Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.
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.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
5 May 2008
fresh:
The picture packs a wonderful wallop.
– Richard Corliss,
TIME Magazine,
29 Mar 2011
fresh:
Zemeckis and Gale... give us two priceless scenes in which the young time-traveler simply regards his parents-to-be with wonderment, delight and empathy. And we cannot help but share that emotion and relate it to our own lives.
– Gene Siskel,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Jun 2013
rotten:
It's big, cartoonish and empty, with an interesting premise that is underdeveloped and overproduced.
– Sheila Benson,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jun 2013
fresh:
It isn't often that extremely clever moviemakers use their brains in the service of pure fun. But that's just what the people who made Back to the Future have done. This brilliant contraption of a film could become the hit of the summer.