Back to the Future Part II (1989)

My Review

In “Back to the Future Part II,” Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty’s future son from ruining their family. Unfortunately, their old nemesis, Bill Tannen, steals the time machine to give a sports almanac to his younger self, creating a dystopian and nightmarish 1985. Director Robert Zemeckis (“Romancing the Stone” 1984) and screenwriter Bob Gale did a good job of producing this sequel to the original “Back to the Future” (1985). They were faithful to the characters and storyline they both originated.

The cast includes Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Marty McFly Jr., and Marlene McFly, Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmet Brown, Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines-McFly (Marty’s mum), Thomas F. Wilson as Bill Tannen, Griff, and Gertrude Tannen (voice only), Elizabeth Shue as Marty’s girl friend Jennifer Parker, Jeffrey Weismann as George McFly (Marty’s dad), Jason Scott Lee as Whitey, Billy Zane as Match, and Elijah Wood in his motion picture debut as the video game boy #2. Crispin Glover did not return as George McFly due to a salary dispute.

The watchable and entertaining “Back to the Future Part II” was the third highest grossing film of 1989 for producer Bob Gale, Amblin Entertainment, and Universal Pictures. It was filmed at various locations across Southern California, and received one Oscar nod for Best Visual Effects, losing out to “The Abyss.” The next and final film in the series would be “Back to the Future Part III” (1990).