Even better than the first

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2018)

Downvote me if you must, but you know the truth. It's better than the first. This sequel was everything a person could ask for in a family-rated movie about time travel. The character flaws actually gave the characters more depth. Marty's reckless attitude got him into a car accident that cost him his career in music in 1985, then it got his future self fired in 2015. He bought the sports almanac in 2015 to take back to 1985 for financial gain, which eventually caused Biff to presumably murder his father, marry his mother, and basically become an unstoppable millionaire casino boss in an alternate 1985. This reminded everyone how young and naive Marty is, despite coming off as mature and cool-mannered. Doc had always been the guiding voice of genius, but he still doesn't fix his time machine when it starts to glitch, and that causes him to be sent back to 1885. This type of character development added an element of realism that is usually completely forgotten in family films. Number two, the special effects and props. And not just computer generated effects. This movie had so many beautiful sets from three (technically four) distinct versions of Hill Valley. The original 1985, hyper-futuristic 2015, alternate distopic 1985, and the classic 1955. Needless to say, they displayed each time period flawlessly and we're left with a seamless story that has enough beautiful 80s flare and eye-popping effects to make this movie truly timeless. Which leads to number three, the plot (specifically how time is represented). This movie went above and beyond what was expected of a sequel to the first film. Fans were left with the cliffhanger of the flying DeLorean entering the year 2015 to save Marty and Jennifer's kids, and that was all they had in mind. More adventures except this time the budget has allowed them to take place in the future. But this movie added in so much more about the "disastrous consequences" that Doc always rants about, and those are what time travel fanatics want to see in a movie about time travel. There was much more at stake here than just Marty and his family. This was a story about how one mistake in the future led to many lives ruined in the present, and how the person who made that mistake eventually made things right. That's the kind of hero an audience can root for without feeling like they're rooting for someone fictional. Number four, originality. I don't know when it started, but at some point the directors and writers of the sequels to box office hits began to piggyback off the jokes and plot of the originals. This is lazy and disrespectful towards fans, though they might play it off as a tribute to the classic. But this movie decided to make a new path and they totally stuck the landing.