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Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

The caption for this movie says it all: “They're here to save the planet, but not for free.”

This movie comes from the Japanese cartoon series Cowboy Bebop, following the same bizarre group of bounty hunters. The TV series is one of my personal favourite Anime cartoons, so I came in expecting the same kind of feel. I was not disappointed – in fact the movie feels very much like a two hour episode.

This is not a bad thing in my opinion, especially since the cartoon series is more like a twenty-six part miniseries in that each year's plot is complete with no need for a multi-season run.

The movie starts out with a robber holding up a convenience store. He and his gang of thugs are thwarted by Spike (an apathetic space cowboy) and Jet (an ex-cop), but another thug comes out of the washroom and takes an old lady hostage. Jet puts his gun down as he's told, but Spike points his at the guy saying, “Sorry Granny, we ain't cops or security guards. It ain't our job to save your life.” Granny panics and this throws off the gangster enough for Spike to shoot the gun out of his hand. “Who the hell are you?” she asks. “Just a bounty hunter.” says Spike.

Next the crew ends up on Mars chasing a bounty on a computer hacker. Faye (a tough, intelligent, and beautiful professional gambler) is hot on his trail when a tanker truck explodes on the freeway below her little space ship. A strange man named Vincent in a black suit with long black hair walks calmly away and disappears, while everyone else in the area dies. The gang thus find themselves entangled in trying to solve the mystery, which leads them to a chemical company that isn't just a chemical company.

Spike also meets another beautiful woman named Electra who fights as well as he does - and form whom he falls (is this a Daredevil homage or coincidence). All the crew of the spaceship Bebop make appearances – Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed the genius adolescent computer hacker (who sounds and acts like a cat), and Ein the super-intelligent dog. They eventually uncover a plot to kill everyone on Mars, and attempt to thwart it.

The DVD itself is well done. The animation and sound are quite good. I was extremely pleased to see the DVD default to Japanese with English subtitles, and the voice talent is the same as the TV series. English and French tracks are available as well.

The main menus are annoying as always, but that's a gripe I have with nearly every DVD I've ever seen, so I can't single this one out – and to be fair they're less annoying than many. The Special Features menu on the other hand is concise and well done. I don't mean to single this disc out, so here's a note to DVD makers everywhere: ditch those long transitions between menus!!

Special Features include several featurettes, mainly consisting of interviews regarding the movie, characters, artwork, etc. There are also storyboard comparisons, character biographies, conceptual art galleries, music video, and trailers.

If you like Cowboy Bebop, you'll like this movie. There are a couple of slow parts, but they're not too bad. If you've never seen Cowboy Bebop but you like Anime, see this one. If you don't know what all the fuss is about, check this out. It's a good one.

Cowboy Bebop, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
114 min, anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround

 

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