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Rejoice Cowboy Bebop fans the movie based on the popular
anime series has arrived. For those not familiar with the
series it is an animated show set in the year 2071. Space
travel is possible throughout the solar system and star ships
hop from planet to planet. One of those starships is the Bebop
with the crew of Spike Spiegel (Steven Jay Blum) a
former syndicate assassin, Jet Black (Beau Billingslea)
a former cop, Faye Valentine (Wendee Lee) a professional
gambler, Ed (Mellisa Fahn) a prepubescent computer
hacker, and Ein their dog. Now they are all very broke bounty
hunters. If you want to know how such an unlikely team got
together then watch the series.
Even novices to the series should be able to follow the plot
without any difficulty. On the planet Mars a mysterious man
in black detonates a bomb blowing up a futuristic eighteen
wheeler. Soon afterwards people start coming down with a deadly
illness. The Martian government desperate for a solution declares
a huge reward on the bombers head and the bebop crew desperate
for money decides to investigate.
This hunting bioterrorists premise is one of the films many
mistakes. The original episodes had a much more classic feel
with ideas that seemed taken from film noir or Honk Kong action
movies. This ultra modern concept just doesn’t fit. Besides
who hasn’t heard the word “bioterrorism” for the umpteenth
time on the news?
All the trademarks of classic Cowboy Bebop are here Spike
awakens from knockdown fights in a body cast, Jet bitches
about his irresponsible crew, Faye gets tied up after biting
off more than she can chew, and Ed makes very strange non
sequitor comments. Yet something is missing, soul. In the
series even though the episodes were 30 minutes all of the
conflicts were deeply personal to the bebop’s crew. In a 30
minute episode it easy to forgive if the bad guy is not well
fleshed out, but in a two hour movie the bad guy is the antagonist
just as important as any other character. Originally the movie
was to be ninety minutes long, but in mid-production it was
extended to 120 minutes. This was a mistake it just gives
us an extra thirty minutes to realize how much we don’t care
about the villain, Vincent Volaju (Daran Norris). Also
far too much time is spent explaining the specifics of how
the virus works and the shadowy conspiracy behind it all.
All is not lost the fist fights between Spike and Vincent
are fast and fluid. The animators definitely earned their
pay providing us with the best examples of animated violence
ever. Occasionally the dialogue strikes a resemblance to the
beloved series and the dubbing is spot on. Fans of the series
will rush to the theaters to see their favorite characters
in action one more time, but this movie is not the best introduction
to the uninitiated. It just doesn’t compare to the classic
appeal of the original episodes which are readily available
on DVD.
— Woodrow Bogucki
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While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
