From left: Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy, Clint Smith and Eddie Murphy in a scene from "Coming 2 America."

Do yourself a favor and revisit “Coming to America” before watching “Coming 2 America,” not because you won’t be able to follow it if you haven’t seen the original, but so that you can remember what makes the first one so special and why the sequel, while fun, just doesn’t quite match it.

“Coming 2 America” feels incredibly safe compared to the 1988 original, which had punchier moments in the fish -out -of -water story starring Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem Jaffar, heir apparent to the throne of the fictional African nation of Zamunda. When he is faced with an arranged marriage on his 21st birthday, he decides to go to America with his best friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall) and learn more about the world at large — and find a wife whom he loves unconditionally.

He succeeds when he finds Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley), whom he eventually wins over and whisks off to his homeland to marry.

“Coming 2 America” picks up exactly 30 years later, on Akeem and Lisa’s wedding anniversary. We find the kingdom bright and as opulent as ever but with more detail (thanks to the film’s bigger budget) for costumes and a set that blends a lot of traditional pan-African styles with a modern flair.

King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) is dying and facing a potential conflict with neighboring Nextdoria and its dictator, General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) because Akeem and Lisa have not had a son, and as such, no heir for Akeem, leaving the kingdom open for an attack after Jaffe dies.

Luckily for Zamunda, Akeem apparently fathered an illegitimate son when he had a drunken tryst with a woman from a bar when he visited America the first time (which we see in a flashback of the combined footage from the original and new scenes with de-aged Murphy and Hall).

Buoyed on by the prospect of a male heir and avoiding war by marrying said heir off to Izzi’s daughter, Akeem and Semmi voyage back to Queens, New York, to find his son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), who turns out to be a ticket scalper struggling to get a real job.

Akeem brings him and his mother Mary (Leslie Jones) back to Zamunda, where Lavelle will embark on a series of traditional — and sometimes dangerous — tests before he can officially be made a prince.

Meanwhile, Akeem’s oldest daughter, Meeka (KiKi Layne), a headstrong and capable woman, is not too thrilled at the concept of this random 30-year-old being given the kingdom just because of the presence of a Y chromosome.

Levelle struggles with his tests and becomes close with his royal groomer, Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha), eventually developing feelings for her.

It’s hard to care a lot about a sequel to a film that came out 30 years ago, but that’s what works for “Coming 2 America.” It was given ample time to nest into the audiences’ memories and to develop a lasting impression. When we see the same heavily made-up characters again, like Clarence, Saul and the lead singer of Sexual Chocolate, Randy Watson (all played by Murphy), or Reverend Brown and Morris (both played by Hall), we feel more joy at seeing them because of the nostalgia factor. Yes, they’re still funny, but when there’s less effort needed on the part of Kenya Barris script to make them stick out.

We also get pretty much every other character to make at least an appearance and a list of cameos from famous Black artists and actors which makes it all the more fun to watch and say “Hey, look! It’s En Vogue!”

And there are themes of the empowerment of women that were absent in the first. They’re nice touches but never fully develop.

The film also neglects to form any deeper connections between the characters than what we’ve already been given. It would have been lovely to see Akeem’s relationship with Meeka be stronger, and for Lavelle and Mirembe to have a few more scenes together.

“Coming 2 America” plays out the same beats and expectations as the first one and attempts to bring it forward in time, which in some cases succeeds, but the royal comedy can never outshine its predecessor and is ultimately just an OK movie.

“Coming 2 America”

110 minutes

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and drug content.

2.5 stars