Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is asked to help his friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) conduct a scientific experiment involving a time machine made out of a DeLorean. Before he knows it, he finds himself transported to 1955 and sets off a time-shattering chain reaction that can wipe out his future. Searching out the 1955 version of Doc, the pair has to figure out a way to fix the space-time continuum and get the teenager back to the future.

In Part II, Marty and Doc travel 30 years into the future in order to stop Marty's son from setting off a chain of events that will ruin the family's reputation. In the process of fixing the future, the pair inadvertently disrupts the space-time continuum (again) and need to travel back to 1955 in order to set things right.

After being struck by lightning at the conclusion of Part II, Doc Brown is transported back to 1885 in Part III and is able to get a message to Marty on how to get home from 1955. Instead of heeding the good Doctor's advice, Marty goes back to 1885 to rescue his friend from a local gunslinger (Thomas F. Wilson). The pair must avoid the bad guy and figure out a way to get the DeLorean running again in order to get back home.

Back to the Future was the smash hit of 1985 and spent 11 weeks at #1 in the U.S. and earned just under $200 million in box office sales. Not bad for a film that almost wasn't made. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale shopped the project around Hollywood and couldn't find a taker until Steven Spielberg stepped in. The success of the film virtually guaranteed a sequel (or two) and while the sequels aren't nearly as good as the first film, they are entertaining and who wouldn't want to spend four additional hours with Doc and Marty?

Video Highlights

• VC-1/1080p encode on a BD-50 discs (3)
• Thin veil of grain
• Corny CGI, but state-of-the-art in the 1980s
• Clean and bold color palette
• Occasional edge enhancement (very minor)
• Soft focus due to principle photography

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtracks
• Robust dynamics
• Front-heavy tracks
• Intelligible dialog
• Occasional discrete effects from surround speakers

Bob Gale stated months ago that he was blown away by the video presentation of the films and I agree with him. They've never looked better on home video with outstanding detail, bold colors, and unfortunately, less than transparent CGI due to the 1980s technology. The audio tracks feature surprisingly robust dynamics for their age and the score from Alan Silvestri is one of my all-time favorites and has never sounded better.

Bonus Materials

The supplements are literally too numerous to list, but rest assured, fans will need countless hours to get through them all. I thoroughly enjoyed the six-part retrospective documentary Tales from the Future that’s broken up over the three disc set. It delves into the genesis of the project, the casting, the production, the music, the sequels, and how the films became part of the American culture.

There are myriad behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes, a Q & A with Michael J. Fox, Q & A commentaries with Director Robert Zemeckis and Producer Bob Gale, feature commentaries with Producers Gale and Neil Canton, archival featurettes from the previously released DVDs, two music videos, photo galleries, theatrical trailers, an interesting featurette on The Physics of Back To the Future (they got it right), and digital copies of all three films. Each movie features U-Control functionality, are BD-Live enabled, and are compatible with Universal's pocket BLU application.

My kids have wanted to watch the trilogy for nearly a year but I held them off in anticipation for their eventual Blu-ray release, and I'm glad I did. The video presentations are outstanding and it was fun sharing one of my favorite trilogies with my younglings. Highly recommended.

Release Date: October 26, 2010
Studio: Universal

Back to the Future
Movie: 10/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Back to the Future: Part II
Movie: 7/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Back to the Future: Part III
Movie: 8/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Panamax M5400PM power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics