Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the best movie about two shred-head teenagers who have to travel through time to gather historical figures to produce the best history report possible to prevent them from flunking the class and thus not write the music that will one day save the future. Okay, perhaps its the only film to have that exact plot, but it’s definitely a lot of fun and for a brief few years in the early 1990s it was a cultural phenomenon, and the Blu-ray version of the film has finally gotten a release.
If you haven’t seen it, the movie features dimwitted California teenagers Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) along with Rufus (the great George Carlin), who travels back in time from the 27th century to ensure that Bill and Ted will pass their history class and save the future with their music. He lends the duo a time-traveling phone booth to pluck some of history’s great figures out of the past in order to make a history report so awesome that they won’t get an F in the class. It remains as funny as it was in 1989, especially the way the two manage to stumble out of bad situations in the Wild West and medieval times just by being their bumbling, good-natured selves. The dialogue is also classic (“Your stepmom is cute though!” “Shut up, Ted!” “Remember when I asked her to prom?” “Shut UP, Ted!” or “Put them in the Iron Maiden!” “Iron Maiden? EXCELLENT!”), as is watching the various historical figures interact in the world of 1988 California. Overall, it’s one of the most clever and enjoyable films of late 1980s, and well worth repeated viewings.
The Disc
The Original Bill & Ted in Conversation with Chris & Ed — A twenty-minute conversation between Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, who penned both Bill & Ted movies and the (and the script for the possible third film), along with other films on their own and with other collaborators. The two talk about the genesis of the project, which started with them creating the Bill and Ted characters and riffing on the characters by acting them out for hours on end. The original time travel idea was to have Bill and Ted traveling through history and causing every bad event in history, and that Rufus was a 28 year old high school sophomore with a van than inexplicably traveled through time. They cover how they went from writing the script in four days and a year of the script bouncing around Hollywood as they rewrote it. They also briefly touch upon a possible third movie. It’s interesting, but it could easily pared down to a few soundbites because they tend to ramble about the project at length. Still, really insightful on how a script that isn’t an obvious hit ends up making it through the cracks.
Air Guitar Tutorial with Bjorn Turoque & The Rockness Monster — This is exactly what it sounds like, except thirteen minutes long. Both of these men are award-winning air guitarists (seriously), with Bjorn insisting that air guitar is an instrument and how much a “professional air guitarist” needs to sacrifice. The best thing I can say is that this is probably great material for a documentary… and it was (2006’s Air Guitar Nation). However, it’s mostly a waste of time.
One Sweet and Sour Chinese Adventure to Go — This is the premiere episode of the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures animated TV series. It’s not so bad by 1990 Saturday morning cartoon standards, especially since Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and George Carlin did their characters’ voices (for the first of the two seasons, anyway). In this adventure Bill and Ted’s loud shredding causes Missy’s antique Chinese vase to break, so Bill and Ted are off to Ancient China to find a replacement. Boy, they sure speak great English in Ancient China! Keep your ears open and you’ll hear Phil Hartman, too. Actually, it never hit me until watching this episode that Bill & Ted are like the G-rated Beavis and Butthead.
Radio Spots — Three minutes of radio promotional spots for the film. Nothing too interesting here, although the “audience reaction” spot is pretty goofy.
Theatrical Trailer — You know what this is.
Movie Review: A classic comedy that holds up over and over again most excellently (8/10).
Disc Rating: Was this handful of features the best they could do? Though the movie looks and sounds great, there’s no reason to upgrade if you own the DVD (5/10).
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is now available on Blu-ray from MGM
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