Bill and Ted Face the Music: surprisingly good

I've never been a fan of Bill and Ted. The first two movies (sadly a prerequisite to "get" the movie) were boring, had terrible special FX and really brought nothing interesting. It must be because my expectations were so low that I was happily surprised.

After their initial success at the end of the second movie with Death - they thought they had finally fulfilled their destinies - Bill and Ted went downward and failed to compose the "song that united the world". Now in their late 40s, the dads are still trying to find that big hit and it's putting a strain on their relationship with their respective wives. To add to their problems, someone from the future tells them they have les than 90 minutes to compose that hit or time and space will cease to exist.

Like so many movie sequels (think Coming to America II), Face the Music makes lazy calls to previous movies. Here, Bill and Ted's daughters are the ones traveling to the past to help their fathers to fetch the best musicians. But at least here, the languages seem more authentic (Napoleon in the first movie didn't sound French at all). Although it seems stranger that two white girls were able to walk in 1920s New Orleans without anyone flinching.

Also, probably inspired by the hype over the multiverse, it's trying to incorporate uselessly complicated concepts around it. And why was Kid Cudie the one explaining them? It's a brainless movie, not Assimov-like science-fiction. But at least the "corridors of time" look much better now, and Hell looked less Lucifer-like and more like the one we usually paint ourselves with.

Finally, the movie is anchored in reality in the sense that they acknowledged George Carlin's death and put his daughter (and wife) "in charge." When the duo is warped in the future to see the urgency of finding that hit, there's even a hologram of Rufus. And somehow, he was always right about Bill and Ted... Oh, and it also shows a giant traffic jam in California (it's part of the story, don't worry), something we don't see much in movies.

In short, if you were able to bear the first two movies, Face the Music is a welcomed conclusion to their adventures. It has the the same brainless scenario, but the humor feels more authentic especially compared to the second movie. Seeing Death's resentment was well-thought of

Final rating: 3.3/5