“Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” surely is bogus, offering such a negative comparison to the series’ first film — “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”
A few days after I watched the initial movie, I got way too excited when I saw “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” was on Amazon Prime, as well. I clicked on it, anxiously waiting to be greeted by my two favorite characters and find myself humorously entertained for a few hours.
What an extreme disappointment.
Lindsay Trombly | Argonaut
Released in 1991, the second film in the Bill and Ted series focused on the future rather than the past.
The opening scene is set at Bill and Ted’s university in the future. People who live on the planet are learning through Bill and Ted’s music technique.
But the film’s antagonist wants the glory, deciding to create robot clones of Bill and Ted to go murder them.
First off, this storyline has only just begun and it is way too far-fetched to absorb. There is no way clones come close to the real thing. Bill and Ted have their own personalities, which no one can imitate, including myself.
This is the first giant leap of ridiculousness in the film, with most of the stupidity stemming from the lack of character development.
Throughout the film, Bill and Ted encounter Death, the Easter bunny and some strange creatures.
The great part about the first film is it had an educational angle to it, bringing in actual history for the audience to learn. This, by far, is the film’s strongest attribute.
Just having Bill and Ted’s strange personalities wouldn’t be enough to make the movie excellent. It was the other characters and storyline that made the film so exceptional.
In the second film, having fictional characters brought the storyline and film to an all-time low. Sure, Death is an interesting character, but it’s only if you understand the joke. They took Death’s character from “The Seventh Seal” and created a parody — the only interesting and slightly exciting part the film has to offer.
“Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” contains a weak story line, weak character development and is just plain too stupid. It is a waste of your time.
After I finished the movie, I sat there contemplating my life, thinking about what I could have done in that hour and a half instead of sitting through that piece of garbage.
Stick to viewing the first one, because you will soon learn the second film is a complete flop.
I’d love to review the third movie of the Bill and Ted franchise, but sadly this film has not been released yet. Production on “Bill and Ted Face the Music” is scheduled to start March 5, with a release date of 2020.
My advice to the filmmakers — make the movie like the first one. Crumple up the ideas from the second movie and toss them into the garbage bin. Start fresh, but keep things in line with the original. You owe the much to die hard Bill and Ted fans.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ lindsay_trombly