DVD Review
| Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection Reviewed by:Kage
Alan
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Rating: B+
Two guys who would have been voted Least Likely
To Succeed back in my high school are about to have the adventure of
a lifetime! Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore
Logan (Keanu Reeves) are two “dudes” failing most of their classes
due to a severe lack of motivation. They want to be rock stars, yet
seem to be missing that one thing to help them succeed; talent. Not
to let history be undone, Rufus (George Carlin) arrives from the
future with a magic phone booth capable of taking our dynamic duo
anywhere in time in order to collect personages of historic
importance. Fortunately for them, they soon discover that they
really are capable of learning and, in doing so, manage to meet the
princesses of their dreams while escaping from the Iron Maiden. Now
if they can just get Billy The Kid, Socrates, Dr. Freud, Joan of
Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan and Beethoven out of the mall to
cooperate for the final class report…
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Rating: B-
Originally titled “Bill & Ted Go To Hell,” this
sequel has our two would-be heroes facing…themselves. There’s a new
guy in town in the future who wants to create things in the image he
sees fit, that of anarchy. In order to accomplish this, he sends
Bill and Ted androids back in time to take out the real ones. They
do. Unwilling to settle for remaining corpses in the afterlife,
Bill and Ted do their best to escape, only the Grim Reaper (William
Sadler) stands in their way. Will our two dudes find their way back
into the real world and foil the insidious plot? Will Rufus be able
to help? Will they sink Death’s battleship? Not quite as fresh as
the first film and introducing moronic troll…things, “Bill & Ted’s
Bogus Journey” has one major plus going for it and that’s Bill
Sadler as death. He’s a riot! The special effects may be better,
but I still long for the first film
MGM has released both films in their original
Widescreen format. Video and audio quality are fine, but not overly
dynamic. In fact, I believe these are the very same discs that were
released a few years back, which is slightly disappointing
considering there are some improvements that could be made. With
the exception of the “Behind the Scenes Featurette” on “Bogus
Journey,” all other extras are located on the Most Excellent
Collection Non-Bonus Disc. What we’re given is “The Original Bill &
Ted: In Conversation With Chris & Ed” (20 ¼ min), “The Most
Triumphant Making-of Documentary” (30 ¾ min), “Score! An Interview
With Guitarist Steve Vai” (12 ¾ min), “Air Guitar Tutorial With
Bjorn Turogue & The Rockness Monster” (13 ¾ min), “The Hysterical
Personages of Bill & Ted” (15 ½ min) with an option to play it in 8
minutes or less, the premier Bill & Ted cartoon “One Sweet and Sour
Chinese Adventure To Go” (23 min), “The Linguistic Stylings of Bill
& Ted” (3 ¾ min), “From Scribble To Script”, Radio Spots (2 ¾ min)
and 4 trailers for other MGM releases.
While most of the extras are a great deal of
fun, I couldn’t help but wish there’d been some audio commentaries
added to the films. Alex Winter especially seems eager to discuss
his role and his reminiscences would have been a welcome addition.
It’s also a shame that more of the cast members weren’t interviewed
for the “Making of.” When all is said and done, this feels like a
half-hearted effort. Fortunately, the price makes this a VERY
attractive set to add to one’s collection. You’re getting what you
pay for here, so there really can’t be too many complaints. Still,
maybe MGM will deliver an even better more non-heinous box set in
the future. And could there be another sequel in the future? We’ll
see.
