Downhill from the original, but still a worthy sequel

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2007)

I'm sure that anyone who saw "Back to the Future" back when it was first out could tell that there would likely be a sequel. It took four years, but finally, in 1989, "Back to the Future Part II" was released. As with many movie sequels, this one has not been as well received as its predecessor, and many have considered it a disappointment, but much more disappointing sequels have seen the light of day.
Doc takes Marty and Jennifer in his time machine to the year 2015 so they can fix up some problems with the future of the McFly family. While in that year, Marty purchases an almanac telling the results of sports events from 1950 to 2000. After they are finished their work in 2015, they return to 1985, but soon, it is clear that it's a lot different from the way it was when they left! It turns out that while they were in 2015, an elderly Biff Tannen borrowed their time machine and travelled back to 1955, where he gave the almanac to his teenage self! By 1985, after easily winning so many bets in the past thirty years, Biff has become very rich and powerful, and has turned Hill Valley into a nightmare! It is now up to Marty and Doc to travel back to 1955 and somehow retrieve the sports almanac!
The IMDb rating for "Back to the Future Part II" is 7.2/10, which is significantly lower than the 8.2/10 rating for the original "Back to the Future", but is still a fairly high rating, which means that many have still enjoyed this second installment in the trilogy, including me. I have to agree that this sequel is inferior to the original. It's a bit darker, with more unpleasant things happening, which may not always be a bad thing, but here, it might be overdone just a bit. There are also probably not quite as many laughs in this sequel as there are in its predecessor. However, just like the original "Back to the Future", this second installment in the trilogy is mostly very exciting, which is enough to save it.
If you don't like the original "Back to the Future", then I think it's obvious that there's no point in watching this 1989 sequel. However, if you're a big fan of the original, but haven't seen "Part II", I'm sure you really want to know where the story goes from there. So, while I wouldn't expect to be as pleased with this movie as you were with its extremely popular predecessor (unless you're really lucky), I see no reason why you shouldn't watch this second installment in the trilogy.