1PanelReview Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Party On, Dudes!!

What it is: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Which is: A science-fiction/comedy film

Directed by: Stephen Herek
Year: 1989

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a '89 scifi comedy directed by Stephen Herek also behind the fantastic cult classic Critters, starring Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter & George Carlin. It follows slackers going through time, enlisting the help of several historic figures to help them out for an school presentation. They get some help from George Carlin, another cool dude, from the future who provides them with the phonebooth/time machine. The film went on to become a huge cult classic.

What's Good about it: This film probably features the two coolest dudes in movie history (okay... maybe a close tie with Wayne's World on that regards).
It's a pretty hilarious scifi/comedy like they used to make in the 80s. Dudes going through time for babes, mankind and Rock 'n' Roll!
It features a pretty silly but funny utopian future that will come to be thanks to the music of the "Two Great Ones", Bill & Ted... despite they not having even launched a band (yet)!
Our two buddies go look for the help of the best random roster of historical figures: Napoleon, Billy the Kid, Socrates Sigmund Freud, Beethoven, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc and Lincoln himself! 
The film features plenty of time travel shenanigans and even time loops like fans of the genre love!
The film was actually filmed over two years prior to its original release date but the company that produced it went bankrupt - the horror company De Laurentiis Entertainment - but it was thankfully saved by Orion Pictures which picked it up. Although they had to edit and redub some dates to make it more actual.
Originally the time machine in the film was going to be a slick sportscar, but they changed it to avoid a Back to the Future comparison. Instead they went for a parody of Doctor Who's TARDIS - a 1960s American phone booth in this case.
Finally, the film features a great kickass soundtrack of 80s rock.

What's Bad about it: Not enough sequels.
Perhaps a stronger final act or at least a slight twist regarding time travel in the end... I dunno... There's nothing really bad about this one.
If you don't enjoy this film, you are dead inside.

Overall: It's an hilarious movie! It never gets old~

One of these great scifi/comedies from the late 1980s. A classic.

It starred a young Keanu Reeves at his beginning.

Bill & Ted went on to be a huge unexpected success - kind of funny considering no one wanted to distribute it originally and it delayed the film's release for over a year.

A sequel was made in 1991. Another was also planned for 1996 but that one never went anywhere in pre-production.

Bill & Ted also spawned not one, but two TV spin-offs series. Both an animated series in 1990 featuring the voices of the original cast in the first season but replaced those in the 2nd one, and a live comedy show on Fox from 1992.

A comics series at Marvel Comics was also produced, along a point & click adventure game and more! 

To this day it's still a huge cult classic... and there are even talks of a third episode to this day. Without success much to Keanu Reeves' regret who always wanted the film to be made. The director of the scifi tribute/spoof Galaxy Quest Dean Parisot was also attached to the project.

 

I give it: 2.5 / 3 Quacks!
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