Review of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) by Ben L — 09 Feb 2016

Bill & Ted is probably one of the most unapologetic films I've ever seen. In this movie they have things happen and expect you to accept them without explanation. The music of 2 clueless teenagers is going to make the entire universe great, don't ask why it just is! Pulling historic figures from their own times and bringing them to the present doesn't affect the way that history unfolds, they won't even address it as a potential problem. The point of this movie isn't to explain stuff with lots of expository dialogue, it's just to have fun. Because 25 years passed since I last saw it, I'm surprised how much fun I still had with Excellent Adventure. The characterizations of the historical figures is kind of silly, but it makes me laugh. The greatest is Napoleon at the water park which is a hilarious treat.

The other thing I love in this movie is how they play with time travel logic. I've always been a fan of time travel films, because I like seeing the way it is handled. The logic that my mind has to go through to comprehend the ripple effects of different events and the inherent paradoxes that could arise always leaves me puzzling it out after the film (which I love.) This movie takes the easy way out, but that just added to the humor for me. Basically they cheat everything by setting it up in this way: In order to get things that you desperately need done in time, just remember that when the events of the movie are over you need to go back in time to set yourself up. It's one of the most clever explanations I can imagine without actually explaining anything.

I do have one issue with this film that annoys me every time. The fact is, I don't really like Bill & Ted. They are just a pair of worthless slackers who are constantly granted an easy way out of their problems. It's not that I hate them, and can't even root for them to succeed. The problem is I lack the excitement that I get from other films when they give me a reason to care about the fate of these characters. Simply telling me they will make the future a Utopia isn't enough to make me excited about their last ditch effort to avoid failing high school because they learned nothing all year. I think we're supposed to care about them because Ted might end up in military school, and Bill's step-mom is his age, but it wasn't good enough backstory for me. Putting that aside, I do find this film extremely fun and with just enough sci-fi nonsense to keep me engaged. I'm not sure how it would play to a modern audience, though. It might just be a time capsule of late 80s culture.