Starring Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Spiros Focas
Written By: Mark Rosenthal, Lawrence Konner
Directed By: Lewis Teague
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Buy on Amazon.com link

Just like Romancing the Stone, it’s been years since I saw this movie. Romancing the Stone brought Jack Colton and Joan Wilder together, and this film sees them trying to save their relationship over in Northern Africa. While it has a lot of action, laughs and exciting moments; it just wasn’t the same as the first film.

Jack (Michael Douglas) and Joan (Kathleen Turner) were seen “sailing” into the sunset in Romancing the Stone’, but now the story takes place in Northern Africa. They are both getting tired of the way they are living, and Joan gets whisked away to Africa after getting invited to some kingdom by a Sheik. Jack gets all depressed & drunk and decides to go after her. While in Africa, Joan realizes what’s really going and is kept against her will. While being imprisoned in the Kingdom, she meets a mysterious man who befriends her. They escape and meet up with Jack and Ralph (Danny DeVito), who have teamed up to get this “jewel.” What they don’t realize is the jewel is that mysterious man Joan befriended. All of them have to escape sand storms, knife throwing bandits, survive driving jets through villages, dungeons and treacherous villains going after the jewel.

Sometimes sequels are better than the originals, but I personally didn’t think so with this movie. It just didn’t seem the same as Romancing the Stone. It seemed a little forced, especially with bringing back Danny DeVito’s character Ralph. His character wasn’t that important enough to bring him back for another movie, but it does make for some good comic relief. I just think it was unnecessary. It’s something about having a movie in the Middle East/Northern Africa that doesn’t make this one as appealing to me as it would be in the rainforest. Maybe I just can’t stand sand? But the movie does feel a bit cliche and predictable than the original flick. Joan is more annoying and gets into that typical woman in an action movie role. The film just isn’t as good as the original and it seems like the magic & other things are missing.

Like the Romancing the Stone Special Edition DVD, there are some good bonus features. You have commentary, but I’d rather watch the movie than someone talking over it. The featurettes bring back the original cast as they talk about stuff involving the filming. You can tell they didn’t like filming in Africa because it was hot and sandy. Rounding out the bonus material is deleted scenes, and some other featurettes.

If you like the original film, you MIGHT like the sequel. I didn’t like it as much and it felt like a sequel. It has the same characters, similar plot, but lacks the excitement and originality of the first film. But if you enjoyed this flick and want to see it on a nicer transfer than how it looks on TV; than this is something you should buy.

Features:
Commentary by director Lewis Teague
“Romancing The Nile: A Winning Sequel” Featurette
“Adventures Of A Romance Novelist” Featurette
Deleted Scenes

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color

Subtitles:
Spanish

Favorite Scenes: Driving the plane through the kingdom, the knive throwing guys were cool
Rating: PG
Running Time: 106 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: