The film received critical acclaim for acting (particularly from Kevin Costner), directing, editing, themes, cinematography, and musical score.

Looking for food, Terry stumbles into a house where eight-year-old Phillip Perry lives with his devout Jehovah's Witness mother and two sisters.

With criminologist Sally Gerber and FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee in tow, Red wants to recover Butch and Phillip before they cross the Texas border.

Red, however, convinced himself that prison would straighten Butch out, and asked the judge to give the young man a harsh sentence.

Phillip becomes increasingly aware of his surroundings, and with encouragement from Butch, begins to learn how to make independent decisions on what is wrong and right.

His plans are thwarted, however, when Bobby Lee, mistaking one of Butch's gestures to mean he is about to draw a gun, shoots him in the chest, killing him.

Steven Spielberg was interested in directing the film but was unavailable due to scheduling commitments for Jurassic Park.

[11][1] A Perfect World was released in North American theaters on November 24, 1993, grossing $31.1 million in box office receipts in the United States and Canada.

The site's critical consensus states, "Despite some formulaic touches, Clint Eastwood's haunting, ambiguous crime drama is smart and gritty, and features a bravura performance from Kevin Costner as a prison escapee on the run".

[16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Critics argued Kevin Costner's subtly nuanced portrayal of the escaped convict Butch Haynes forms the cornerstone of the film's success and is one of the actor's finest performances.

[23][1] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Costner seems about as pathological as a koala bear, and his gentle charisma reinforces the film's touchy-feely theme," and that "the trouble with Eastwood's attempt to make a thriller with 'heart' is that, in retreating from his darker impulses, he muffles his own voice as a moviemaker.

"[24] Desson Howe of The Washington Post said, "Within its narrow, unambitious, commercial boundaries, the movie is highly watchable," but disjointed story-wise.