Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a sweet, naïve (in a good way), funny and original. It's feelgood comedy. Bogus Journey takes the premise of the unlikely heroes to a whole WHOLE new level. Reeves and Preston are playing both themselves and their evil robot selves. It's more adult, not so family friendly as Excellent Adventure was, and whilst some of the SFX hold up, it hasn't stood the test of time quite as well. Preston and Reeves are funny though and again look like they're having a great deal of fun with the film, and play around a lot with the characters. Again, the princesses aren't particularly convincing, but Ted's father played by Hal Landon Jr and Death (William Sadler) are both great especially Captain Logan's impression of Ted. There's some great one-liners and memorable bits but generally I don't like this one as well and it's not as clever and the repeated lines mean that the script isn't so witty either. It's really a vehicle for Reeves as he's by far the highlight; him and Death! The music is good but on many levels, it's offensive in the guise of easy laughs.

Watch the credits for the newspaper articles.

Fmovies: As I was watching the first Bill&Ted I was thinking that it represents the end of an era, the 80's, where studios would risk on a fun movie that didn't take itself at all seriously. The sequel, unfortunately, is "bogus". They push it all too far, they remove from the fun of the first and they push the movie all over the place: evil despots, robots, Death, The Devil and God. If in the first movie the pleasure was to watch the hapless Bill & Ted, in this film William Sadler steals the spot.

Bottom line: while still a little funny, it was a lot more boring than the first film. Studios didn't do it for fun this time, they just wanted to cash on the success of the Excellent Adventures. In view of 2015 rumors about a third part to be released, I wonder if the... franchise, I guess we must call it, will regain its irreverent fun side or be yet another reboot of a sequel that is a prequel of a previous reboot, as is the custom nowadays.

Okay, I'll admit it--I am a goof-ball and I occasionally love a really silly comedy. While I have seen more films by Kurosawa, Bergman and Truffaut than practically anyone on the planet, I still have a soft spot for a dopey comedy that doesn't try to be sophisticated but is simply funny. A few such films that immediately come to mind are MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, UHF, START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME, STRANGE BREW and the Bill and Ted movies. They all lack snob appeal but only a zombie or professional film critic could dislike them.

While BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY isn't as wonderful as the original Bill and Ted film, it still is great fun. Also, unlike the original, it actually seems to improve with repeated viewing. I remember not loving the film the first time I saw it--possibly because the other movie set such a high standard for laughs and because the Hell sequence was unnecessary and unfunny. But, every time I see it again I am amazed at all the great moments--particularly those involving the Grim Reaper. And, by the way, this reaper is about as different from Bergman's in THE SEVENTH SEAL as you can get!! In addition to a lot of laughs, this film features some excellent music--one way that it's actually better than the first film. The Kiss anthem at the end is great but so are the rest of the hard rock tunes--provided you aren't an old killjoy like De Nomolos. Great viewing for kids and adults alike.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey fmovies. I got the first Bill and Ted movie for christmas and I had to get the second when I saw it in a store. This one was (I think) just as funny as the first but a much wierder story. It was funny how they had their own personnal hell and how they had to play death. The funny thing was that they played him in stupid little games like clue. The only thing I'd change is Station and Death being in the band but other than that it was great.

When I was a kid, I totally loved both Bill & Ted Movies. The other night, Bogus Journey was on and since it was at least 5 years since I last saw it, I decided to tune in. AND I LOVED IT ALL OVER AGAIN! This film is still funny after all those years. 'Excellent Adventure' is better, but this one rocks just the same. Sure, some of the perfomances are a bit cheesy, but hey, this entire film is cheesy in a cool way. Plus it features the coolest personation of Death ever in a movie! Concluding: Totally like non bogus movie dude! Way Excellent! STATION!!!

I admit it's very silly, but I've practically memorized the damn thing! It holds a lot of good childhood memories for me (my brother and I saw it opening day) and I have respect for any movie with FNM on the soundtrack.