  Among type IIP supernovae there are a few events that resemble the
well-studied supernova 1987A produced by the blue supergiant in the Large
Magellanic Cloud. We study a peculiar supernova 2000cb and compare it with the
supernova 1987A. We carried out hydrodynamic simulations of the supernova in an
extended parameter space to describe its light curve and spectroscopic data.
The hydrogen H-alpha and H-beta lines are modeled using a time-dependent
approach. We constructed the hydrodynamic model by fitting the photometric and
spectroscopic observations. We infer a presupernova radius of 35 Rsun, an
ejecta mass of 22.3 Msun, an explosion energy of 4.4x10^{51} erg, and a
radioactive Ni-56 mass of 0.083 Msun. The estimated progenitor mass on the main
sequence lies in the range of 24-28 Msun. The early H-alpha profile on day 7 is
consistent with the density distribution found from hydrodynamic modeling,
while the H-alpha line on day 40 indicates an extended Ni-56 mixing up to a
velocity of 8400 km/s. We emphasize that the dome-like light curves of both
supernova 2000cb and supernova 1987A are entirely powered by radioactive decay.
This is unlike normal type IIP supernovae, the plateau of which is dominated by
the internal energy deposited after the shock wave propagation through the
presupernova. We find signatures of the explosion asymmetry in the photospheric
and nebular spectra. The explosion energy of supernova 2000cb is higher by a
factor of three compared to supernova 1987A, which poses a serious problem for
explosion mechanisms of type IIP supernovae.
