Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 59 | Rotten: 2
Inventive, funny, and breathlessly constructed, Back to the Future is rousing a time-travel adventure with an unforgettable spirit.
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1
Inventive, funny, and breathlessly constructed, Back to the Future is rousing a time-travel adventure with an unforgettable spirit.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 988,517
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Contemporary high schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) doesn't have the most pleasant of lives. Browbeaten by his principal at school, Marty must also endure the acrimonious relationship between his nerdy father (Crispin Glover) and his lovely mother (Lea Thompson), who in turn suffer the bullying of middle-aged jerk Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), Marty's dad's supervisor. The one balm in Marty's life is his friendship with eccentric scientist Doc (Christopher Lloyd), who at present is working on a
PG, 1 hr. 56 min.
Jul 3, 1985 Wide
Dec 17, 2002
Universal Pictures
All Critics (61) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (2) | DVD (31)
The picture packs a wonderful wallop.
Performances by the earnest Fox, the lunatic Lloyd, the deceptively passionate Lea Thompson, and, particularly, the bumbling-to-confident Glover, who runs away with the picture, merrily keep the ship sailing.
Director Robert Zemeckis confronts the oedipal heart of the time-travel genre with this zestfully tasteless 1985 tale about a teenager (Michael J. Fox) who is projected back to 1955 and then must arrange the romance of his parents.
Mr. Zemeckis is able both to keep the story moving and to keep it from going too far. He handles Back to the Future with the kind of inventiveness that indicates he will be spinning funny, whimsical tall tales for a long time to come.
So busy being clever that it trips over its own ingenuity.
Shows not only a fine comic touch but also some of the lighthearted humanism of a Frank Capra.
It was, is and always will be a true Hollywood classic.
The most commercially popular of 1985.
Undeniably one of the greatest films of the 1980s and indeed, of all time, Back to the Future has endured so well because it walks that fine tightrope of managing to appeal to just about everyone...
'80s time-travel favorite has laughs, romance, action.
an undeniably fun film, one whose clever plotting, memorable characters, and deft balance of both wistful nostalgia and celebration of the here and now deserves comparisons to The Wizard of Oz
Back to the Future is one of the best popcorn movies ever made. It's ingenuity, time-traveling twist ups and wonderfully vibrant characters resonate in ways few films ever achieve.
It's a timeless joke that never gets old: One day you will grow up to be your parents and they'll have the last laugh. The innovation here was in telling the joke backwards.
A polished piece of old-fashioned fun that carries on when many of its so-called betters have succumbed to the whims of time.
"Future" fandom resonates in the public imagination because it marries innocence with high-concept fun.
A little more sophistication would have been no bad thing -- but a good script keeps it zipping along.
Delightful and sophisticated to a degree beyond the dreams of today's movies in similar vein.
Zemeckis' popcorn classic combines watertight scripting with broad but brilliant performances, all held together by Fox's stumbling charm.
The counter-Freudian drama is handled with easy wit and flair, like a Shakespearian disguise comedy, and it made a whopping star of Fox.
This irresistible combination of dazzling effects and sly comedy propelled Michael J Fox to stardom and Robert Zemeckis to the front rank of Hollywood directors.
This film is WASTED on kids.
Boasts probably the tightest screenplay of any film in Zemeckis's body of work.
Thompson's funny, carnal performance forces us all to face an ugly truth: once, our moms might have been prowling teens too.
Back to the Future defies the laws of physics (and its own cracked view of the past). It's one of the rare big-budget entertainments that's improved with time.
Probably the most carefully-scripted blockbuster in Hollywood history.
Just watched this for the first time in over a decade. This time in remastered high def picture and sound. My daughter and I loved it. She even cheered when Marty made the trip back home!
March 20, 2007Super Reviewer
Back to the Future is a hilarious, imaginative, and unforgettable time-travel adventure. It's well-acted, well directed and edited, and it's spirit is immense. The science is actually thoroughly explained so it makes perfect sense which makes it great fun for audiences of all ages. Back to the Future will keep
February 7, 2012Super Reviewer
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