There are only a few movies that influenced pop-culture as much as Back to the Future. I don’t think it matters whether you are a die hard fan, a casual fan, or somebody, who actually doesn’t like these movies (I am sure people like that exist). But you can’t deny how influential not only this movie, but this entire trilogy was and to a certain extent, still is. I mean, after all, one of the most popular TV shows of the past 10 years, Rick and Morty would hardly exist without these movies. And that is just the tip of the iceberg, that shows the undying love fans have for these movies.

I still remember my first time watching this movie and believe or not, I thought it was alright. That’s right, I understood how important this movie/trilogy was to our pop-culture, but I didn’t fully love it, the way most people on the internet do. And then, I saw it again, couple of years later and I thought it was much better. And then I saw the entire trilogy again. And then again. And just a couple of days ago, I introduced it to my girlfriend and let me just say, I think I understand it now. Because even though this is not my favourite one of the Back to the Future trilogy, I can’t rank any of those movies any lesser, because they all fit together.

What I appreciate about this movie is how it takes its time to setup everything. People often forget that before the “main” story begins, there is a good 20/30 minutes of foreshadowing, setup and exposition for later on, that’s necessary for the audience. But since most of the things pay off not only in this movie, but in the other two movies after this one, it’s all worth it, even though you could say the beginning of this drags on a bit. I also think what this movie does really well is being a time capsule for mid 80’s. Every time I watch it, it’s almost like I am transferred back to the past, even though I’ve never been to USA, let alone lived in 80’s. That’s how you know the movie is working its magic – by making you believe you had been and lived there, long time ago and this is just you re-visiting a place you know well.

Plus, what a cast! Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson all excel in their roles. A lot has been said about the leading duo, but I also think we need to appreciate Crispin and Lea a bit more, because they both are great with the roles they had been given. Crispin is great as the stereotypical nerd, and Lea is great as the girl, who is bit wilder than she claimed to be to her children.

It’s hard to find a different view on this classic, something that hasn’t been written by thousands others prior, but I felt like I had to put together at least something small. As mentioned before, I had to find my way into loving this trilogy, as I didn’t love it from the very first time. But once I found it, it stayed with me. And I think if you were to do a list of movie trilogies (yes, trilogies only!) and which one is the best, Back to the Future would have to be really, really close to the top spot, definitely top 3. There is something comforting about it and every time I re-watch it, I need to watch all 3 movies back to back, as to me, that’s the only way to watch them. It’s not required, but it almost feels wrong trying to watch one without the other two.

That is why I can’t give this movie any other rating. I mean, let’s be real, gun put to my head, I would give this movie 4.5*, so it’s almost there, but I can’t do it. Overall, even though this might not be my personal favourite, it begins something, that’s important, fun, great and start to a brilliant trilogy.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I could easily copy and paste most of my review for the original National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983, review here) as that would apply to most of this sequel too. And yet, there are some differences that make National Lampoon’s European Vacation slightly better movie, in my opinion. Because for me, the comedy worked slightly better, there were no relatives and kind of liked the repeating bit about Audrey missing her boyfriend.

Why I think this movie clicked for me slightly better was the change of direction. It’s almost as Amy Heckerling realised that “the Griswolds” are not that good of a family unit (how I was talking about the lack of heart the first movie was trying to have) so she leaned more into them being weird and awkward, but without judging them! I have never felt like she would put them under a microscope and said “Look at those losers”, because they seemed not only more self aware of that fact, but proud of it! They embraced it (hence the beginning of the movie and them “being pigs”) and that was definitely a good decision. I also might the only person, who isn’t a big fan of Randy Quaid and everything regarding “that side” of the family, so I appreciated them not being part of this movie.

What I thought was weird, was the recasting of both kid actors. I get the reason for Anthony Michael Hall not being there anymore, (he decided to make Weird Science (1985) instead), but to drop Dana Barron because you didn’t get Anthony, doesn’t really makes sense to me…? But this franchise managed to turn this into almost a staple, as in next two movies, the kids are always played by somebody else, so you could almost say they created this almost a running joke out of necessity. It’s just slightly confusing the first time around as you get used to the fact the kids look a bit differently then the last time we’ve seen them.

I think the change of scenery, going from USA to Europe definitely helped this movie, as it made the movie feel more alive. Especially putting a clueless family such as Griswolds into more and more ridiculous situations (the roundabout scene was my favourite) and I have appreciated cameos of Robbie Coltrane, who most of us know as Hagrid from Harry Potter movies and Eric Idle as the English guy, who constantly gets injured by Clark, but he doesn’t want to make a fuss about it, you know, because he’s so English. I thought especially his cameo worked nicely. I also (maybe surprisingly) liked all the jokes/innuendos about Audrey missing her boyfriend (for example when the bratwurst was served, she looks at passionately and just says “God, I miss Jack.” in really dry way, that just catches you off guard).

But even this movie suffers from what I wrote about the first one – I laughed a bit more than the first time around, but it was just a bit more. This comedy wouldn’t be on my “to re-watch” list, as I don’t think it is a good comedy. It’s more than decent movie and for me, it’s slightly better than the previous movie, because of those cameos and couple of decent scenes where you will laugh a bit. But exactly as I said with the first movie, if something is presented as a comedy, and for a good chunk of it, it doesn’t make you laugh, you do feel a bit disappointed.

Overall, National Lampoon’s European Vacation is a step-up from the first movie, but that is like saying “Yes, it is raining, so instead of standing in the rain, we put this fishing net above us, that will protect us!” Baby steps is what we are dealing with here, but as every parent tells you, those are important and sometimes, can be a pleasure to watch. If the baby isn’t yours though, not as much.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke