There are movies in this world that aren’t meant to do anything except give you a sense of pure happiness, and that’s Bill & Ted Face the Music. As a fan of the original two, I was ready and willing for whatever Bill & Ted Face the Music gave me, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for the movie that awaited.
**Spoilers for Bill & Ted Face the Music lie within, my dudes.**
The song that unites the world was, unfortunately, not “God Gave Rock-n-Roll To You” from the end of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. That was just the beginning of their tale, and Wyld Stallyns fell into two decades of working towards the song that would unite us all.
The problem is that their fame slowly began to turn into their quest to write the song to unite everyone, and they clearly couldn’t figure out how to do it. So when we catch up with William “Bill” S. Preston Esquire and Theodore “Ted” Logan again, they’re at the wedding of Missy (Amy Stoch) and Ted’s brother Deacon (Beck Bennett) and still trying to figure out what that song sounds like.
But when Kelly (Kristen Schaal) comes to Bill and Ted with new information about all of time and space crashing unless they succeed, they’re faced with an impossible mission. Their solution? Go forward in time and steal the song from themselves.
While Bill and Ted continue to go further in time to seek out the song, their daughters, Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving), are trying to help out their dads (who they collectively call “dads” every time they see them) by going back in time to find the perfect band for their dads to play with.
It’s a perfect mix of both Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey in the sense that Bill and Ted are constantly battling different versions of themselves while their daughters are traveling through history to collect figures to an end goal. But this movie hits differently because of its overall message.
While Billie and Thea are collecting these historical musicians, they’re grabbing people like Mozart and Ling Lun. There are so many different musicians, and many of them do not speak English, but they come together through the power of music and find ways to communicate through their love of it, which is kind of the point of the entire movie.
When trying to find the perfect song to unite the world, Bill and Ted realize that it’s all about music in general. One of the great joys in this world is listening to music with a group of people. Whether that be at concerts or just all listening to the same album together at a party, music can bring us together in special ways, so finding a way for everyone in the world to play a song together? There’s no better way of uniting everyone.
In a lot of ways, Bill & Ted Face the Music is the perfect conclusion to William “Bill” S. Preston Esquire and Theodore “Ted” Logan’s story. Returning to their legacy and the friendship these two boys from San Dimas have reminds us all that sometimes, we just need to put our faith in each other (and a loud guitar).
The film does a great job of reminding us all to be excellent to each other and why we love these movies in the first place. The beauty in the friendship of Bill and Ted comes from their willingness to do whatever it takes to just jam out with each other. Two simple boys who love the music and each other, and that’s pretty much it. And that’s really all Face the Music is—just two dudes who love being friends and love their daughters and wives who just want to share music with the world.
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve barely mentioned Billie and Thea, and do you want to know why? Because I don’t want to spoil a single part of their storyline. It’s perfect, they’re wonderful representations of their fathers, and the fact that they announce “DADS!” whenever they see Bill and Ted is almost too perfect.
Bill & Ted Face the Music is the movie that 2020 needs, and the beauty it will bring to audiences might let us forget about all our problems for just a little while and remember to be excellent to each other. This is one that I fully plan on watching over and over again.
(image: Orion Pictures)
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