Review of Bill & Ted`s Excellent Adventure

Introduction

I can remember sitting in the cinema, not really knowing what I was letting myself in for. All the promotion stuff and trailers had passed me by and was here by pure chance. 10 minutes into the film I can remember thinking ‘what the hell is this all about?’ and was almost ready to turn away from the nonsensical babblings of the on screen duo.
Despite laughing at the film I had an inner doubt of whether this was just really bad or actually really good. 10 secs later I was sucked back in and had my answer.
I think this doubt was partly due to the surf bum talk which hadn’t filtered through to the UK in any great way and was completely new to me. Little did the makers of this film know that a couple of weeks after the film was released every kid would be a dude and the air guitar would rule.
Starring an unknown Keanu Reeves as Ted Theodore Logan and Alex Winter as Bill S Preston Esq, the two soon to be high school dropouts must pass their History presentation in order to graduate and to stop Ted from being sent to military school by his Dad.
Their band, Wild Stallions is going nowhere and their lives look doomed. Until that is a mysterious man appears from the future called Rufus who can give them the key to pass History and seal their future as rock gods.
Time travelling to gather famous people from the past they must return to San Dimas high school and pass their presentation as the future of mankind depends upon it. Bill and Ted’s Excellent adventure is a truly genre defining movie that has plenty of laughs, enough quotes for even the most avid fan and remains refreshing even today.
This film in all respects really shouldn’t work and could so easily have been a complete disaster that would of disappeared into straight to video obscure land. But by some sort of miracle and good fortune aided by a great script and original storyline, this film remains a true adventure in which the whole family can enjoy.

Video

Given that the early rumours for the release of this disk gave it a full screen print, you can see why my expectations were not high. Fortunately those pesky kids at the rumour mill must have had an (all too frequent I’m afraid) off day in which the wheels stopped moving and everyone went for lunch.
And so the DVD was plopped through my letterbox. Eagerly opening it I saw the shiny disk, it lay sleeping. Tentatively I caressed its sleek, reflective features with my eye. It was still early for me but I put caution to the wind and the disk was released from its shell. All I could do now was pray.
The screen sprang to life, titles appeared and all was well. It had all come home to daddy.
Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio the print is gorgeous and beyond all expectation. The print is remarkably clean with only an odd bit of dirt in a couple of scenes that let the side down. These look like dirt on the actual lens of the camera rather than on the film itself so I don’t think anything could have been done to remedy this. Colours are well rendered and bright with no bloom or smearing apparent. Flesh tones always look natural and there’s plenty of detail in the shadows. Black levels could be a little deeper in some scenes but detail is always good with no artifacting or compression problems.
Especially well handled are the time line scenes which I thought the mpeg2 compression might of struggled with, but these look great and are well detailed with little shimmer.

A great all-round picture which defies its back catalogue status.

Audio

Given that a lot of care seems to be taken on the visual side of things you would assume the same can be said of the audio. But yet again I am astounded at the lack of attention given to the soundtrack. Presented in a Dolby Pro Logic mix, the audio is terrible. I think they must of gone out of their way to find such a bad sounding track. Even if you took the soundtrack of a VHS video copy and put it on the disk the audio would probably sound better. As soon as the characters started talking I thought I put the wrong disk in and instead was listening to a copy of “The world of snakes”, or “Hissing, a study of snake talk”. Seriously it is bad and totally unacceptable with a popular film like this. Also there is very little low end on the soundtrack. Even when there is bass in the track it sounds far too light. Its as if the soundtrack had been filtered so that all bass below a certain level has been cut out and the treble has been upped. Even some of the dialogue at the beginning of the film sounds harsh, and edgy with a little distortion. The hissing does seem to clear up as the film goes on but I’m afraid the damage has already been done.
The soundtrack also seems limited in the use of the front soundstage which only comes to life when some music kicks in. The surround mix works well in the time line scenes where rear effects are used, but in the most part it remains quite flat with limited dynamics.
A major disappointment then for the audio side of things. Given that music plays quite a big part in the film it rightly deserved a 5.1 remix or at the very least a good, clean Pro Logic mix with plenty of bass to rock to. Instead it’s like listening to someone listening to the film on a pair of cheap headphones.

Another completely missed opportunity. If only Bill and Ted could go back to right this wrong. Damn them all.

Features

Er….what extras?
All you get is a trailer and a few photos. Not even worth looking at. Disgraceful.
The menus on first look are quite nice but last far too long and prove annoying on use. Thankfully there’s little point in returning to the menus as there’s nothing there to look at. That’s that problem solved.

Conclusion

A great film and a very nice print makes the disk worthwhile but ultimately is disappointing for the lacklustre audio and distinct lack of any extras.
Fans won’t know whether to laugh or cry as the dual nature of this disk pulls them from side to side. If you’ve been waiting for this DVD for a long time and can stand the audio then I heartily recommend this disk just because it has never looked so good. I’ve also seen this disk going for just over a tenner so that may sway you as well. If on the other hand your waiting for the definitive Bill and Ted DVD edition then I’m afraid you will have a very long wait.