Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Barnard Hughes, James Coburn, and Lauryn Hill
Directed by Bill Duke
Music and Lyrics by various
Sister Act was such a smash hit, a sequel was likely inevitable. They got most of the original cast on board, including Whoopi Goldberg. They also brought in several Broadway veterans, tough guy Coburn, and a cast of talented kids to show what happens when Sister Mary Clarence is called back to save her old school from closing. Let's start with her Vegas lounge act to see how she does this...and changes hers and the kids' lives in the process...
The Story: The Sisters of St. Katherine's now work for St. Francis Academy in San Francisco. The school is in danger of foreclosure, unless it can improve its standing among the archdiocese. Like St. Katherine's, it's a small school in a low-income neighborhood with unruly kids. Delores (Goldberg) discovers this the hard way when the head friar Father Maurice (Hughes) convinces her to don a habit again as the school's new music teacher. The kids ignore her and play pranks, until she lays down the law. Most of them are there to get easy As and stay, but popular Rita Louise Wilson (Hall) walks out. Mary Clarence finally brings her back when they fix up the music room and she channels their spontaneous rap sessions into a full-fledged choir.
The kids so impress the school board, Mary Clarence convinces them to enter the All-State Choir Championship, though head of the archdiocese Mr. Crisp (Coburn) disapproves of the entire deal. Rita's mother Florence (Sheryl Lee Ralph) is also concerned that her daughter will come to a bad end like her father if she tries singing. Mary Clarence believes in them, though...and so do the other nuns and friars. Everyone bands together to earn money for the trip, then make sure the kids get on that stage.
The Song and Dance: Despite using the original cast, this is a very different story, but it does have its charms. The talented kids really go to town with the numbers. Hill shows the vocal prowess that later made her one of the most popular rap and R&B stars of the late 90's and early 2000's. Look for another talented teen, Jennifer Love Hewitt, among the girls. The monks, including Thomas Gottschalk as Father Wolfgang and stage star Michael Jeter as Father Ignatious, steal the show with their wacky antics.
Favorite Number: Once again, we start off with another 60's girl-group medley, this time with a slightly glitzier show in Vegas that ends with the nuns onstage and Delores on a swinging moon. "Oh Happy Day," the montage number that shows how the kids came to respect Sister Mary Clarence, starts off with her teaching them "la la la," and comes to a showstopping conclusion with them having a ball in front of the entire school. In between, we see them bonding as they clean up and paint the school's music room. "Ball of Confusion" is Delores' outdoor number with the nuns as they perform for a huge crowd to earn money for the trip to the All-Choir Championship.
The movie ends with two different - and equally good - versions of "Joyful, Joyful." The Chapman College Choir gives it a more traditional soft sell that's more in keeping with the song. When the St. Francis kids get to it, they launch into a delightful gospel-rap that includes a brief re-written version of "What Have You Done With Him Lately?" by Janet Jackson. Hill and the kids have such a blast with that number, you understand why they eventually won.
And don't cut out before the end credits! The cast performs "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," with the monks and nuns doing Busby Berkeley around the names, and it's the funniest number in the entire film.
What I Don't Like: The story is cliches of the highest order, especially compared to the witness protection program plot from the first film. It's basically an updated, rapping version of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movies of the 30's and early 40's. Hill is the only kid you really get to know well beyond their brief introductions when Mary Clarence takes over the class. In fact, there's so much focus on the kids and the monks and their gags, Goldberg doesn't really have much to do. Coburn's nasty uptight school administrator is no replacement for the gangsters who provided genuine tension to the original film.
The Big Finale: The numbers are reason enough to catch this if you're a fan of Hill or Goldberg or loved the first movie.
Home Media: Same deal - solo DVD can be found for under $5, is on Blu-Ray in the US with the original, streams on Disney Plus with a subscription.
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