IT'S an amazing 25 years since Back To The Future was first released but the film has lost none of its charm.

Showing at the Palace Cinema in Douglas this week to celebrate its quarter of a century, the film is attracting a whole new generation of fans as well as those who remember when it was a box office smash the first time round.

I was in the audience on the opening night of its re-release on Friday and can't recall the last time I saw a film at the cinema which received a round of applause at the start and a cheer at the end.

For those not familiar with the story, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox), a cool guitar-playing, skateboard-riding high school student in suburban America, ends up travelling back to 1955 in a time machine made out of a DeLorean.

The ability to time travel has been invented by his good friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd).

Marty meets his parents - who are just teenagers themselves - and nearly destroys their chances of getting together and thus putting his entire existence in doubt!

Along the way he encounters the bully Biff, played wonderfully by Thomas F Wilson.

It's a hugely entertaining and lovable film packed with memorable lines and sequences and stands repeated viewing. From start to finish there isn't a dull moment.

They made two sequels to Back To The Future which are entertaining enough. But it is the original - with a wonderful script, great performances by all the cast and the debut of the coolest time travelling machine ever - that is rightly regarded as a classic.  

See it on the big screen while you can.