Back to the Future Part II-The Future Should Be More Interesting
Back to the Future Part II suffers from the fate of many, if not most sequels, in that it attempts to be somewhat innovative but only to the extent of its own boundaries and not so innovative that it will “scare away” its base. The Back to the Future franchise COULD have been much like Star Trek or James Bond or other long running movie franchises in that the potential set up the original films premise allowed writers to take stories anywhere and do anything, literally. Maybe they suffered from what can only be called the “Berman Syndrome” in which Star Trek producer Rick Berman declared that the problem with Star Trek was that all the stories had been told. Obviously Berman outed himself as the primary problem with that statement. Of course, this is not to say that Back to the Future II is a bad film, it just simply lacks the originality and imagination encapsulated in the first film, yet it still has its moments.
Michael J. Fox is back as Marty and this time he has to travel into the future to keep his children from becoming complete nightmares and failures. This relatively simple premise is well executed and, while this second film is darker than the first, it still retains much of the original films fun and charm. The interactions between Marty and Doc keep audiences entertained and at the end fans are left wanting more. Of course, the problem is that the Back to the Future sequels never live up to their potential, nor does the franchise.
Much of the success of the film can likely be traced back to the sheer love the fan base had for the original film. Back to the Future II was going to be a wildly successful film no matter whether it was awful or awesome. While the original Back to the Future was probably director Robert Zemeckis' best film as he was both director and co-writer of the screenplay, this effort just falls short. Again, its time travel, you can do anything and the future should have been more interesting than what we received. However, in all fairness the set direction and effects still help make Back to the Future II entertaining enough that audiences held out hope for the third and what would be final installment of the film. While nothing is certain, don't be too surprised if someday, this well know franchise is not resurrected for a fourth film or new trilogy.
Story B
Acting B
Visuals A-
Originality/Innovation B-
Enjoyability Grade B
Home Theater/HD Factor B
Overall Grade B+
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