The paper-thin plot of this movie is much more amusing -- or perhaps much closer to being amusing would be more accurate -- if you saw the original (also a "must-have"), but the plot is NOT the point. I was born in New Orleans in the first half of this century, and I have watched sadly as the music I came to know and love as a child has quietly died (pace, Don McLean).<br /><br />From Taj Mahal's incredibly earthy, a cappella rendition of "John the Revelator" (later given a full-chorus reprise in what, for me, was the zenith of the movie) to the outrageously over-the-top closing "battle of the bands" encore, the music IS the Mississippi, from new Orleans thru Memphis to St. Louis and thence to Chicago (culturally, even if not geographically, a child of "The Father of Waters"). Whenever I feel a twinge of nostalgia, I no longer have to drive down to Memphis; I just drop in this DVD -- and smile.<br /><br />It's obvious to me that the cast of this movie was "on a mission from God" to leave a legacy to those who come after and have never known the real thing. Thanks, guys, ya done good!