Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Synopsis
Spike and Jet are back, along with Faye, Ed, and Ein, in this movie comeback that takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the TV series. A new foe has risen in the form of a mysterious man in a black trenchcoat who is using chemical warfare in a metropolis on Mars. A bounty has been put on his head, and so the Bebop team heads out to get him. The strange thing is, he’s already dead.
Review
Sweet, more Bebop! That’s never a bad thing, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise (like me). If you don’t know what Bebop is, I recommend you watch the TV series first, so go read my review of the TV series first. If you’ve already seen the TV series, then by all means, keep reading. After the end of Bebop in 1998, a lot of fans were hungry for much much more. What we got was a full-length film, while not as good as getting another whole TV series, really helps to flesh out the Bebop universe and Spike’s character, which is a huge plus and tells us why he made some of the decisions he made at the end of the TV series. The rest of the cast aren’t there for much other than to be there, though Faye and Ed help out in weird and interesting ways.
Two things should be lauded for before anything else about the movie: the music and animation. While the music isn’t as strong as in the TV series, composer Yoko Kanno tries a lot of new thing (like pop and soft rock instead of jazz) and it works well. The animation, one of Bones Studios’ (RahXephon, Scrapped Princess) first projects, is downright amazing. The two major hand-to-hand fight scenes in the film are good enough to watch over and over again, and we’re talking about animation. The style and flair with which they are directed is remniscent of Bruce Lee and John Woo mixed as one. It’s quite a sight. Other than the fight scenes, everything else still looks great, from ships to backgrounds to characters.
One minor annoyance in the end is the length. Since the film is really just one long filler episode of the TV series, there’s a lot of downtime with no action or tension, leaving us bored and looking at our watches. I don’t see how this can be rectified, which proves why the 30 minute per episode time frame of the TV series worked so well.
The Breakdown
Buy it, and try it out. If you’re already a fan of Bebop, this would be a great addition to your collection. Very fun and enjoyable to watch.