The African monarch Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States and must return to America to meet this unexpected heir and build a relationship with his son.
Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is faced with upholding his father’s legacy as the King of Zamunda once he dies. Akeem only has daughters and thus does not have a male heir to the throne. However, he finds out that he has an illegitimate son named Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), so he and his trusted adviser, Seemi (Arsenio Hall), must go back to America to retrieve him.
Though this movie is called “Coming 2 America,” the title is a bit misleading as we are only in America for about 15 minutes out of the whole movie. The sequel mostly takes place in Zamunda, and unfortunately, is not as funny as the original film. What got the biggest laugh out of me was Murphy and Hall’s return as the side characters in the My-T-Sharp barbershop in Queens.
With the death of his father, Akeem is a bit lost. Despite marrying for love and breaking tradition in the first film, Akeem wants to uphold tradition to make his father proud. So, he makes his son his heir, though his eldest daughter has basically trained for it her whole life. General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), ruler of the neighboring kingdom, Nexdoria, proposes an arranged marriage between his daughter and the newfound Prince Lavelle. Lavelle is from Queens and finds himself out of his depth in Zamunda. He only finds solace when talking with his groomer, Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha), and starts to fall for her. Is this starting to feel familiar at all?
“Coming to America” is such a delightfully funny film that’s full of heart. The sequel is lacking that heart, though there are some threadbare traces of it, namely when everything is resolved with a nice little bow at the end of the film. And though Akeem’s son takes a similar journey as his father did in the first movie, he does not possess the same earnestness and naiveté Murphy brought to the role. The retread is lazy and boring, but that’s not to say Fowler didn’t do a good job in the role, but he did not stand out.
Kiki Layne plays Akeem’s eldest daughter, Meeka. She is a warrior who wants to rule Zamunda and resents her newfound brother. Unfortunately, not much else is known about her or Akeem’s two other daughters. And really there is not much for any new characters to do in the film including Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan, who play Lavelle’s family from Queens. Every character felt wasted and the actors felt like they were going through the motions, including Murphy and Hall, though Snipes was a bright spot.
Overall, “Coming 2 America” is another unnecessary sequel, but there is some fun to be had. There are some big cameos, some deep cuts, and some shoddy CGI. While the story is lacking, it is nice to see these characters again. Though if you want to see a return to form for Eddie Murphy, I would suggest watching Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name” rather than “Coming 2 America.”
Available on Amazon Prime Video Friday, March 5th
