Hey everyone, before I begin my review, just want you to know I'm a bit busy this weekend as I'm setting up to work a fair in town. That being said, I'll still be able to do my normal reviews and blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week unless something comes up. If my spelling is off a little though keep in mind I ended up waking up at 6 which isn't normal for me, in an effort to be moving around at 8 which is normally when I wake up. I didn't need to do it today, but I did to try to get adjusted. Anyway, on with the review.
WARNING spoilers WARNING
The plot of this movie follows the beloved space cowboys of the original anime cowboy bebop in a quest to capture a rather large bounty on the head of a terrorist, however only Faye knows what he looks like. Eventually the Bebop crew find this terrorist and learn where he is catching up to him a couple of times and nearly dying before finding the cure to the unknown virus he spreads and eventually defeating him.
So is the plot any good? Well yes and no. This could have easily been a two part episode of the original anime of Cowboy Bebop and to have to purchase it separately as a movie seems a little silly. That being said it isn't a bad plot and does fit right in as an arch in the anime, heck probably as one of the better arcs from the series in general. Still, the point of doing a movie is to show you something the anime couldn't, and this just didn't do it plot wise.
Well Spike is Spike, Jet is Jet, Ed is Ed, Faye is Faye, the only characters you have to worry about are the new characters. Those would mostly be Electra and Vincent. Electra is a former military girl who is working to stop Vincent, and Vincent is a former military test doll for the virus and the cure who managed to survive and is now depositing the virus to the world. The only complaint I have with these two new characters is they don't feel as fully developed as they should, ironic since the movie hinges on these two characters. Vincent feels he is dead and in purgatory and he is trying to destroy the world in an effort to leave, while Electra is kind of the love Vincent forgot when his mind was wiped clean due to the testing. Both characters are pretty well done but there could be a little more development for both I think. Still, good work on the other characters including the main cast, especially since Vincent is a dark version of Spike. Also Jet's reaction goes great into certain parts of the original anime as well.
The main thing you will feel in this is action, mixed with some silliness from Ed and Ein. There are a few moments of suspense when you almost expect Faye and Spike are dead, though logically if you've seen the anime you know they aren't. That is pretty much it. The action is good enough to get you pumped, and the suspense is good enough to get you almost believing that some of your favorite characters should be dead. Not much else to talk about.
The animation is great in this movie, better then the actual anime. Most of the scenes drive the plot forward in a good way, but there is one scene in which Spike ends up fighting three military ships Star Fox style. The action and animation are great, but the scene is kind of pointless outside of showing off a ship battle in movie animation quality. Still none of the other scenes are pointless and the animation and voice work is great.
Lacking at every turn sadly. There isn't much in the creative way in this movie, and the parts that were creative were lack luster to say the least. Awesome super hacker villain? Only see him a few times spouting none-sense, playing video games, has one escape scene with Faye and dies. No hacker battle with Ed. The worst part was this guy was built up but went no where. Faye surviving the virus all because Vincent kissed her... why? No one knows, chalk it to Vincent is crazy. Nanobots seen as butterflies? Awesome and unreal, but not really talked about enough outside of a visual image for Vincent's philosophy. None of this was used well here, and most of the creative ideas outside of the setting just lacked depth and heart.
This isn't a bad movie, but the creativity and plot development is a bit lack luster, heck even the new characters could be brought out more. The animation and emotional pull are pretty great however, and the main cast of the Bebop return and are pretty dang awesome. While I feel this arc could have easily been apart of the anime, and it is weak as a movie in some places, it still may be worth a view.
If you love Cowboy Bebop, you should see this movie. If you are a fan of excellent animation and great fight scenes this is for you. If you like suspense this also may be for you as there are a few scenes like that. If you love plot however this may not be the greatest place to go, and if you never seen or heard of Cowboy Bebop perhaps you should check out a couple episodes of the anime first, an anime I highly recommended in a previous review. If you have the time and are somewhat familiar with the cast of the anime, I'd give this a look over, but this isn't anything to rush out and see right away unless you are an absolute die hard fan.