---
title: "Back to the Future"
year: 1985
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/back-to-the-future"
fi1m_id: "back-to-the-future"
imdb_id: "tt0088763"
tmdb_id: 105
wikidata_id: "Q91540"
fi1m_score: 92
critics_score: 84
critics_reviews: 19
published: "2026-09-12"
updated: "2026-10-06T12:12:34.561388+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Back to the Future (1985)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis · 1h 56m · MPA PG · Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction

## Identity

Back to the Future

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/back-to-the-future
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** back-to-the-future
- **IMDb ID:** tt0088763
- **TMDB ID:** 105
- **Wikidata ID:** Q91540
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/105, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q91540

**Fi1m score: 92** · Critics 84 from 19 reviews

*In a sentence:* Time travel is a fine idea until your parents turn out to be your age

> Robert Zemeckis makes time travel funny by sending a teenager straight into his parents’ awkward youth. We recommend it warmly, despite a slightly laboured opening: the plotting is exact and the performances make the cleverness feel easy.

## Synopsis

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a teenager from 1985, travels back to 1955 and encounters his parents at his own age. George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson) have yet to become the adults he knows. Christopher Lloyd plays scientist Emmett Brown in a science-fiction adventure comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis, who writes the screenplay with Bob Gale. The trip places Marty among unfamiliar fashions and assumptions, with a view of family life that no conversation at home could provide.

## Review

We recommend *Back to the Future* even to anyone whose patience with time travel runs out at the first explanation. Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale begin with a good, embarrassing question: what if a teenager could meet his parents before they had learned to behave like parents? Sending Marty McFly from 1985 to 1955 gives them plenty of jokes about changing fashions and attitudes. It also makes him consider something teenagers have little reason to dwell on: that his parents once had lives in which he did not exist.

Michael J. Fox is crucial because he makes Marty confident enough to carry an adventure and awkward enough to belong in this family. He can register disbelief without standing outside a scene and inviting us to laugh at it with him. Christopher Lloyd’s Emmett Brown supplies the greater extravagance, playing the scientist’s excitement as something entirely reasonable to the scientist. The size of Lloyd’s performance could have swallowed a less alert partner, but Fox keeps the exchanges quick and human.

The sharper joke comes with the parents, played by Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson. Glover gives George an awkwardness that risks becoming a collection of comic habits, though the embarrassment behind it remains clear. Thompson makes Lorraine feel like someone with a life of her own, rather than merely a younger version of Marty’s mother. We laughed at Marty’s discomfort among his young parents; Fox makes the encounter awkward without making it cruel.

Lawrence G. Paull’s production design gives the 1950s a clean, tended appearance, and Dean Cundey’s photography makes that setting inviting. The neatness is funny alongside the awkward behaviour of the people living there. Cundey keeps our attention on the performers rather than making every period detail demand admiration, which is the right choice for a comedy with this cast. The surroundings establish the decade quickly and then leave the actors room to work.

Harry Keramidas and Arthur Schmidt’s editing makes the script’s complications easy to follow without slowing the film to check that everyone has understood. Jokes get enough time to land, and the explanations stay connected to Marty’s predicament. Alan Silvestri’s score treats the adventure with a wholehearted seriousness that might have been excessive around colder performances. Here it works because Fox and Lloyd already make us care about what they are trying to do. The music can be enthusiastic without doing the actors’ work for them.

The opening is the reservation. Zemeckis and Gale have enough people and information to introduce that the early comedy can feel arranged for our benefit, and some of the characterisation is broad even by the film’s cheerful standards. Once Marty is confronting his parents’ younger selves, the writing becomes more nimble and the awkwardness less predictable. The film remains light and playful, but it allows enough embarrassment to keep the family affection from becoming sugary.

At 116 minutes, it has room for both the family discomfort and the larger adventure without treating either as an interruption. Plenty of science-fiction comedies make their people wait while the clever ideas are demonstrated; here the idea keeps giving the actors something funny to play. Watch it with someone who remembers being certain their parents had never been young.

*Fi1m score 92, published 12 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Almost every critic recommends it, and the praise lands in the same two places. The first is the script: reviewers keep returning to how tightly it is plotted, how every set-up is paid off and how neatly it handles the paradoxes of a boy meeting his parents as teenagers. The second is the pairing of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, with Fox’s charm and Lloyd’s mad scientist singled out again and again. Robert Zemeckis is credited with keeping the effects in service of the story, and more than one critic reaches for Frank Capra to describe its sweetness. Reviews written for later re-releases say it has aged well.

Reservations are few. Variety thinks the opening is shaky, and The Guardian finds it playful rather than biting. The single negative review comes from the Los Angeles Times in 1985, which calls it cartoonish and empty, its premise underdeveloped and overproduced. Nobody writing since has agreed.

## Straight answers

**Is Back to the Future worth watching?**

*Back to the Future* is worth watching for almost anyone, including those who normally tire of time-travel plots, and we scored it 92. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd keep the cleverness quick and human, and the joke of a teenager meeting his parents at his own age never runs dry. The opening is slightly laboured; the film picks up once Marty reaches 1955.

**How long is Back to the Future, and what is it rated?**

*Back to the Future* runs 1h 56m and is rated PG by the MPA in the US. It is an adventure and comedy film.

**Where can I watch Back to the Future in the US?**

*Back to the Future* is streaming on Disney+ in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Back to the Future compare to Peggy Sue Got Married?**

*Back to the Future* is the tighter and funnier of the two, while [*Peggy Sue Got Married*](https://film.one/film/peggy-sue-got-married) gives family regret more room to hurt. Zemeckis treats a teenager's return to 1955 as adventure comedy with exact plotting; Coppola's film is looser, and Nicolas Cage sometimes strains its comedy, but Kathleen Turner makes it unexpectedly moving. Choose Zemeckis for laughs, Coppola for the ache of second chances.

**What should I watch after Back to the Future?**

After *Back to the Future*, try [*Peggy Sue Got Married*](https://film.one/film/peggy-sue-got-married) (1986, Fi1m 79): Another return to youth, with family regrets given more room to hurt. Then [*Groundhog Day*](https://film.one/film/groundhog-day) (1993, Fi1m 88): A time loop makes room for sharp comedy and reluctant personal improvement; and [*A Matter of Life and Death*](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death) (1946, Fi1m 92): Romance and fantasy made persuasive by taking the people inside them seriously.

### Reviews we read (19)

- **The Times**, Tom Shone (★★★★★): The critic calls it an exquisite piece of narrative clockwork and one of the most intricately plotted films in modern cinema. They single out the friendship between Marty and Doc Brown, highlighted by Christopher Lloyd's deliriously enjoyable performance. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/classic-films-mad-max-fury-road-and-back-to-the-future-2w3pccbqt)
- **Empire**, Adam Smith (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an almost perfectly wrought slice of old-fashioned escapist fantasy that transcends its era, crediting the script's deft handling of time-travel paradoxes and Michael J. Fox's towering charm as the standout elements. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/back-future-review/)
- **Radio Times**, John Ferguson (5 out of 5 stars): The critic praises the irresistible combination of dazzling special effects and sly comedy that propelled the leads and director, along with the ingenious script and adroit direction that balances effects and story. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-7e09lf/back-to-the-future/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (90/100, inferred): The film is a rare big-budget entertainment that has improved with time thanks to its logistically perfect screenplay and subtle mockery of 1980s political pretensions. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/back-to-the-future-dvd/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter** (90/100, inferred): The film is a high-octane, whiz-bang time-travel adventure that should deliver strong box office. Zemeckis's direction brings human comedy to the high-tech premise, with Christopher Lloyd's scene-stealing mad scientist performance standing out. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/back-future-review-1985-movie-801103/)
- **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (90/100, inferred): The film takes a sweet, ingenious premise about a boy traveling back to his parents' youth and runs with it inventively. Zemeckis keeps the story moving without going too far, anchoring it in family history with wit and a well-groomed 1950s look. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/03/movies/film-back-to-the-future.html)
- **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (5 out of 5 stars): The critic calls the film pretty much perfect and notes that time has not blunted its fresh wit, Capraesque sweetness, effortless storytelling or charming performances. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/back-to-the-future-1985)
- **Total Film**, Matt Glasby (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the film just as entertaining on its 25th anniversary re-release as in 1985, praising its watertight scripting, broad but brilliant performances and Fox’s charm. They single out the raunchier elements and witty asides for note while observing that it gazes lovingly backwards at a charmingly rendered 1950s. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/back-to-the-future-1-review/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (3.5/4): The critic praises the film's inventive time-travel premise and comic surprises, noting how it allows the protagonist to help his parents as teenagers. He highlights director Robert Zemeckis's lighthearted humanism, comparing it favorably to Frank Capra's work. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/back-to-the-future-1985)
- **The AV Club**, Tom Breihan (85/100, inferred): The piece celebrates the film as timeless blockbuster fun that has aged remarkably well, crediting its script's narrative tricks and momentum. It singles out the clever handling of 1950s and 1980s nostalgia alongside strong performances and effects. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/though-set-in-two-bygone-eras-back-to-the-future-is-ti-1843055951)
- **The Telegraph** (85/100, inferred): The critic praises it as pure entertainment of the highest order, with tight plotting, witty scripting and pacy direction that sweeps the viewer along. They single out the intricate interplay between past and future, along with Michael J Fox's uniquely energetic charm in the lead role. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11168824/Back-to-the-Future-review.html)
- **The Guardian**, Derek Malcolm (70/100, inferred): The Spielberg-produced, Zemeckis-directed time-travel comedy about a teen meeting his parents as teenagers is highly entertaining, with sentiment from Spielberg and acid from Zemeckis. It features a memorable unknowing-incest sequence but remains essentially light and playful rather than biting. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/from-the-archive-blog/2015/oct/21/back-to-the-future-derek-malcolm-review-1985)
- **Variety**, Ray Loynd (70/100, inferred): Once past a shaky opening, this time-travel odyssey accelerates with wit, ideas and infectious wonder. The scenario's central elements—hurling the audience back to 1955 for pop-culture humor and delivering a 1985 teen to his parents' doorstep—make it a winner. [Read](https://variety.com/1985/film/news/film-review-back-to-the-future-1201344694/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Sheila Benson (30/100, inferred): The film is big, cartoonish and empty, with an interesting premise that is underdeveloped and overproduced. It fails to make the most of its time-travel concept despite connections to Spielberg. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-archive-back-to-future-review-19850703-story.html)
- **Den of Geek**, Seb Patrick (5/5): The re-release confirms the film as a masterpiece of cinema and expertly crafted crowd-pleaser whose set pieces remain thrilling decades later. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/back-to-the-future-review-2/)
- **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a practically flawless picture and the decade's crown jewel in popcorn cinema, still fresh and exhilarating on re-release. They single out the seamless blend of action, comedy and human drama, along with the performances of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a266787/back-to-the-future/)
- **Eye for Film**, Stephen Carty (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it one of the most deservedly popular movies in cinema history, praising its brilliant script, excellent performances, wonderful score, inspirational ideas, and many memorable moments that have stood the test of time. [Read](https://eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/back-to-the-future-film-review-by-stephen-carty)
- **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (80/100, inferred): The first film is a crackerjack piece of entertainment. The transfers and extras make the Blu-ray trilogy set worth an upgrade for fans. [Read](https://collider.com/back-to-the-future-trilogy-blu-ray-review/)
- **NME**, NME Blog (80/100, inferred): The film remains beloved for its perfectly executed plot full of set-ups and pay-offs along with its quotable comedy and enduring charm that transcends nostalgia. [Read](https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/twenty-five-years-on-why-everyone-still-loves-back-to-the-future-40529)

## Details

- **Director:** Robert Zemeckis
- **Director:** Robert Zemeckis
- **Writer:** Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
- **Cinematography:** Dean Cundey
- **Editor:** Harry Keramidas, Arthur Schmidt
- **Music:** Alan Silvestri
- **Production design:** Lawrence G. Paull
- **Costume design:** Deborah Lynn Scott
- **Producer:** Bob Gale, Neil Canton
- **Cast:** Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly; Christopher Lloyd as Emmett Brown; Crispin Glover as George McFly; Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines; Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker; Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen; Marc McClure as Dave McFly; Wendie Jo Sperber as Linda McFly
- **Runtime:** 1h 56m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG
- **Release (the US):** 3 July 1985
- **Genres:** Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction
- **Part of:** [Back to the Future](https://film.one/collections/back-to-the-future.md) · 1 of 2
- **Also in:** [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 1985); [Golden Globe Best Musical or Comedy winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-comedy.md) (Nominee, 1985)
- **Budget:** $19 million
- **Box office:** $381 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez6WQ7IX72U

## Where to watch in the US

- Disney+: streaming, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-12.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, MX, NL, NO, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- International Film Music Critics Association Awards 2010: International Film Music Critics Association Awards (won)
- David di Donatello 2003: David di Donatello (won)
- Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film 1987: Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film (won)
- Academy Awards 1986: Best Sound (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated); Best Sound Editing (won)
- Goldene Leinwand 1986: Goldene Leinwand (won)
- Hugo Awards 1986: Best Dramatic Presentation (won)
- Saturn Awards 1986: Best Actor (won); Best Science Fiction Film (won); Best Special Effects (won)
- Young Artist Awards 1986: Young Artist Awards (won)
- Jupiter Awards 1985: Jupiter Awards (won)
- National Board of Review: Top Ten Films 1985: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films (won)

## If you liked this

- *Peggy Sue Got Married* (1986), Fi1m 79: Another return to youth, with family regrets given more room to hurt. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/peggy-sue-got-married.md)
- *The Girl Who Leapt Through Time* (2006): Teenage impatience and time travel, with consequences that grow steadily more painful.
- *Groundhog Day* (1993), Fi1m 88: A time loop makes room for sharp comedy and reluctant personal improvement. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/groundhog-day.md)
- *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946), Fi1m 92: Romance and fantasy made persuasive by taking the people inside them seriously. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death.md)
- *Petite Maman* (2021), Fi1m 88: A quieter family fantasy, equally curious about parents before they became parents. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/petite-maman.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/back-to-the-future