i dont think ive laughed at something that much in a very long time

AND it had many great messages.

the one i loved the most was

i don’t need you to tell me who i am. 

ironic since Black folk in the US have struggled with identity ever since we were forced to live here, and often told to go back to Africa

well here in this film and in the original which was released 30 years ago, it is by voluntarily going back and forth from the motherland to America does Eddie Murphy’s character discover who he really is.

showing that sometimes it helps to be a stranger in a strange land to see the light.

another theme i learned was about Power, another thing Blacks have struggled with in the US.

in the previous film Murphy plays a prince, here he becomes king, and yet many of the idealistic beliefs that he held when he wasn’t on the hot seat, disappeared once he reached the throne.

how often have we seen this with leaders be they in politics or in the boardroom?

how often have we seen our peers rise from the ranks talking bout change but when they actually have the ability to make change, rarely do

out of fear that the structure that provided them privilege would be upset if they followed through with their original plans.

it’s wild when the great comedians of our day like Sasha Baron Cohen and now Eddie Murphy are leading the way, in subtle and not so subtle ways to show us how hypocritical we are when we say we want things to be different but then fight to keep the status quo.

great film. true to its original, and then some.