Starting off with a poignant quote from the Chaos Theory relating how something as simple as the flutter of a butterfly can ripple into a typhoon, The Butterfly Effect is an interesting little thriller that takes a look at just how every action really does have an equal and sometimes very opposite reaction.

Hunk of the month and Mr. Demi Moore himself Ashton Kutcher (of That 70s Show and Dude, Where's My Car? plays Evan Treborn. Evan grew up in a small town with a close group of friends but had the distinct and unusual habit of blacking out anytime something really stressful happened to him. When things get ugly, such as when a local boy kills his dog or when a prank involving a stick of dynamite goes horribly wrong, he blanks it out from his memory. He comes by this trait honestly though – his father, Jason, had the same problem due to a brain hemorrhage and was eventually driven insane by his condition.

As Evan gets older, he realizes that by rereading his old journals he is able to go back in time and not only relive the events, filling in his memory gaps, but also alter them. Seeing as he now thinks like the adult he is as opposed to the child he was then, this causes things to change quite drastically, especially in regards to his relationship with Kayleigh, his childhood sweetheart.

As Evan develops this ability he relives all of the traumatic events from his childhood, and in turn, drastically tries to reshape the world he lives in now for the better. This isn't going to be easy though and he learns that what may, on the surface at least, seem ideal is in fact just as bad if not worse than the reality he knows.

Those who, like myself, were skeptical of this film based on Kutcher's casting have nothing to fear. He's about as far removed from Michael Kelso in this film as you can get and he turns in a pretty solid performance that shows that he can handle a serious role just as well as a comedic role. He's sympathetic and believable in the part and while it did take me awhile to disassociate him with his better known television character, once I overcame that personal bias I was able to really enjoy the film.

Aside from Kutcher, there's a solid supporting cast here as well. Amy Smart is very good in what is actually a few roles combined into one character, and Eric Stoltz as her pedophile father is just sleazy enough to make us hate him without going over the top and coming across as camp. What is interesting though is how many different child actors are used in the film, and used effectively at that. Whereas with most films, child actors can really pull you out of a movie and into the land of disbelief, here the kids all turn in admirable efforts and deliver their dialogue naturally and without the common hesitation that can be associated with this type of casting.

The filmmakers have also done a nice job with the look of the film. Where a lot of times CGI can really and truly suck, here it is used pretty effectively to emulate what Evan sees as he's going back in time. It works well without resorting to a cliché version of him seeing his life flash before his eyes or anything like that. Instead it's almost frightening in its intensity and from a purely visual standpoint, quite eye catching. There is one stand out moment the computer-generated effects are obvious, a scene where Evan wakes up and finds that he has physically changed, but aside from that, the movie looks very nice. The cinematography is slick and effective with plenty of interesting eye catching angles and colors used throughout, and the soundscape, which plays a pretty important part in the overall feel of the film, is well designed and atmospheric.

Both the 113-minute theatrical cut and the 119-minute director's cut are included on this DVD. The key difference between the two is the alternate ending that finds Tommy deducing that his relationship with Kayleigh isn't the problem after all, it is in fact something completely different. It is, in my opinion, a bleaker but better ending that suits the tone of the film better. There is also quite a bit of character development in the first third of the film that fleshes out the storyline quite a bit better. The key point though is the ending, which completely changes the tone of the film when compared to the rather syrupy theatrical ending that New Line chose to use instead. Six-minutes of running time may not seem like an awful lot of difference, but believe me, the ending is far more appropriate and changes what is basically an average quality film into a much better, albeit darker, thriller.

Video:

One single layered side of the DVD has the theatrical cut, and the second side, being dual layered, contains the director's cut as well as the extra features and a DTS track. Regardless of which cut you check out, the bit rate is pretty high on both of them, and they are both presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85.1 and enhanced for anamorphic television sets. Both cuts have been transferred to DVD very nicely. Compression artifacts are non-existent and edge enhancement is never an issue. Some of the whites look just a tad washed out but other than that the movie looks great. There is a very fine sheen of natural looking grain evident in a few of the darker scenes but its never distracting. Colors are nice and robust, skin tones are natural looking and dead on, and black levels are deep and ominous looking without ever breaking up or pixelating. The level of detail is consistently high and the picture remains sharp from start to finish.