Der Prinz aus Zamunda

It must take a lot of hard work to play multi characters film,and the hard work of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall really pay off.They take a very unique idea for a film,play most of the characters in it,and the results are nothing short of hilarious.Murphy plays (among others), Prince Akeem of Zumunda.Akeem,discouraged with the arranged marriage tradition of his beloved country,seeks to find the true meaning of love in America.The typical fish out of water style here is worked to perfection by Murphy,as well as Hall.Also excellent are James Earl Jones(as always),and Madge Sinclair as King Jaffe and Queen Aoleon, Akeem's parents.Jones and Sinclair would later portray husband and wife again 6 years later,as the parents of Simba in The Lion King,a little trivia for those of you who may not have known.There is a clever tie-in involving Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy,portraying their characters from another Murphy film,Trading Places.A unique story,great character acting and a great supporting cast make Coming to America great fun to watch.

In Germany the movie is called Prince from Zamunda (and the sequel just got a 2 added to the title). And that Prince being played by none other than Eddie Murphy. Back when I was little when I watched Eddie Murphy movies, I always saw them dubbed in German. He has quite the high pitched voice, which may or may not have certain ... meaning, but let's not delve into what they were doing back in the day and how this can be viewed nowadays.

I've never been to New York, but like the Prince it is a dream of mine. He did realize that dream - and probably had a similar stay as I would have! Me because I wouldn't have any money, he because he wanted to get away from all the privileges and see what "real life" is like. Which also includes working and bathing himself (a joke that is quite sexual and has the nudity that was one of the factors that led to the R rating).

Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy both play many roles in this and have quite some fun (even in drag, which gets sort of reprised in the sequel for an inciting incident). Generally speaking there are quite a lot of good people here - and knowing that Wesley Snipes almost got the role of Eddies nemesis in this movie is more than funny. It worked out for everybody though.

The movie is not entirely PC, but Eddies character really going out of his way to empower women and what their role in society/Zamunda. The opening shot looked like a matte painting and then we get dragged into the palace with quite a skillful shot ... John Landis as you know and expect from him.

A nice throwback to the 80s (hairstyles and such), although some parts of New York probably still look like this. There are other people who are better judges on that. Good comedy, if you are not too easily offended

COMING TO AMERICA (1988) *** Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley, John Amos, Eriq La Salle, Louie Anderson. Murphy does a fine job as an African prince unhappy about his upcoming nuptials to a woman he has never met so he sets off to New York to find his true love (and queen) with some sweet moments as well as comic (thanks largely to his and Hall's neat hat trick of playing several different characters thanks to the miracle of Rick Baker's make up). Look sharply for Vondie Curtis Hall (of tv's "Chicago Hope") as an overly welcoming fellow native stateside; Cuba Gooding Jr. in a blink-and-you'll miss cameo (getting a haircut) and the clever inserting of Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy as the Randolph Brothers from Murphy's and director John Landis' previous joint effort "Trading Places". Best bit: Murphy becoming a real New Yorker and greeting a screaming abusive neighbor with "Yes! Yes! ... and F**K YOU TOO!!!"

...and I loved it. Had to refresh my memory before I see C2A. It's nuts how many familiar-now names were in that one; Cuba Gooding Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Louie Anderson, John Amos, etc. For a 1988 movie, it was excellent. Hoping part 2 is as good if not better.

Such a well aged classic that is still as funny as it was, probably more than what I first watched it. Murphy is just a magician in this movie and so well supported by the rest of the cast.