy , but this one also tosses magic into the mix periodically . of course , that's not too hard to accept , really - this is the blues brothers , you weren't expecting something serious , were you ? but in all of this , the movie still has an underlying heart and soul to it . in the original , it was about getting the money to save the orphanage . now , it's about elwood getting a new structure for his life . even if this isn't a major theme , there remains something satisfying about seeing elwood build himself a new family to hold his life together , out of old friends from the band , plus new friends like the large-yet-shy mack and the lovable buster , who feels the blues in him even at age 10 , and steals a lot of scenes . out of the four major players , cabel is the least characterized , but it doesn't really matter , because joe morton always holds a presence on the screen . the sign that , even if it isn't a classic , this is still a good movie , is that it leaves you wanting more . does that mean there should be another sequel ? i'm not sure about that . i don't know where else the band could go from here . even this one borrows a number of elements from the first movie . and while that's not a serious problem for this sequel , as it still takes those elements in new directions , one has to note that , if these elements were used a third time , they most likely wouldn't be able to hold up . so , see blues brothers 2000 . enjoy it . it's fun , and the music is great . maybe it's not nearly as hilarious as the classic first one , but it still manages to be funny , and it's just likable . most importantly , even though john belushi's wild antics are obviously missed , this manages to be a respectable , well-done follow-up to the blues brothers , despite what many naysayers feared . to have that be pulled off , after 18 years , is something to be proud of . john landis has made his best movie in a long time , and it looks that , perhaps , dan aykroyd , thanks to this and his memorable-yet-smaller role in grosse pointe blank ( 1997 ) , may be entering into his renaissance after a long dry period . 
