Hey dudes and welcome to a bodacious review I’ve got for today (sorry, force of habit)! After 31 years since audiences last saw the excellent duo on their Bogus Journey they will be coming back to Face the Music either at a theater near you or in your own home starting August 28. Truth be told though I had actually not seen either Bill and Ted movie yet I was somewhat intrigued by the long belated third installment which has inexplicably taken this long to come to fruition. It’s always is weird seeing a sequel come so long after the last one that I’m always curious to see how the final product would turn out whether they be good or bad. I’ve have always heard that people have fond memories of watching these as kids so I was curious to see what they were like (plus I thought it would be neat to see Keanu Reeves’s break out role as well). So I was finally able to check out the first one recently (have not seen Bogus Journey yet but maybe I’ll review that when I eventually see it) and I can definitely see why this has gone on to become a cult favorite. Now without further ado let’s review on and join Bill and Ted on their excellent journey through time!
Things start off right away in year 2688 in which there is a Utopian society which exists as it does thanks to the inspiration of the music of the those known as the Two Great Ones whose names are Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan. But in order to ensure the future does indeed come to pass the council sends a man named Rufus back in time to San Dimas, California, make sure they pass their history exam or else they won’t be able to create their music. We then meet the duo themselves as they turn out to be two dim witted high schoolers who are indeed failing their history class and unless they pass Ted’s police captain father plans on sending him to military academy in Alaska and thus ending the duo’s plans to continue their band, “Wyld Stallyns”. Yet just when the two are struggling with how their going to pass the class, Rufus shows up in a time traveling phone booth to help them out. They at first don’t know whether to trust this strange man, but then a version of the duo from a few hours into the future tell them otherwise thus convincing them to go through with his plan. After a brief demonstration that brings a blast from the past (literally) Rufus tells them to use this time machine to help them with their assignment and that time will progress naturally for them and they cannot miss the presentation the next day no matter what. So Bill and Ted head off on an excellent adventure through time with plenty of crazy shenanigans that ensue in the process!
As you could tell this is a pretty ridiculous movie with an extremely silly story and sense of humor and one that is absolutely a product of its time. Yet it’s just those reasons that make it a fun one to watch. It just has this charm to it that I can’t help but find myself being amused by and the writers clearly knew what type of movie they were making and it feels like their inviting the audience to just go along for the ride. Much of the comedy stems from the complete idiocy of our two leads from their strange way of thinking things out to their lack of knowledge concerning basic historical facts (though there are times where they do end up doing something weirdly smart) and it is really enjoyable seeing what kind of situation they may end up in next as the parts where they go back in time are the highlights of the feature. It also works pretty well as a spoof of time travel stories poking fun of the genre and the rules that come with it while also making sure the time traveling dynamic makes sense. Granted I’m not too big of an expert when it comes to those sort of things but I’m sure any number of time travel aficionados can deal with that better than I can lol. It also largely works mainly because Bill, and Ted themselves are not portrayed as complete jerks. Naive yes but it’s kind of like Dumb and Dumber where their intentions are not really malicious, their not rude on purpose to the people around them and they I do like that they do remain friends throughout the film’s runtime with no second act break up to slow down the breezy pacing. That and the stakes at hand (Bill and Ted having to pass the exam or else the future will change) do keep things investing. While I don’t think it’s some kind of comedy masterpiece it is an often clever little movie that does garner a number of nice laughs (the sidewalk scene, Bill and Ted’s meeting with Socrates, the mall sequences, and the climactic presentation got the biggest from me) even if the story itself is pretty thin (though the pacing helps), and many of the other characters are the kinds of stereotypes you’d expect from a movie like this (disapproving dad, strict but well meaning teacher, etc.).
The movie actually does contain a good amount of special effects used sparingly throughout, really only in the scenes that involve the duo traveling through time in the telephone booth. The effects themselves are decent for the most part (if obviously low budget) and I like how it’s never overused. The production design was also really fun as it does indeed feel like we’re in different time periods like the old west, medieval England, or Ancient Greece and the same goes for the costumes as well. We may not see much from the future world though as we really only see the council in just one room but from what little we see there is quite a bit of style in the look of it and the use of techno music. It also helps that director, Stephen Herek’s direction has a lot of energy to it and it is appropriate given the proceedings. Speaking of which though that’s also the perfect way to describe the two lead performances. Like I said before this was indeed the breakout role for Keanu Reeves and it certainly is wild seeing him play a much different role compared to some of his later more grounded/serious work and it’s honestly a lot of fun. Plus their interactions with all of the historical figures especially with Billy the Kid (Dan Shor), Socrates (Tony Steedman), Abraham Lincoln (Robert V. Barron), and Napoleon (played by Terry Camilleri and the one who gets his own mini subplot as he explores San Dimas with Ted’s little brother) among many others, are a lot of fun and the screenplay does take advantage of them being in a different time period and it does lead to a very entertaining mall sequence which is one of my favorite parts of the movie. Everyone else is fine for the most part with George Carlin’s Rufus being the one who moves the plot forward the most and also has his moments as well while people like Bernie Casey as the understandably concerned history teacher, and Hal Landon Jr. as Ted’s disapproving, police captain, father play their familiar roles well enough though naturally the focus always remains on Bill and Ted and their Excellent Adventure.
Overall I had an enjoyable time with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure as it is a charming little adventure with plenty of amusing moments, is well paced, has two likable leads, and is just a good time and a pretty good time travel comedy. It may not break much new ground, and there are times where it does show it’s age but it’s never dull and had many elements that help make it unique (like the whole Bill & Ted being the inspirations for the future aspect) and the writers absolutely know the type of movie this is and just had fun with it. So if you haven’t seen this and want a something that’s really entertaining then this should do the trick as it is a really enjoyable ride. Not sure when I’ll see Bogus Journey (may not be for a while but I’ll try to get to it when I can) but I am curious as to how Face the Music turns out as it is coming out a very long time after it’s predecessor. Here’s hoping it’s closer in quality to something like Anchorman 2 (which I find very underrated) than Dumb and Dumber Too in terms of long belated comedy sequels.
Rating: B+
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