Back to the Future Part II (1989)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Biff Raff

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Back to the Future Part II was inevitable, but its story was born out of the original film's epilogue. Doc urges Marty and girlfriend Jennifer to come with him to the future to solve an urgent problem. "You and Jennifer are fine! It's your kids!" This was, of course, just a cute way of letting us know that they will live happily ever after, but the writers found themselves stuck with it. It begins with a trip to 2015, where Marty (Michael J. Fox) disguises himself as his no-good kid to get him out of a scrape. (The images of 2015 are astonishing, and, weirdly, a number of them turned out to be somewhat accurate.) This nothing little trip spins into a much better idea. 2015 Biff steals the DeLorean and brings a book of sports stats to his 1955 counterpart. So when our crew returns to 1985, it's a new timeline, in which Biff has made a fortune betting, and now rules over a dystopian hellscape. Marty and Doc must head back to 1955, avoiding all the work they did there before, and stop Old Biff from giving Young Biff the book. It ends with a cliffhanger, as the DeLorean disappears, and Marty receives a Western Union message from Doc, saying that he has been zapped back to 1885. Aside from the silly set-up, this eventually turns into a very entertaining, if complex (and darker), time-travel flick, with much of the same energy as its predecessor. On this, Elisabeth Shue took over the role of Jennifer from Claudia Wells.

Universal's 2009 three-disc DVD set comes with plenty of documentaries, deleted scenes, and a few funny outtakes. Elisabeth Shue replaced Claudia Wells as Marty's girlfriend for Parts 2-3. Crispin Glover is great as Marty's dad. Flea, Elijah Wood and Jason Scott Lee can be glimpsed in smaller parts. Steven Spielberg executive produced all three films. In 2010, Universal released a Blu-Ray collection.