An original and inventive film

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2014)

Back to the Future is an amazingly executed science fiction comedy that pulls the audience into the world of time travel. Marty (Michael J. Fox) is accidentally sent back in time in a time machine that his friend, the mad scientist Doc (Christopher Lloyd), invented. Once in the past, Marty meets his parents when they were teenagers. He accidentally messes with the time line and his mother falls for Marty instead of his father. Marty must fix this while Doc from the past finds a way to send Marty back to his own time. If Marty cannot get his parents together in time, he will disappear from existence.
Director Robert Zemeckis creates an original and inventive film that that entrances the audience. However, he does not pull this off on his own. He has a wonderful cast that truly brings the script to life. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd make an amazing team. They both embody their characters and when you put them together, movie magic happens. Their facial expressions, vocal expression, and physicality make their performance interesting, believable, and likable. Their interactions verbally and non-verbally when they are sending the DeLorean back in time for the first time is priceless, because of the way their eyes speak to each other and to the audience, and their physical actions magnify the intensity of their emotions. Through this, they create a scene of suspense but one that the audience can still laugh along to. Without these two actors the movie is just that, a movie; but, they create an adventure, a comedy, and overall a story that has become a classic.
The music selection for this film is spectacular and plays an important role. This movie incorporates the big hits of each time period, and this does not only appeal to the audience, but also sets the mood of the movie. "The Power of Love," by Huey Lewis and the News was written for this film and ended up giving the band its first number-one hit. This upbeat and overall fun song to sing along to gets the audience ready for a light hearted rocking good time. Another big hit, "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry is performed in this movie and is now considered to be one of the most recognizable songs in music history. Music truly can bring you back in time and this is what makes Back to the Future a hit even now.
This is a movie that can be watched over and over again and something new can be learned every time. Everything that is said and shown in this movie has a purpose. Whether that is a newspaper clipping, a license plate, or a phrase that is said, the director put them each there on purpose, to make the audience think. The attention to detail is amazing. One example is how the mall sign changes from "Two Pines Mall" to "Lone Pine Mall" later in the movie because when Marty was back in time he ran over one of the pines. Back to the Future is a movie that will never get old. It was a masterpiece of its time and is still a masterpiece today.