THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE IS SUPPORTED BY: 

Back to the review page

SUMMARY

In the mid 21st century, an experimental hypergate exploded on the moon. The resulting cataclysm caused debris to surround the Earth.  Forced to migrate, humanity has moved out to the moons of Jupiter, and have terraformed them in to new Earth’s. In this new frontier, bounty hunting has become the fastest growing profession.

Spike Spiegel and Jet Black are bounty hunters who travel from planet to planet in their renovated fishing starship, The Bebop. Both men have forsaken their past to start a new life in the stars. However, this new life does not pay well, and if they don't stop getting in trouble while trying to make a fast buck, they are going to get themselves killed.

During her pursuit of a computer hacker, Faye witnesses an explosion of a chemical tanker truck.  It appears that the truck was carrying some sort of biological weapon.  Somehow, the driver, a mysterious man named Vincent is immune.  The Martian government offers a 300 Million woolong reward for the capture of this "terrorist". It seems that the Bebop crew may have finally hit that "million dollar payday".

However, capturing Vincent may not be as easy as they think.  There are other parties who are interested in this "terrorist".  A special agent named Electra is hot on Vincent's trail, as is the ISSP and the Martian police.  Now, if Spike and his friends are to succeed, they must find out what Vincent is up to, and stop him before he kills all life on Mars!

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The DVD quality is excellent. On all three of our video systems, there was nary a pixel, color bleed, or wrinkle to be found.  On our Apex, I magnified it X3, and it still was flawless.

AUDIO: Plenty of bang for your buck on both the English and Japanese tracks. The sound is crisp and rich, full of surround sound during the action elements.  The French 2.0 is also clear, and while it's not as strong, it's still sounds great.

EDITS: The only edits that have been made was covering over the "Knockin' on Heavens Door" title with "The Movie" and replacing the Japanese credits with English ones for the ending.

EXTRAS: Jammed packed!  We have featurettes with the voice actors from the US and Japan, along with the director, character designer, and composer.  Scene specific storyboard comparisons, music videos, character bios, concept art, and while these aren't really extras, trailers for Memories, Steam Boy, and Metropolis!

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Very well done. Keiko Nobumoto (who wrote some of the Bebop episodes and was the senior script editor) has given us a story aimed squarely at adults, and it pulls no punches. From emotional highs, to spirit crushing lows, this movie will manipulate your buttons quite nicely.

ACTING: It was smart of Columbia/Tri-Star got the original cast together for the US release.  Naturally, the English language cast does a great job. Each voice matches the character, and their inflection. You almost think that the series was American.  

The Japanese language seems to follow the recent tradition of low key voice acting. When they are yelling, their voices never get above a dull roar.

The French cast does a decent job.  It seems fitting that a series that is constantly compared to "film noir" should have French audio track.

FAN SERVICE: Sorry guys, the closest you get to Faye being naked is her behind a shower curtain, and her shirt cut opened with her breasts still covered by her jacket.  You see a nice side view of Electra's breasts, but that's it.

On the "in-joke" side, every single secondary character from Old Man Bull to the Three Wise Men make an appearance.  Well, Vicious is not there.

CONCLUSION

Cowboy Bebop will forever be known as a classic. With it's strong writing, "Tarentino-esqe" dialogue, and a fantastic score by Yoko Kanno, Bebop is one of the few anime that can cross the boundaries of all Sci-fi genres. Conceptually, it is one of the best realized "space westerns" series ever made. Drawing on every genre, from "Science Fiction" to "Blacksploitation" films, never has a fusion anime done so well at drawing in new viewers.

This movie is supposed to take place in between episodes 22 and 23, not that it really matters.  "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is basically an extended stand alone episode.  It still follows the typical format, The Bebop crew attempts to apprehend some "big game" and nearly wind up getting killed for it.  Nothing new.  However, as typical with Keiko Nobumoto's work, this one plays the gambit of thoughtful drama, and lightning action.

What makes this different from the TV show is scale.  This is a big budget production, and the animation reflects it.  The high cell count helps the characters to look more fluid.  As expected with a "Sunrise" motion picture, the level of detail surpasses any thing seen on the TV series.  The action sequences are 10 times better than anything seen during the entire run of the series.  This movie would have been too expensive to do live, so this is a perfect example of why animation is a valid way to tell a story.

Once again Yoko Kanno's musical score is superb. Unlike the Jazz inspired music in the series, this one is more of a fusion of Melissa Etherage, Country and Western, and Nelson Riddle (if you don't know who that is, watch the Batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward).  She even throws in a little 80's pop music to keep it interesting. Make sure that you get the soundtrack, so you can truly appreciate what a talent she is.

Columbia/Tri-Star should make more anime DVD's.  I can not find a single thing to complain about.  On the technical side, it's perfect.  The transfer is the best I have ever seen on a DVD.  The audio is fantastic, nary a pop, whistle, drop out.  The extras are simply wonderful. Very few DVD's have ever come this close.

I do feel the need to point out that there is one scene that is pretty intense, witch is the first fight between Spike and Vincent.  There is a lot of blood and violence.  Those of you who have only seen Bebop on "Cartoon Network" may be a little shocked.  Just make sure that the kids cover their eyes.

If you are new to anime or a die hard fan of "Cowboy Bebop", you will love "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie".  It's everything you have come to expect from "Bebop" on a great DVD.

Return to Top

Back to the Review Page