Pure Country 2: The Gift

Pure Country 2: The Gift isn't a bad movie. But since it has nothing in common with Pure Country, it should have had a different name. Well, George Strait was in both movies, but in Pure Country, he was playing the character Dusty Chandler. In Pure Country 2: The Gift he's playing himself. Strangely enough, he doesn't sing even one song in Pure Country 2: The Gift. That, in my mind, is a bigger gaffe than the one made by the Lesley Ann Warren version of Cinderella. Ginger Rogers was in that version and she danced for less than a minute. Not to have George Strait sing even part of a song is just wrong.

The plot is fairly simple. Three angels, played by Michael McKean, Cheech Marin and Bronson Pinchot, are about to send the gift of an amazing voice to a baby on earth. The gift comes with three rules:
1) don't lie
2) always be fair
3) never break a promise
The recipient is a newborn baby girl named Bobbie Thomas, whose mother dies in childbirth. Bobbie's gift reveals itself in childhood. As an adult, Bobbie (played by Katrina Elam) decides she's had enough of small town Kentucky life and heads to Nashville to break into country music. Ella, the African-American woman who raised Bobbie, reminds her of the three rules before she leaves.

Nashville wasn't what she expected. Everybody who isn't in country music wants to get in. Since she's had experience as a waitress, she decides that's what she'll do until she can break in. She's finally hired at a sushi shop. The owner asks her if she's a singer. The other staff members frantically send signals to her to say "No." Immediately thunder roars and rain starts pelting down. When Bobbie calls Ella later, Ella only reminds her of the last two rules. It turns out the other employees are a country band - yes, an all-Japanese country band - and she starts singing with them. The sushi shop owner, Mr. Morita, has known about their musical ambitions all along and is now their manager.

One of his regular customers is involved in country music and sees they have a future in the industry. He tells Bobbie that he's going to replace Mr. Morita as manager. And the band has to go as well, as they're not professional enough. He only wants Bobbie. In spite of her insistence that it's not fair, she goes along with him. Yep, more peals of thunder. She's now broken two of the three rules.

She hits the big time and is ready to record a music video. She sees a photo of a cowboy she'd met before moving to Nashville and decides he's the one to star in the video. She invites him to a concert, but he doesn't think he can make it since he'll be at a rodeo and if he makes the finals in bull riding, he can't be there. She tells him, "I'm pulling for the bull."

He makes it to the concert. She's the opening act for George Strait. Later, when Bobbie is a guest on a country music TV show, her cowboy is brought out - unknown to either him or Bobbie in advance - and introduced as the cowboy she hand-picked to be in the music video. Another surprise awaits her after the commercial break. They tracked down her long-lost father and have a reunion on camera. It turns out he's become an alcoholic and tells Bobbie she's better off without him around. She promises him she'll always be there to help him through.

Her father turns out to be a nasty drunk. She tells him she hates him and never wants to see him again. With the help of George Strait, he's removed from her bus and sent away. More peals of thunder as she heads to the stage. In a scene that reminded me of Ursula taking Ariel's voice in Disney's Little Mermaid, the gift - her amazing voice - is taken back. A doctor tells her she should never have been able to sing in the first place. Broken, she goes back home. Ella tells her she has to learn to sing with her heart.

Bobbie does her best to make amends with everyone she's hurt. Ella passes away in the midst of this. Bobbie organizes a fund raiser to help her cowboy's ranch for autistic children. She starts to sing at the end, and, to the surprise of the angels, the voice is given back to her.

It's a fun movie, even though it should have had a different name.