--- title: Back to the Future II Release Anniversary: Original Review from TIME description: Read TIME's 1989 review of the futuristic favorite canonical: https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-22T17:00:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:34:11.904Z article:section: History og:title: Back to the Future II Release Anniversary: Original Review from TIME og:description: Read TIME's 1989 review of the futuristic favorite og:url: https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4e10bc4ae646bd8/69876a082dce0170759dbe92/back-to-the-future-ii.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Back To The Future Part II' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Back to the Future II Release Anniversary: Original Review from TIME twitter:description: Read TIME's 1989 review of the futuristic favorite twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4e10bc4ae646bd8/69876a082dce0170759dbe92/back-to-the-future-ii.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Back to the Future II_ Turns 25 — Or, in Future Years, -1  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 22, 2014 5:00 PM UTC  'Back To The Future Part II' 'Back To The Future Part II'Universal Pictures  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 22, 2014 5:00 PM UTC When the first _Back to the Future_ movie came out in 1985, it didn’t receive a review in TIME — but on the occasion of its release 25 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1989, _Back to the Future, Part II_ provided a convincing argument for the magazine to want to go back in time and correct that oversight. “Like its predecessor, _Back to the Future, Part II_ does not merely warp time; it twists it, shakes it and stands it on its ear,” wrote critic Richard Schickel. “But as before, the film’s technical brilliance is the least of its appeals. Satirically acute, intricately structured and deftly paced, it is at heart stout, good and untainted by easy sentiment.” In fact, he went on, in some ways _Part II_ one-upped its predecessor: “…when \[Marty\] is reinserted into this moment in time and starts to meet himself and the situations of the previous movie, _Back to the Future II_ ceases to be a sequel. It becomes instead a kind of fugue, brilliantly varying and expanding on previously stated themes.” It also became known as the source of the world’s wish for a working hover board. In TIME’s original review of the movie, the accompanying photo is of Marty McFly in the year 2015 riding said mode of transport — which makes the movie’s 25th birthday a particularly exciting one. The year 2015 is fast approaching, no time machine required, and sure enough, here it is: a real-life hover board is featured on our annual list of the [25 best inventions of the year](http://time.com/3594971/the-25-best-inventions-of-2014/?pcd=hp-magmod). **_Read the full 1989 review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [More Travels With Marty](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-12-04/page/117/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/"},"headline":"Back to the Future II Turns 25 — Or, in Future Years, -1","datePublished":"2014-11-22T17:00:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:34:11.904Z","description":"Read TIME's 1989 review of the futuristic favorite","url":"https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/","keywords":["movies","review"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4e10bc4ae646bd8/69876a082dce0170759dbe92/back-to-the-future-ii.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4e10bc4ae646bd8/69876a082dce0170759dbe92/back-to-the-future-ii.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"'Back To The Future Part II'","caption":"'Back To The Future Part II'","creditText":"Universal Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3596342/back-to-the-future-2/","name":"Back to the Future II Turns 25 — Or, in Future Years, -1"}}]}] ```