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Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Kaubôi Bibappu: Tengoku no Tobira (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie)

2001

Shin'ichirō Watanabe

Animation

7.3

6,693

Animation. Sci-Fi. Action. Thriller The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued a 300 million woo-long reward, the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop; Spike, Faye, Jet and Ed, take the case with hopes of cashing in the bounty. However, the mystery surrounding the man responsible, Vincent, goes deeper than they ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Robert Koehler Variety	"Helmer Shinichiro Watanabe’s oversight of 'Bebop’s' more expansive visual canvas is impressive"
		Lawrence Van Gelder The New York Times	"Take away the wit of its setting and the liveliness of its music (...) [it] can take its place among animated films unexceptional in their depiction of humans"
		Jamie Russell BBC	"A brilliant feature-length anime that's good enough to deserve mention in the same breath as 'Akira', 'Ghost in the Shell', and 'Spirited Away' (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Mark Elliot Empire	"The animation may have dated a little, but this is still lively, enjoyable stuff (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"The graphics are tasty (...) The only problem for me was that the plot failed to grab the attention the way the visuals did (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Simon Abrams AV Club	"A feature film that I rather like in spite of how doughy it is (...) Screenwriter and series writer Keiko Nobumoto is at his best when dealing with small-scale, character-driven scenes"
		Mick LaSalle SFGATE	"The movie will be of interest to fans of the series, but it's hard to imagine this overlong, overplotted and underdrawn animation winning many new converts"
		Andy Patrizio IGN	"Engrossing, with a fantastic soundtrack (...) This film has a really cool vibe to it that I can't describe, you have to see it to understand."
		Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle	"So breathtaking is the movie's visual style and so entertaining its central characters that 'Cowboy Bebop: The Movie' draws in newbies with practically the same ferocity as old-timers (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Charles Solomon Los Angeles Times	"Watanabe handles the action sequences with his accustomed panache (...) 'Cowboy Bebop: The Movie' demonstrates how exciting and vital contemporary animated filmmaking is in Japan"
		Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly	"The movie honors the affectless beauty of the original anime art and maintains the outlaw boppiness of the series concept"

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