Director Dean Parisot
Starring Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal
Rated PG
Score 4.5/6

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.

Nostalia driven film making is a difficult thing to pull off successfully. Mainly because the movies are the types of movies that are going to be ravaged (yes there are other more derogatory terms that can be used but my parents do have a tendency to read my articles on occasion and I just don’t want the parental guilt trip, even in my late 30’s) as by the fans if the finished movie don’t live up to their expectations. This is usually when you hear the cries of ‘they ruined my childhood’. Now the phrasing of this argument is stupid I can think of several more traumatic ways to ruin somebody’s childhood. However, the point that the fans are trying to make is still valid. In these instances of nostalgia driven film making they want to see the film makers who playing the sandboxes of their beloved intellectual properties be fans and show the intellectual properties some respect.

Now, what I remember of the news that I heard of the production of Bill and Ted Face the Music the casting of Samara Weaving (Thea) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Billie) as the daughters of Bill S Preston and Ted Theodore Logan there was a degree of fan backlash. However, after watching their performances and how well Weaving and Lundy-Paine had perfected the Bill and Ted mannerisms (granted there isn’t much to the characterization of Bill and Ted) I left the cinema thinking that this was a most triumphant example of nostalgia driven film making done right. I also enjoyed Kristen Schaal as Rufus’ daughter and they that they dealt with the passing of George Carlin.
The only performances I really didn’t like was Holland Taylor as The Great Leader who seemed out of place in this movie and Jeremiah Craft as Louis Armstrong. There was times that I thought that Craft looked a little ridiculous and I will admit that perhaps I just need to see a picture of Craft and Louis Armstrong side by side to better understand Crafts portrayal of Armstrong in the movie.
I would liked it if the scenes of Billie and Thea travelling through time had a little more substance to how they were constructed.
The movie’s ending was perhaps a little cliched and the song that united all of time and reality was most enjoyable.