Totally awesome dude!

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2012)

'Ted' Theodore Logan and Bill S. Preston are two high school students in San Dimas, California and they are about to flunk history... all they know is that Napoleon was a 'short dead dude' and Joan of Arc was 'Noah's wife'! This shouldn't be a problem for anybody but them but as future society is destined to be based on their music it is essential that they pass their history presentation with an A+ grade... if they don't Ted will go to military school, the band won't form and the future is doomed! To ensure they succeed Rufus returns from the distant future with a time machine so they can learn about history by visiting it. This is a good idea but Bill and Ted come up with a better one; why not bring back real historical figures to give their presentation for them! They come up with the idea after accidentally bringing Napoleon back to the present; they then embark on an excellent adventure that will see them bringing back Genghis Khan, Billy the Kid, Beethoven, Socrates and Joan of Arc amongst others. While travelling they will have run-ins with some dangerous characters and when they return the historical figures will have a lot of fun visiting the mall before giving a presentation nobody will forget!
This '80s comedy may be pretty dumb but it is a lot of fun. Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are just right as unlikely heroes Bill and Ted. The way they jump around through history does make it fairly episodic; a few minutes here, a few minutes there... in fact things are best when the action is in the present; Napoleon at the water park was funny and there were some genuinely laugh out loud moments when the various historical figures go to the mall... what Genghis Khan did in the sports shop was hilarious. The rest of the cast do well enough with their roles although they are playing amusing caricatures rather than real characters with the exception of George Carlin's character Rufus. The special effects are pretty ropey even by the standards of the day but that just adds to the films low budget charm. If you want a good laugh with little to offend then you could do a lot worse than this.