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Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure [1990]


RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £4.99 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Time travel in the movies is at an all time high in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Bill S Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) are in danger of flunking History class. They're rescued by Rufus (George Carlin), a resident of San Dimas 700 years in the future--a future in which their band Wyld Stallyns has brought about world peace and the best water slides in the universe. Entrusted with a phone booth time machine, they pick up various historical personages to give a colourful stage show for their final exam. The hip 80s rock sensibility paved the way for many comedies that followed Wayne's World, with air guitar and phrases like "bogus" and "dude" entrenching themselves way beyond the film's cult following. The film spawned a number of spin-offs including a bodacious cartoon and comic book series.

On the DVD: a trailer and a gallery of 20 behind-the-scenes photos will disappoint fans, even though it's interesting to see director Stephen Herek at work before he moved onto more serious films such as Mr Holland's Opus. However, the film has never looked better than in this transfer, and the effects still look terrific (especially the channels of Time). A Dolby sound mix also does wonders for Beethoven's keyboard improvs. --Paul Tonks

Editorial
Special Features

2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
German\Spanish
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English German Spanish
Dolby Digital Surround
Photo Gallery
Trailer
Dutch\English\German\Portuguese\Spanish\Turkish

Editorial
Synopsis

In Stephen Herek's quirky comedy, two brain-dead California teenagers, with a combined vocabulary of approximately 75 words, travel back in time to corral various historical figures for a class presentation that just might keep the pair from failing history "most heinously." Bill S. Preston, Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves, in one of his first starring roles) encounter Napoleon, Socrates, Billy the Kid, Sigmund Freud, Mozart, and others, who then journey forward in time with the duo in order to give the youth of California eye-witness accounts of the "awesome" pageant that is world history. Most excellent.

Excellent!
Review date: 2008-05-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

Alex Winter (The Lost boys) and Keanu Reeves (Dangerous Liaisons) star as Bill and Ted, two teenagers in danger of failing their history class. A man from the future comes from the future to give them good news. He gives them a time machine where they can travel through time to collect historical figures for their report.

This Stephen Herek (101 Dalmatians) picture is the true catalyst of comedy, with excellent physical humour and sharp witty dialogue with ace brilliant catch phrases from the two central protagonists. Beautifully directed, this 1989 fantasy comedy is brilliant in justifying the genre, making a wonderful light hearted film.

Winter and Reeves make a great onscreen partnership with their timing, catchphrases, facial reactions and companionship making them one of the best male comedy partnerships over the last twenty years. Using typical teenage conventions such as stupidity and slang, we can relate to the characters and their motives and, though stereotypical, are fun to watch.

The plot is "most excellent" with a very consistent baseline, sharp dialogue, great direction, action sequences and visual effects. Jumping through all different times, the film makes great use of settings and jumps on opportunities to capture the essence of each time well and from the comedy perspective, it is used brilliantly.

The use of historical figures is also a great device to gain acceptance into the comedy genre with Billy the Kid, Socrates, Beethoven and Genghis Kahn the most interesting and funny, though none will match Napoleon who was by far the funniest character of the entire film, especially the bowling scene which will get you in stitches.

It is most simply, most excellent and you must watch it dudes!

9/10

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Reviews


Great movie, very bad quality transfer
Review date: 2007-10-28 Rating: 2 out of 10

I love this film and thought I'd buy it to watch with my daughter, but this particular transfer is appalling. When it arrived, the cover and DVD label looked like somebody had done a dodgy download and printed them on a poor bubble jet. They're so blurred that honestly it looks like a kid has done it in their bedroom as a pirate copy to make a bit of cash. The film itself is so out of synch with the dialogue, I wish I'd just recorded it from the telly. I know it's cheap but this is appalling. I bought the sequel at the same time and - ironically - though the movie is not as good, the DVD transfer is much better and the sound is in synch. Even the packaging looks more professional. Please don't tell me this is all down to my TV or DVD player or amplifier because everything else plays with no problems. Very disappointed and will be sending this back to look for a better version.

Quick Reviews!
Review date: 2007-09-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

Another great, innocent eighties teen movie about rock, hope, the future, the past, the present, babes etc. It may seem to send out the message that rock fans are dumb, these two are, but it is a comedy and wouldn't work if they weren't. The film is simply about friendship and trying to do something worthwhile in your life, that even a high school nobody can make a difference. Hardly original ideas, but given a totally excellent twist for the genre.

Bill and Ted are two typical high school losers from San Dimas. They love their rock music, dream of being in a band and meeting some radical babes. Reality states otherwise- that exams are approaching and if they fail, it's off to military school. As they believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife, their prospects of passing their history final are not good. One night, hanging around the Circle K, they meet themselves-from the future, and a guy named Rufus. He tells them they must pass their exam or there will be grave consequences for the world. They must travel back in time to find historical figures to bring back for their exam, travelling in a phone booth of course. On the way they fall in love, meet many people and get into a few scrapes. Soon though, their historical figures run riot in a local mall and get arrested. Time is running out- but they have a time machine...

A silly idea, but very cleverly executed, and the result is much smarter than you might expect. Keanu and Alex are both excellent in their roles, and the rest of the cast are all very good. Special mention to Terry Camilleri who is very funny as Napolean. He gets some of the best lines-'Le Glace?' and 'Idiot!' amongst others. There are many one-liners, the film creating an inane language of its own which is both repeatable and harmless. The plot does fly all over the place, but it remains easy, and deals with the concept of time-travel much like Back to the Future did. There are many references which rock fans will get, modern audiences may not understand half the film now and will no doubt see it as extremely cheesy. The dialogue and fashion may have dated hideously, but so will all today's teen shows and movies. This however retains charm over the years, and is still cool. There are many interesting ideas here, some very funny moments, and is more original than many would admit. Good solid entertainment, executed with a unique style. Not many extras on the DVD though.


Party On Dudes
Review date: 2007-04-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

I remember when I first saw this film many years ago, when I was little. I loved the film back then and I love the film now. This film stars Matrix star Keanu Reeves, along side Alex Winter. This film has good humour and a good storyline.

Bill S Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) are high school teenagers, who are rather stupid, and don't have much common sense. The two have formed a band (which consists of just the two of them) called Wyld Stalyns, and so far, they're rather terrible. They can't play and they really do need to learn how to. In the meantime, they're failing history. They know bugger all. Ted has no idea who Joan of Arc is; he guesses Noah's wife, and Bill describes Nepolean Bonaparte as a "short dead dude". In fact as far as they're concerened, the only thing they have learned is that Cesar was a salad dressing dude.

Everyone in their year has to do a history report the following afternoon. Unless they get an A+, they'll fail history, and they've got a 1 in a million chance of learning everything they need in one night and passing history. Worse of all (to them) if they fail, Ted's father Captain Logan, who's the police chief of their home town San Dimas has decided that if Ted fails history he'll have him sent to a military school in Alaska. In fact he has already signed Ted up.

Lucky for them help is on the way; 700 years into the future, in the year 2688 a man named Rufus (George Carlin) is sent back in time to 1988 with a phone booth time machine to help Bill and Ted pass history. He lends them the time machine to ensure they pass. They also have to do this by the following afternoon; for some reason no matter where or WHEN they are, the clock in San Dimas is always running. So they embark on their most excellent adventure, where they collect historical figures throughout different time periods.

They gather the following historical people; Napolean, Billy the Kid, an ancient Greek philosopher called Socrates, Sigmund Freud, Genghish Kahn, Joan of Arc, Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln. This is an excellent film that is not to be missed, especially if you love to watch time travel and comedy films. There are funny moments throughout the film. Napolean is hillarious, such as during the bowling scene and the Waterloo scene, when he cuts lines and moves kids out of the way so he can have a turn on the water slides. Then there's that scene when they're in medieval England and attempting to free the princesses. They run into the king of England, who has his men behind him and Bill says. "How's it goin' royal ugly dudes?". Then he addressed himself as the Earl of Preston and Ted introduces himself as the Duke of Ted.

The funniest scene in my opinion is when the historical people are at the shopping mall and getting into mayhem. This is one of the best films ever made and it's very enjoyable to watch and very entertaining. Get this film now.



Like meeting an old friend
Review date: 2007-03-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

Well I watched this film as an adult recently and enjoyed it just as much as I did when I was 11. I remember everyone at school suddenly using the terms, "Bogus" "Dude" and "excellent" and I had to laugh..... what a bunch of sheep we were :)

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
George Carlin
Alex Winter
Dan Shor
Keanu Reeves
Terry Camilleri

Creators:
Keanu Reeves (Primary Contributor)
Alex Winter (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Momentum Pictures
Manufacturer: Momentum Pictures
EAN: 5060021171603
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-05-20
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 87 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1989-02-17
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)

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