Pretty decent movie, and it's nice to see the characters after not having watched Cowboy Bebop for many years. I really hoped the plot wouldn't be so throwaway and only have this movie focus on it since I found it pretty interesting. Regardless, it was a fun watch with a friend, and I can recommend it for a lazy day.

I created this account to write this review.I have been a big fan of Cowboy Bebop since I first watched it back in 2006. I am not a fan of anime, but Cowboy Bebop is the only anime that breaks that boundary for me with it's fantastic retro-futurism, dark undertones and deep character development. My first attempt at watching the Cowboy Bebop Movie came about 4 years ago. I got roughly 30 minutes into it and turned it off because of how unnatural it all felt. The music felt wrong, characters felt wooden...It reminded me of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 movie...they did it because they had to/knew they would make a lot of money off it. It left a very sour taste in my mouth, although it did not affect my pure love and passion for the TV Series. The TV Series is a SOLID 9/10, and could only be improved upon if they had extended the series a few more episodes. The TV Series is as close to perfect as you can get.Flash forward to this morning. I decided to continue my ritual of watching Cowboy Bebop once a month and decided, "Lets give the movie another shot." So as a fan who is still loves the TV series, my opinions will be based upon the movie's comparison to the TV Series rather than how a casual fan or how the average movie go-er might review the film. PROS: 1. The scenery and cinematography is amazing, as it is with the TV series. Backdrops are breathtaking, animation is top notch, action scenes are fluid and phenomenally choreographed. 2. More Cowboy Bebop.CONS: 1. Copy & Pasted Plot: The movie's story line and plot devices are basically cut and pasted from different episodes of the TV series. More specifically: Session 4 (plot to save a planet from biological terrorism), Session 6 (unkillable villain finally dies and has revelations about his assumed immortality), Session 19 (use of old air/spacecraft to save the day), Session 20 (fight scenes on a train), and Session 23 (the real villain uses a decoy to mask his identity...actually there are a handful of sessions that do this). There are a lot more examples but these are just a few off the top of my head. Vicious is basically Vincent, and Electra is basically Julia. Spike & Friends go from low life bounty hunters to unsung heroes of the solar system with the flip of a switch because "its the right thing to do." a major theme of the TV series is hopelessness. there is no hopelessness in the movie.2. Spike's love interest in Electra: No. Just...No. Spike Loves Julia. Spike has always loved Julia. I love Julia. Spike only lets Julia go after Session 26, because she dead. The movie takes place between session 22 & 23. Julia is not dead yet. Spike is still searching for Julia. WHAT THE ****?3. Poorly Executed Ending: I said to myself "this is a 7/10" all the way up to the last 20 minutes. Pisswater Ex-Machina. Faye magically breaks into a massive weather control station with an Uzi and just demands they make it rain. Jet magically summons a fleet of biplanes in like an hour, even though the crew of the bebop is constantly poor and would have no way to pay for the rental costs since they can barely pay for fuel and food. Vincent dies, reveals he and Electra used to bang, butterflies circle in (Butterflies are this movies John Woo white doves), Jet and Faye have an awkward conversation...and roll credits. It was like a train-wreck, except the train kinda just went off the tracks a little and slid into an open field, rather than slamming into an oncoming train.5. Unnatural Personalities: Edward and Ein were the only two main characters that felt authentic. Faye acted like a high school girl with a gun, not a strong woman who trusts no one and has had to look over her shoulder her entire life. Jet acts like a dad, instead of a hardened ex-cop who doesn't want to admit his feelings for his crew members, but passive aggressively does through his actions. Spike lacks the apathetic wit and clever edginess that makes him so lovable in the TV Series. In the movie, he kind of just comes off as a d-bag.6. Singular Setting: The entire movie takes place on Mars. There is no space. There are no other planets or space stations. The TV Series built an entire solar system of locations filled with lore and mystery that could surely have been expanded upon in the movie. Why the does the entire cowboy bebop movie take place on 1 planet? not just 1 planet, but 1 city on 1 planet. there are multiple cities on Mars, yet no mention of them in the movie. They act like Alba City is the only settlement on Mars. WHAT THE ****?I can keep going and going and going but....1000 word maximum.Am I saying the cowboy bebop movie is bad? no. Am I saying you shouldn't watch it? No. Maybe my disappointment comes from the movie's clear disconnection from the TV series, but as a long time fan of the TV Series, I simply had to vent my utter disappointment with the movie....somewhere.

I am a big fan of the anime series so when I heard about this movie I was super excited and my expectations were extremely high. And I really enjoyed the movie, though if I am being honest I felt a little let down. One of the biggest strengths of the t.v. show was that each episode was only 20ish minutes long. That meant that there was never any wasted time. Each episode could tell a cohesive story in a short amount of time. This movie just felt thin at some points because it felt like it was trying to tell a story that could have been told across 2 episodes. Also I didn't exactly feel like the story made you think either. Mostly because the theme of this movie has been addressed in more comprehensive ways in countless other shows and movies. However having said all of that I still had a blast watching the movie. The characters are still just as quirky and fun to watch as ever. The movie also has some wonderful fight sequences and the cinematography was just beautiful at certain points. Overall I think the movie does a decent job of capturing the feel of the original series. While not perfect it is still an entertaining watch that deserves at least one viewing.

This will spoil the end WARNING!!! As a matter of fact the ending spoils the entire movie anyway so what does it matter. The fact that not one bebop fan called out the writer for ripping off Tim Burton's batman is astonishing to me???? I was so mad by the end of this boring movie that when it got to the balloons filled with gas and Spike had to fly the bat wing in I was ready to go on a full bebop movie boycott. Really not one of you sat there and said they just ripped off batman that is pure plagiarism and I can not respect a film who has to rip off it's ending from another film!!!! Boo you writer of bebop movie you should be sued. I hope you wrote the writer of batman and thanked him for your success. That is just way beyond excusable, come on people!!!! Why are you letting these hacks get a 7? a 7?????? Total BS! Pathetic attempt to make a dollar off the good bebop name, there is nothing in it that the show doesn't have thousands times more of, and who cares the writer obviously was just making up crap, its not like he consulted the original writers and asked what would you have put in the show if you could of. Hajime Yatate who created bebop had nothing to do with this so that should tell you right there this isn't adding anything to the bebop legacy. It's crap you are all star struck! Well you've been warned.