--- description: The movie was released on July 3, 1985 title: Read TIME's Prescient Review of 'Back to the Future' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4c388ff33222003/69885571cd1bba14d16fbe85/bttf.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read TIME's Prescient Review of _Back to the Future_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  Michael J Fox walking across the street in a scene from the film 'Back To The Future', 1985. Michael J Fox walking across the street in a scene from the film 'Back To The Future', 1985.Universal Pictures/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2015 11:00 AM CUT Turning the big 3-0 is always a big deal, but for _Back to the Future_ it’s particularly so. After all, 30 years is the time span that sets the whole movie in motion: Marty McFly travels three decades back in time from 1985 to 1955\. Now, on July 3, 2015, he’ll have made it just that many years into the future. (Or, rather, the movie will have made it: the 2015 date to which Marty zooms in the movie’s sequel won’t roll around until October.) Looking back at TIME’s original review of the movie classic (a two-fer that paired _BttF_ with _Goonies_) it’s clear that the charm of the story was immediately clear—and that critic Richard Corliss had his finger on the pulse, or at least his foot on the gas of the film-criticism DeLorean. When looking at the plot structure, he ventured a guess at what might happen to the movie by 2015: --- > “” --- [At this point](http://time.com/3662868/nike-back-to-the-future-shoes/ "undefined"), we don’t need a flux capacitor to guess that, another 30 years from now_,_ that prediction will still hold true. **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [This Way to the Children’s Crusade](http://time.com/vault/issue/1985-07-01/page/64/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/"},"headline":"Read TIME's Prescient Review of Back to the Future","datePublished":"2015-07-03T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:22:04.109Z","description":"The movie was released on July 3, 1985","url":"https://time.com/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4c388ff33222003/69885571cd1bba14d16fbe85/bttf.jpeg?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/blta4c388ff33222003/69885571cd1bba14d16fbe85/bttf.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michael J Fox In 'Back To The Future'","caption":"Michael J Fox In 'Back To The Future'","creditText":"Universal Pictures/Getty Images","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/3928368/review-1985-back-to-the-future/","name":"Read TIME's Prescient Review of Back to the Future"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far)","description":"TIME movie critic, Richard Corliss lists his top films of the millennium (Thus Far). 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