Movies Do the Back To The Future films still hold up?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

This is so weird...

The Back To The Future films are a proud part of (what I like to call) "The Royal Collection": a huge file composed of movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, magazines and songs that are precious to me and I intend to preserve for generations to come... And, despite its bloated numbers, no place is just handed in there -- everything in it has earned its keep due to being somewhat relevant to me or my development in any way, shape, or form.

Naturally, the BTTF trilogy was among the list's first inductees when I started curating it in the Summer of 2007, serving as a sort of last stand against the incoming threat of adulthood and acting as a stronghold whose sole purpose was to remind me that I could still find magic in films and other media even as I was aging out of them.

But I hadn't really watched them since (as was the case with many other flicks on that list), figuring that I'd be back to them when the time was right.

Turns out that the time was right last Saturday, with the kids bored out of their minds and a storm raging overhead -- perfect setting for a movie night.

I put the first movie on, prepared some snacks and...

... They couldn't stand it.

That wasn't all outside the realm of possibility, since I have had them dislike other things before (you try and make them sit through The Brave Little Toaster or Major League 2), but it was a little shocking nonetheless.

Infinitely more surprising, however, was the fact that *I* didn't like them all that much, either.

I was never a fan of the third one, but I remembered liking the first two a whole hell of a lot more than that, and it's so weird that I simply don't anymore -- I get that they are very ironically dated, but I have watched things even more engulfed in their time periods that have held up much better than these movies. Stuff like Bill & Ted Excellent Adventure (1989), Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even (1991), Prozac Nation (2001) and The Art Of Getting By (2011) are PAINFULLY eighties, nineties, early aughts and twenty-tens, yet it all works to their advantage.

Maybe I was discouraged by them dismissing such a huge part of my childhood (and I did fantasize about getting my very own DeLorean as a kid) and that clouded my judgement, but the disconnection felt genuine and I'm kind of bothered by it.

Thoughts?

 

[Dr.Kisaragi]

In my eyes is still holds up especially 1 I love back to the future trilogy 3 is my favorite my nephew and niece love the series but not thier favorite (for me is my number one favorite)

The 80s and the 50s culture are my favorite part

Maybe is not good on others because of old culture and etc. the only outdated I can think is second movie when they portray of 2015 (I'm still waiting for small pizza turn into big invention)

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I can only speak for the first one, because it's the only one I've seen recently, but I still really liked it. My local cinema held an anniversary screening about a month ago and it was kind of a trip to see a movie I rented a lot as a kid on the "big screen" for the first time.

Now, I can believe this not holding the attention of modern children, because it wasn't holding the attention of those in the cinema. A few of them were throwing popcorn and rocking their seat back and forth. Kinda hard to ignore. I'm chalking that up to the cinema being a bad way to watch most movies, and not the movie itself being bad.

In spite of all that, I still like the first BTTF anyway. I think maybe the climax lasts a bit too long, but I had fun with it.

Edit: I love how much foreshadowing, and set-ups and pay-offs, are in BTTF 1. There's a lot to pick up on with each watch.

 

[ciro64]

I liked them but it has been a while since I watched it. I don't feel a strong urge to rewatch them anytime soon, although now I'm curious to know which aspects didn't age well for you.