Back To The Future (1985) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Robert Zemeckis

Starring:  Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson

Back To The Future is a thrilling time-travel comedy with poignancy.      Its hero, Marty McFly (Fox) is accidentally sent back in time to 1955 in a DeLorean and disrupts the meeting of his parents.    Realizing this means he will cease to exist if they are kept apart, Marty concocts a plan with the help of his friend Dr. Emmett Brown (Lloyd) to get them together and return to 1985 in one piece.     This is, of course, not without an abundance of complications.     To name a few, Marty's mother Lorraine (Thompson) develops a crush on him (of course not knowing he is her future son), his father is a hopeless nerd, and one wrong step could send the whole "space/time continuum" into upheaval.  

I won't reveal too many plot points, mostly because doing so will take up more paragraphs than I'm willing to write.     Besides, having the plot twists and revelations sprung on you is part of the fun.     Despite all of the directions Back To The Future seems to go in, everything comes together rather sensibly.     There are some interesting payoffs to all of this, although some you have to look hard to discover.     (Example:  The name of the Twin Pines Mall gag).

We all know films like Back To The Future and its sequels are a goofy good time.    Naturally, it's preposterous, but done with great zeal.      The actors can barely conceal their grins.      Back To The Future also possesses an appealing underlying theme.     A teenager finally understands that his parents were once teenagers themselves.     We know our parents grew up the same way we did, but we don't really picture them walking around a high school as an insecure teenager.     When we were teens, we think our parents were born as fully grown, already mature adults.     Marty witnesses his father pushed around by larger bully Biff (Wilson) and says to himself in shock, "He's a complete nerd."     He becomes the object of his mother's desire and is more stunned to learn that she has such feelings at all.     "You mean my mom has the hots for me."    

Doc Brown is another story altogether.    His workshop consists of numerous clocks with simultaneous alarms set to go off exactly 25 minutes late and his white hair sticks straight up as if he stuck his finger in an electrical socket.     He invents the time machine in 1985 and is the only person who can help Marty get his parents together and return to 1985.      Doc doesn't believe Marty's story at first because, who would?     "Ronald Reagan, the actor, is President in 1985?     I'll bet Jerry Lewis is Vice-President," he scoffs.     But soon Marty convinces him and Doc energetically explains the pratfalls of Marty's dilemma.      "1.21 JIGGOWATTS!"  

I am a sucker for time travel stories because of their universal appeal.     People would love nothing more than a chance to travel through time to right wrongs or simply for discovery or historical perpsective.      Marty McFly may feel differently after all he goes through, but we are exhilarated.