Do you remember “The Butterfly Effect” staring Ashton Kutcher? I do, vaguely. At the time I thought it was entertaining, but I was also only 15 years old. 15 year olds make for terrible film critics. I do remember it being about about a young man and his feelings (yawn), and every time a butterfly beat its wings he would time travel. Or something like that. This short film, by the same title is nothing like that.
At least on the surface.
It all begins rather innocently and unassuming. We’ve all been there. Wake up early to go to work, make some coffee, go to the fridge to get some milk. But wait there’s no milk. So you walk down to the corner store in your bunny flip flops and pink bathrobe (any man with even an ounce of style owns a pink bathrobe) and get some milk. While basking in the glory of a successful mission to the dairy aisle, you pop open the carton, feel the cool liquid vitamin D slide down your throat and suddenly the world is a beautiful place. You’re brought back to reality by the gum stuck to your gray (they were once white) bunny slipper. You see a butterfly and return to self reflection as you admire it’s beauty and grace. Then, suddenly, all hell breaks loose. You spiral downward, completely and totally out of control. There’s 80’s hair metal blaring and just like that you’re the star of your own action film. It’s all happened to us before.
I didn’t expect to be as impressed with this short as I was. But somehow this short film managed to encapsulate my life at the present. Everyday starts with a mundane objective; get to class on time, finish a project, make a phone call to someone about something “important”. Then somewhere a long the way, mayhem. I wake up the next day at the same time, battered and bruised wondering: “why is there’s a school bus parked in my bedroom?”
Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, and maybe there isn’t much to the Butterfly Effect besides a bit of absurdist humor, and great animation. But just like Ashton Kutcher’s “The Butterfly Effect”, this animated version by Passion Pictures, attempts to capture those moments in time where we do something just too awesome to remember. Whether it’s substance induced, a side effect of sleep deprivation, or some weird illness that causes blackouts we’re all a little “outta controooollllll!”
Watch The Butterfly Effect here
1 response so far ↓
Harlem Kat // Oct 8th 2012 at 9:57 pm
I really thought this movie was going to be like the one with Ashton Kutcher. I still am curious how they can have a movie with the same name.
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