i can't decide between three and a half stars or four for this film. it's a lot of fun and it's great to see these characters back but it's nowhere near as good as the perfect first film. even though the plot is frantic, the story is filled with twists and turns and the going back to the first films climax is really great there is also things that aren't, like the overly unrealistic future, or the alternative 1985 which doesn't make sense if you think about it (like if the world changed so much then why was the almanac still accurate or why marty would still be around in this world) or moments like old biff watching young biff's car with alternate marty in the back seat and yet old biff never sees him or the fact that crispin glover's absence from the film is pretty obvious and somewhat distracting. so yeah, those moments made me think three and a half stars but as i get to the end of this review i realize the movie is still a lot of fun; marty and doc and biff and the rest of the cast are great and the effects mostly hold up really well like the incredible looking hoverboard chase at the beginning. yeah, definitely four stars. six films into the zemeckis marathon and i'm having a blast. so much fun but i think that is coming to an end sooner than later. i hope i'm wrong...