Andy's Anachronisms - Time Travel Movie Reviews

The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Change one thing. Change everything.


Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

The Basic Plot

Starring in The Butterfly Effect is Ashton Kutcher (Dude Where's My Car) who is perhaps best known for his television roles of Michael Kelso on That 70's Show and his hidden camera series Punk'd. Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber (Final Destination 2) wrote the screenplay and are directing the film.

The trade paper Variety has reported that Butterfly tells the story of a young man who discoverers a technique that allows him to travel back to his past and change history, but who finds that every change has unexpected consequences. Principal photography began on May 27, 2003 in Vancouver on a budget of $13 million.

The Analysis

With Ashton Kutcher starring, one would expect this movie to be billed as a comedy, but interesting enough its being pitched as a science-fiction thriller. It will be interesting to see if Kutcher has the range to play a more dramatic role. I've only seen Kutcher interviewed once and he came off being very similar to his character Kelso on That 70s Show.

With respect to the plot it will be interesting to see if the audience buys into the premise. The fall 2002 television line up featured not one but two series with young men thrust back into their childhoods. The series WB's Do Over was cancelled after 3 months and ABC's That Was Then was cancelled after only two episodes.

This release date for The Butterfly Effect has been bounced around and is currently set for release on January 23, 2004 in North America. It had been previously scheduled for an early fall release of 2003, but was bumped back 5 months by the studio to February 6th, 2004 and now this January date.

The official site for The Butterfly Effect currently has a really decent trailer for the film that has raised my interest in the film tenfold.

©2003 - A. Taylor

Review Posted: 2002-10-05
Review Updated: 2003-11-13


Related Links:

Offical Butterfly Effect Movie Site
Not much there right now excpet a trailer for the Butterfly Effect.
http://www.butterflyeffectmovie.com

Internet Movie Database
The ever useful Internet Movie Database entry for Butterfly Effect complete with cast info, plot summary, and international release dates. Expect more info once the film is released in January.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0289879

Ashton Kutcher [dot] Org
A fairly professional looking fan site for Ashton Kutcher complete with biography, filmography, picture gallery, and fan center that boasts a message board, games, wallpapers and more. Be forewarned the designers of this site like to use grey text on a grey background which can be hard on the eyes.
http://www.ashtonkutcher.org/

Ashton Kutcher Network
Another fan site and very thorough with picture gallery, magazine alerts, multimedia section including wallpapers, video clips etc.
http://www.ashton-kutcher.net/


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