Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey – Looking forward to competing in the upcoming battle of the bands with the medieval babes, Bill & Ted find themselves in hot water when evil robotic versions of themselves turn up and throw them off a cliff. Discovering that the afterlife isn’t as excellent as being alive, the pair work with Death to return to the land of the living, stop their relationships from being destroyed and save the future of music as we know it.      

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – Director: Pete Hewitt

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3786023

Rating: PG

Running Length: 93 mins

Starring: Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, William Sadler

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

REVIEW: ‘BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY’

First film, ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ saw the loveable duo travelling though time and collecting famous historical figures to help them pass their high school history class. Now, ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’ sees that since then, they have done very little with their lives. They may be in happy relationships with the medieval princesses but their music is still terrible and it is hard to see how they could possibly cause the utopian society of the future. They may have needed a kick up the bum to get started but killing them off seems just a little harsh!

What we get with ‘Bill & Ted’s Bonus Journey’ is a foray into the underworld  instead of time travel which is a shame but having Death as a character (played perfectly by William Sadler) is an absolutely perfect addition. The story flounders somewhat when the pair find themselves in hell and then heaven but these scenes are separated by a fantastically funny scene which plays homage to Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’ – you won’t be able to play Battleships again without thinking of Death’s poor sportsmanship!

‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’ may not be quite as good as its predecessor (and we still don’t understand what’s going on with the ‘Station’ martians!) but it is still a hilarious comedy with plenty of quotable lines and keeps us all rooting for an endearingly useless pair of slackers. Bodacious!

CONTENT: IS ‘BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The evil Bill & Ted’s look like their counterparts but sometimes show off their mechanical insides. Early in the movie, the roughly force open their mouths and pull the ‘skin’ over their heads to reveal their robotic heads. They also lift up their shirts and pull open their chests to reveal robotic insides.

A woman wears a PVC miniskirt and there is a close-up of it as the camera points towards Bill and Ted. This isn’t mentioned and no-one makes any advances towards her.

Ted owes his dad money and his solution is ‘I’ll sell some more blood’. Missy, Bill’s young step mother from the first film is now married to Ted’s dad. Missy gives her new husband a long passionate kiss, making Bill and Ted both uncomfortable.

Evil Bill and Evil Ted live up to their names by gleefully trying to kill cats – one by landing the phone booth time machine on one and later trying to run one over in a car. They are disappointed that they fail both times.

After proposing to their girlfriends, Bill asks Ted ‘I wonder if after we’re married the princesses will stay over with us’, Ted responds ‘Our girlfriends are most chaste’, indicating that their relationships have not been physical so far.

After driving Bill and Ted out to the desert, Evil Bill and Evil Ted openly admit ‘We’re totally gonna kill you now!’ ‘And we want to do it too!’ They hold the pair over the edge of a cliff and the real Bill & Ted try to escape by telling their evil counterparts that they love them. The robots derisively use a homophobic slur and then throw them off. A thud is heard and after, the evil robots spit on the bodies and laugh.

Bill and Ted realise they are dead and Death stands behind them. He is an intimidating figure with a skull like head, hooded cloak and large scythe. Bill and Ted aren’t fazed by his appearance and, in order to ditch him, agree to ‘Melvin’ him, this means grabbing him by the crotch and pulling upwards. Death immediately groans in pain and doubles over. This form of attack is mentioned and used again later in the movie.

When Bill and Ted return to their flat, they hear a squeal. When they go into their bedrooms, the evil counterparts are on top of their girlfriends who both push them off. The girls are still fully dressed but are in some distress. Bill tells them ‘Get over here and put out’ but the girls walk out.

Missy has a seance with some friends which the dead Bill and Ted gatecrash. When trying to reach the ‘other side’ Bill and Ted tell the group what has happened to them although while hovering over Missy and looking down, one of them says ‘I can totally see down your…’ before being cut off.

When complimenting God on his creations, Bill and Ted name the planets. Of course when they reach Uranus, they both giggle to each other.

Death walks past a man who is smoking and mutters ‘See you real soon’.

A woman starts to unzip her dress from the front, this is shown in close up. A man in the audience shouts ‘Yeah, take it off baby’ although the reveal is not what anyone is expecting and does not show any nudity.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY’ FOR KIDS?

‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’ is an excellent sequel that knows exactly why the original was so well-loved. Due to some bad language and innuendo, we recommend this movie for kids aged 7 and over.

• Violence: 2/5 (Evil Bill and Ted have no qualms about hurting or killing but nothing graphic is shown)
• Emotional Distress: 0/5
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (kids could be a little scared when Bill and Ted go to hell but the whole scene is very comedic so shouldn’t be too distressing)
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (innuendo based jokes)
• Bad Language: 3/5 (some moderate cursing, one homophobic slur)
• Dialogue: 2/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of death, the afterlife, protecting your loved ones, determination to succeed,

Words by Laura Record