Orion Pictures
The most excellent duo is back! After 29 years, Bill and Ted return after their bogus journey through Heaven and Hell. Growing up, Bill and Ted were a part of my childhood. I constantly watched Excellent Adventure and occasionally Bogus Journey. Of the two, Excellent Adventure was by far my favorite and I always wanted to see the two back on the big screen. Although I didn’t get to see their newest film on the big screen, seeing them together again was worth the wait.
Bill and Ted have spent many years trying to create the song that supposedly would unite the world. After many attempts, the band has yet to find that perfect song. A visitor from the future (Kristen Schaal) informs them that their time is running out and if they don’t make the future song, life will end.
The one thing I appreciate about the two sequels is that the stories make sense to move Bill and Ted closer to their song that unite the world. Even though the second film was darker compared to Excellent Adventure, it made sense that someone wanted to come along and alter the future. With the third film, as Bill and Ted are well into their adult lives, they haven’t created the song that will unite the world and are struggling to make sense of everything that is going on around them. I was worried that a third film would ruin the franchise and just be another comedy that came out years after the original and have nothing to offer but I was completely wrong.
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter once again are great as Bill and Ted. It’s like they have been playing the characters their whole lives. Part of them are still clueless but they have also matured … just a bit. I find their dedication to write the song admirable since their past adventures and journeys meant a lot to them. Since they have focused so much on crafting the perfect song, it has affected their relationships with the princesses and Death. We see in the beginning of the film that their fame has died out and now are playing any gigs they can to test out their new music. This is honestly the best route you could take the characters since the last film was in 1991.
Orion Pictures
Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine play Thea and Billie, Bill and Ted’s daughters, and they perfectly resemble them. Lundy-Paine is scary good at acting as a daughter of Ted. The way she moves her hand and talks is just how Bill acts. I totally would love to see a spinoff with Thea and Billie since they were a surprising part in the film. Their journey through time to get famous musicians like Louie Armstrong and Jimmi Hendrix to help out their dads harkened back to the first film where Bill and Ted met famous people. The film was a mixture of the first two films with the daughters’ adventure and the exploration of Hell.
The film blended multiple storylines seamlessly. Part of the story was Bill and Ted trying to find a version of their future selves that had created the most bodacious song and the other part of the story was dedicated to the daughters finding important musicians to help their dads. I never felt that one story was taking away from the other story, which helped flesh out some of the minor characters. There is also a smaller story involving the princesses, but that was hardly explored and I didn’t care much about it.
I was so happy that William Sadler was able to return as Death. He was one of my favorite minor characters in Bogus Journey and even though he had a limited role in the new film, it was still fun to revisit the character. There was even a nice tribute to George Carlin, who played Rufus in the first two films.
Most films that comes out years after their original film don’t work. For example, Dumb & Dumber Too, Zoolander 2, and Anchorman 2 don’t come close to the original films that came before them. Luckily Bill and Ted Face the Music didn’t suffer from the same problems those films had.
It was exciting to revisit the characters in a new part of their lives, but it was also a nice way to end the trilogy.
Bill & Ted Face the Music has a run time of 1 hour 25 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some language.
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