Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie Review

This SteelBook: Excellent-not-excellent, but definitely not (no) Bogus.

Shout! Factory via Shout Select previously released 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' to Blu-ray in 2016 as part of a two-film, three-disc collection with the lesser sequel 'Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey' and a third bonus disc packed in. This film was also released under the MGM label in 2012. This collectible SteelBook packaging contains a single disc that appears to be slightly re-worked from the original disc packaged into the three-disc 'Excellent Collection' set. The packaging is a bit hit-or-miss. It looks good on the front, but the back is as about as boring as boring can be. Read on for more details about what's included inside.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For a full video quality review, please click here.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a full audio quality review, please click here.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Shout!'s SteelBook at least looks bodacious where it counts, with a simple but effective front cover that displays the film's title above the iconic (yet still very much commonplace for its time, anyway) phone booth. The surrounding cloudy purple effect adds a nice bit of punch and color distinction to the case. The rear side is essentially the same image, minus the title and the phone booth with some streaking to suggest that the booth has just zapped its riders somewhere in time. A little bit of legalese is written at the bottom. It's a bit bland, but it at least makes some conceptual sense. The spine is a solid purple with the film's title centered, a Blu-ray logo up top, and Shout! and MGM labels at the bottom. The interior reveals a two-panel image spread featuring Rufus, Bill, and Ted. It's tonally deemphasized and does not make a visual impact.

While I do not own the three-disc Shout! release from 2016, this disc does appear to be altered somewhat. The original movie disc in that set reportedly contained only the two commentaries and a trailer. This disc houses all of those but also brings over the hour-long documentary Time Flies When You Are Having Fun! - A Look Back at a Most 'Excellent Adventure' which was previously exclusive to a third bonus disc in that set. It's a shame that Shout! didn't just drop both films and all three discs into this SteelBook, but it's nice to see at least one of the extras added to the set. It's also disappointing that the studio did not include a digital copy of the film; this is certainly one this reviewer would have loved to watch on-the-go.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure parties on three decades after its release with timeless humor, made possible by two wonderful lead performances and a quick-witted but also fairly smart script in support. The movie is an absolute blast, a one-of-a-kind ride through time with a couple of metal-minded airheads. Shout!'s SteelBook is ok. The case design is fine, even if the back side is sort of bland and the inner print is hard to see. There are some additional disappointments. It would have been nice had Shout! just dropped the entire three-disc "Excellent Collection" in here instead, and the absence of a digital copy is very disappointing. Nevertheless, longtime fans and SteelBook collectors shouldn't miss this one.