Skip to main content

Review: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - 1989


Story - Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

Cast - Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

Crew - Stephen Herek (Director), Chris Matheson (Writer), Ed Solomon (Writer)

Runtime - 90 minutes

         

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a hilarious movie that uses the concept of time travel and takes it to the next level. This movie is a perfect combination of goofiness and taking stuff seriously. I don't think I've ever seen a movie like this before, other '80s teen movies take stuff too far in either direction. 

The use of characters from another time and bringing them to "the present" is a concept used in many movies -At points, this film reminded me of Mr. Peabody and Sherman- but while those movies use those characters they feel the need to continue stereotyping such historical figures or make them incompetent or dumb, here we see them retain some of their personality, making their interactions with real-world objects and situations endearing. For example, Joan of Arc, In this movie she feels so relatable as a girl who, by the situation where she lived, didn't or couldn't enjoy herself as a teenage girl, here we see her wearing comfy clothes and being amazed at the aerobics parlor at the mall, such an amazing depiction of her character that I don't think I've ever seen in any other place. If that was another movie they would probably put her in a beauty salon or even poke fun at her religious beliefs but they abstain from doing so and that's why I love how she is shown here.

At a 90-minute runtime, this movie finishes with an awesome presentation of the character's opinion of San Dimas -the place where Bill and Ted are from-, leaving us satisfied with what we have seen and leaving room for more adventures. I understand there are two more movies set in this universe but sadly lack the same critical and audience acclamation as the first one. I will try to make time to see the rest of the movies because this one left me completely astonished. 

I give this movie a strong recommendation and I believe the people who will love it the most are the ones who enjoy shows like Regular Show. This is basically a live-action version of Regular Show.



         

Final Score -5/5

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Resan (The Journey) - 1987

  Story  -   Petter Watkins' global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it, as well as a meditation on the inherent bias of the media, and documentaries themselves. Cast  -  Peter Watkins Crew  -  Peter Watkins (Director) Runtime   - 873  minutes           "I think to remove the veil of ignorance from the world is the most direct way at least to achieve enlightenment." Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to sit and watch a long movie, after all, the way of life in the XXI century has been accelerating to the point that 90-minute movies are consumed in 20 different parts on a tiny screen while commuting to work. This is a world that 15 years ago I would have never imagined. I believe on this occasion, watching a movie divided into 19 different sections has helped me to appreciate and embrace what it is trying to say on a different level. It is hard for someone in 2024 to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Zootopia 2 - Review

              "The world will never be a better place if no one is brave enough to do the right thing."           ​I've been struggling to write a review for Zootopia 2 , not because I want to justify my liking of the movie and feeling this is one of the best films of 2025. But because I caught on to some themes and topics the movie tries to convey, however these are, at best, slim. At worst, my own imagination. Nevertheless, I can take away two things from it that, besides the emotional core of the movie and its themes of relationship and partner communication, managed to capture my attention and made me write and rewrite this 8 times: politics and business. Movie sequels are often the result of greed, and their results often end up being soulless slop. Zootopia as a film franchise has been dormant for 9 years, and during this decade a lot of events have affected not only the development of the sequel but also the way it can ...
Post a Comment
Read more

300 - Review

            "A new age has begun, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it."           ​It is hard to describe a movie from the past two decades that has had as much impact on young men as 300 . Even when we compare it to films like Fight Club , Drive , or John Wick , 300 seems to speak in a way that almost any man is captured by its aesthetics and mythology. To dismiss a movie, especially one with such magnitude and power as "popcorn entertainment," is at best, ignorant, and at worst, a facilitator of its message and, in the case of this film, its cryptofascist message. Let us be clear for a second: movies, like any other art form, are not created in a vacuum by soulless and thoughtless people. The zeitgeist, culture, time period, and events all affect the media we consume, produce, create, and enjoy. German cinema from the 1930s and 40s served as a way to understand the Führer pro...
Post a Comment
Read more