Newly-crowned King Akeem and his trusted confidante Semmi embark on a hilarious journey to find Akeem’s firstborn son at the place where it all began.

When I heard about Coming To America 2, I had high hopes especially considering that most of the cast from the first movie would feature again but what I looked forward to the most was seeing one of my most beloved actors again, Wesley Snipes.

The sequel though is nothing like the original, there are a lot of cliché moments that pale in comparison to the first. Akeem who was seen as the prince who’d bring change to the country of Zamunda only brought McDowell’s and had regressed to the son who wanted to be every bit like his father King Jaffe Joffer.

It’s been over 30 years since the 1988 film, Akeem has three daughters with his wife Lisa McDowell and King Jaffe Joffer is on death’s door yet the man is still displeased with his son Akeem for not having an heir that will take over over Zamunda after Akeem.

But fortunately for Akeem, his days in America bore more fruit than he’d thought. As Akeem and Semmi were in America looking for the future wife of the prince, there was an incident that resulted in the birth of Akeem’s firstborn son Lavelle. 

Upon hearing the news, Akeem denies the claims of having a bastard son as he does not remember sleeping with anyone during his trip to America but the one to fill in the missing pieces is his trusty confidante Semmi who details the events that happened to Akeem during their royal search.

There is also news that someone might try to assassinate the newly-crowned King Akeem, that person is none other than General Izzi played by (Wesley Snipes) for cursing his sister Imani Izzi who was supposed to marry the prince in the first film. She’s still pretending to act like a dog since Akeem asked her to lol… What an entrance mind you.

The general although comes up with a proposal for the Akeem, as the King doesn’t have a son to his knowledge, how about his son (Idi Izzi) marries his eldest daughter Princess Meeka? That way, both countries can avoid war and prosper together. Akeem is not fond of that proposal and quickly decides to go searching for his “Bastard” son Lavelle where it all began in Queens.

Lavelle and his mother and uncle (Reem) are caught off guard when Akeem returns to Queens still claiming to be of royalty, they didn’t take the man seriously the first time lol, they thought it was his way of picking up ladies. Now that I think about it, this movie is crazy lol…

Imagine at the age of 30, being taken in by royalty and now you are expected to behave and express yourself differently in a matter of days. That’s an impossible task handed down to Lavelle who recently finds out that his heir to the Joffer Lineage. His recently discovered truth drives the man crazy with pride but he also develops doubt when he’s asked to take the test to prove his of the Joffer lineage.

It’s during these moments that he bonds with Mirembe and discovers that he’d rather leave everything behind for the one who holds his heart, this reminds Akeem of his younger days when he could resist his father’s wishes for his own as he did back then for Lisa.

This film was entirely made for closure in my opinion, for not only Akeem but the country of Zamunda as a whole. Princess Meeka could finally become Queen of Zamunda with or without a husband after her father’s passing. Lavelle and his wife would become diplomats for Zamunda while living in America. The change was needed and Akeem become the King the people had wanted.

The first was more thought-provoking and funnier in ways the sequel could not compete with but all in all, the storytelling was straightforward, I do feel some moments were rushed and could have been addressed in other ways, essentially what I’m talking about is regarding the relationship between Mirembe and Lavelle. I had no time to connect with both of them before they tried to elope.

But I loved seeing every moment General Izzi appeared on the scene, favorite moments of the film lol.

Thanks for reading…