{"id":4302,"date":"2024-10-05T16:28:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T16:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2024-10-13T23:41:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T03:41:18","slug":"bill-teds-bogus-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/05\/bill-teds-bogus-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey <\/strong>(1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Comedy-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, innuendo, some mild violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pete Hewitt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Newman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Oliver Wood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 19, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, Joss Ackland, Pam Grier, George Carlin, Amy Stock-Poynton, Jim Martin, Hal Landon Jr., Annette Azcuy, Sarah Trigger, Chelcie Ross, Taj Mahal, Robert Noble, Hal Landon Sr., Eleni Kelakos, Roy Brocksmith, J. Patrick McNamara.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $38M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the first Bill & Ted movie, the future depended on the two dimwitted high schoolers acing their history report. In the follow-up Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/strong>, it depends on them winning a Battle of the Bands contest. There are those, in the 27th<\/sup> century, who would like to see a different version than the peaceful utopian paradise created by Bill and Ted\u2019s music, one founded on the simple philosophy of being excellent to each other.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Pete Hewitt (The Borrowers), Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/strong> is mostly good, but it makes the same mistake nearly every sequel makes. It tries too hard to outdo the original and suffers for it. Thankfully, the damage is relatively minor in this case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Life is a sweet dream in 2691 with the world at peace and all of the problems that once plagued our planet solved. It\u2019s all because of Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Winter, Death Wish 3) and Ted \u201cTheodore\u201d Logan (Reeves, Point Break), the two cheerfully dumb musicians from San Dimas who now make up half of garage band Wyld Stallyns. The other half is the two 15th<\/sup> century princesses they picked up in the first movie. The guys still can\u2019t play their instruments yet they still try out for the Battle of the Bands. Even more unbelievable, they get a slot in the show.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is how it\u2019s supposed to go down in 1991, but somebody is out to make sure they don\u2019t play. That would be De Nomolos (Ackland, Lethal Weapon 2), a terrorist determined to destroy a society he sees as foolish. His evil plan involves sending bad robot versions of Bill and Ted (also played by Winter and Reeves) through time to kill the real Bill and Ted and replace them on stage. This will alter the course of the future in a big way. The robots succeed in killing Bill and Ted, but it\u2019s far from the end of their story. They\u2019re about to go on a journey that will take them through Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife in between. It will have them make contact with benevolent extra-terrestrial beings. It will also bring them face-to-face with Death himself (Sadler, Die Hard 2).<\/p>\n

\u00a0The first movie is a light, breezy affair that plays like a world history overview on laughing gas. The biggest danger faced by our helium-headed heroes, aside from being lost in the circuits of time, is the threat of Ted being shipped off to military school by his authoritarian father. Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/strong> drifts into the surreal lane on more than one occasion. Events take a comparatively darker turn with Bill and Ted literally fighting for their mortal souls against a seemingly undefeatable foe, the Grim Reaper. It\u2019s here that the movie shows surprising intelligence in referencing Ingmar Bergman\u2019s The Seventh Seal only instead of challenging Death to a game of chess, the guys wager their souls on games like Battleship, Clue and Twister. It\u2019s one of the movie\u2019s more clever touches.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Speaking of clever, I have to give props to ANY movie that (a) references Butch and Sundance: The Early Days and (b) knows the original title of Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 was Smokey IS the Bandit. That last one is an obscure factoid known only to die-hard movie buffs like me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The wonderful rapport shared by Reeves and Winter during their excellent adventure carries over to their bogus journey. I\u2019m not only referring the good versions of their characters, but the bad robots ones as well. I like how they shift gears between the two sets of Bill and Ted. It\u2019s in the dialogue and how they say it. On top of that, they have a perfect straight man in Sadler who gets to show his lighter side after playing villains in Hard to Kill and Die Hard 2. Who says the Grim Reaper can\u2019t have a little fun? Ackland is quite good as the villainous De Nomolos. He has a quietly menacing air that makes him an ideal bad guy. And what about George Carlin\u2019s character Rufus? He\u2019s back. He plays a smaller but no less important role in Bill and Ted\u2019s latest excursion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The special effects in Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/strong> are a little better. I especially like the two aliens, collectively known as \u201cStation\u201d, that help the guys in their fight against bad Bill and Ted. The set design ranges from the colorful (2691 San Dimas) to the nightmarish (Hell). It\u2019s the latter that gives the movie an uneven feeling. At the very least, it\u2019s noticeably jarring. The music is good too, especially the final number \u201cGod Gave Rock and Roll to You\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although I prefer the original one, there\u2019s a great deal of fun to be had with Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/strong>. It has a lot of energy and originality. Also, it\u2019s smarter than the usual teen comedy even with its non-Mensa protagonists. Most importantly, it\u2019s genuinely funny. Some of the laughs are of the knowing kind; others are of the dum-dum variety. Hewitt and returning writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon deftly balance the two to make something that works better than it should. It\u2019s not perfect, but I\u2019ll take it.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Comedy-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, innuendo, some mild violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pete Hewitt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Newman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Oliver Wood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 19, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, Joss Ackland, Pam Grier, George Carlin, Amy Stock-Poynton, Jim Martin, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bill-Teds-Bogus-Journey-P.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}