Once told they’d save the universe during a time-traveling adventure, 2 would-be rockers from San Dimas, California find themselves as middle-aged dads still trying to crank out a hit song and fulfill their destiny.
PG-13 for some language | 1h 28min | Adventure, Comedy, Music | 28 August 2020 (USA)
Commentary: “Woah! Dude!” That pretty much sums up the heart and soul of the third installment from the Wyld Stallions as Bill & Ted Face the Music one last time. Outrageous plot be darned you can’t help but smile as you watch these two heart of gold rockers try once again to unite the world in song. This time they have to do it while saving their marriages and avoiding futuristic robots sent to destroy them. Now if that alone sounds insane wait until you see the rest.
There are things I appreciated about the film and I am sure that fans of the franchise will love it even more. Almost 30-years have passed since the first adventure and they could have went many directions with the characters and content. As with many sequels and remakes there is the tendency to go the easy route of crude humor. This Bill and Ted are still the PG rated – though now 13 – nice guys we have always seen. Sure they are still mentally locked solid in their own naive world where all things should be excellent but that is what we came here to see.
All the cliche one-liners and popular phrases pepper this one throughout. If you have a favorite line from the first two films I am sure you will hear it again here. As mentioned they didn’t try and reinvent the wheel with this one. They stuck with what worked and just built a reality suspending plot around it. Yes it is far fetched and at times too outrageous to grasp. If time traveling rockers, bass playing grim reapers, and blank stares are not your cup of juice then do not expect to engage here.
The guys are older now with families. They each have a daughter and neither fell far from the tree. The girls love their dads and value their rock out look at life. They become a vital part in the fulfillment of destiny that Bill and Ted are on. While Bill and Ted look to the future to find the song they hope they have already written the girls head to the past to form the most awesome band of iconic musicians; all in the hopes they can unite the world and save us all! In spite of the absurdity the cast seem to embrace the spirit of the moment and give it their all. Brigette Lundy-Paine plays Ted’s daughter Billie and to watch her channel a young Keanu is perfect. If Ted had a daughter it would be exactly what we see here.
The bottom line is that just because I didn’t really like the movie doesn’t mean it isn’t a likable film. I had my fill of Woah Dude moments about 10 minutes in. The rest I endured for the benefit of seeing how absurd it could get. And it does. It mainly caught my interest when the daughters went on a musical history journey to the past. That I dug. The rest I tolerated as a fan of Reeves and his willingness to revisit this character after all these years. Regardless if you are a fan or not, let’s all try and just be excellent to one another. I can’t think of anything Bill and Ted would want more.
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