Twenty-five years have passed since the release of Back to the Future (BttF), and what better way to celebrate than to watch them all consecutively. I was quite excited at the prospects because I couldn’t recall the last time I’d seen any of the three. After entering my Football Predictions for my weekly work pool - and wishing I had a copy of the 2000-2050 version of “Gray’s Sports Almanac” - I sat down to enjoy my newly acquired 25th anniversary trilogy. In honor of succinctness though (and my inability to practice it), I’ll just keep to talking about the original.

There are many films I recall enjoying as a child that resulted in great disappointment upon viewing as an adult (3 Ninjas, Surf Ninjas, American Ninja, 3 Ninjas Kick Back – to name a few). Movies that came out during the 80’s in general tended to do this whenever I revisited them. They felt dated, but BttF is one of the rare exceptions that managed to avoid this trap that befell many of its contemporaries. I was immediately reminded of how much I used to love these films with Michael J. Fox’s goofy charisma in the wonderful opening. (It’s a bit of a trip to think that these films were almost made with Eric Stoltz instead – can you imagine Vincent Vega’s heroin dealer as Marty McFly?)

It’s followed with an introduction to Doc Brown’s madcap antics and takes off running from there. BttF races along at a very quick pace, but never feels rushed. A lot of it has to do with the great mix of humor and clumsy unpreparedness that’s present in all the action sequences. Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson are all perfectly cast for their vibrant, awkward, and funny performances. The music - both Alan Silvestri’s theme and “The Power of Love” - is underrated. Even with some of the typical plot holes that come with time-travel films, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale managed to put together a great story and script.

If it’s been some time since you last watched BttF, I’d highly recommend checking it out again. You’ll be wonderfully surprised by how well the series holds up. With Hollywood’s tendency to remake, reboot, add sequels and prequels, I’m sure it won’t be long before “The Bobs” are approached about another installment. Hopefully, I would have come across a sports almanac that my future self went back in time to give me by then.

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