I've been one of the lucky people able to see Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door at the box office. It kicks so much ### on so many levels. Featuring just about the entire main TV series cast at one point or another(with the exception of TV villain Vicious),it is one of the best movies I've seen in 2003.

The plot is a bit haunting, especially with the bad guy being a bio-terrorist, but then again, this was made back in 2001, before any of the stuff was going to happen. I'm not going to say much, except it is a bit hard to understand if you only see it once. Also, it helps to better understand the characters if you've seen the TV series.

Yoko Kanno once again composes the music, and it's awesome. Just about every tune perfectly fits in with the scenes.

And what scenes they are. The action scenes kick dirt in the faces of most live action movies I've seen recently. The fight scenes literally make the weak action in the Matrix films look like ballet. Just see the fight at the end of the film and you'll know what I mean. It's just...... wow. I can't really describe it without spoiling anything, and I do not want to do that. Another thing good about animation... you can get away with stuff you could never do in live films, without a ton of CGI. This helps when you see some really big animation stunt. And of course, it couldn't be CB without one of those awesome chases in Spike's ship, the swordfish.

BOTTOM LINE: With the DVD out at most stores, including places like Walmart, you have no excuse to miss this thrill ride.

The show is one of the finest examples of anime there is, so when I heard that there was a movie I thought to myself that this could go either way. Thankfully Cowboy Bebop: The Movie went the way I hoped it would, which was that being a movie that complimented the show well and succeeded on its own merits, both of which Cowboy Bebop: The Movie does brilliantly. The animation is both ethereal and haunting, with the character designs and faces expressive. The music is emotionally complex and fits the mood of the film perfectly, when there's action it's rousing, when there is an emotional moment it is poignant and when there is an intensely dark moment it is haunting. The dialogue is very thought-provoking with some nice humour, true to the style of the show actually, while the story has a lot of layers and my attention never wavered. The characters are still the characters we know and love and written just as well. Of course the show had more time to develop its stories and characters, but the movie does more than credibly in both these areas. The voice work is similarly impressive. Overall, I recommend it without hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The crew of Bebop is on Mars. Faye Valentine witnesses a terrorist denotating a tanker truck bomb. The authority fears the spread of a bio-weapon and offers a large bounty on the suspect. Faye is eager to track him down. Jet Black and Spike Spiegel reluctantly join the hunt.

This is a full length movie based on the very interesting animated show. It's always nice to have these great characters return for one more adventure. That's not to say that everything is cool. First, they changed the intro. It's unbelievable that anybody would attempt to change the theme. I can accept a longer expanded theme but they can't simply change it wholesale. It's also weird that the opening is a montage of present-day cityscape. It's odd that everybody is driving normal cars and our crew seems to be the only ones flying their spacecrafts. The revised opening is unnecessary and wrong-headed. The plot is rather simple with not that many twists and turns. All that is fine but I'm not buying that rain is the solution. It's reminiscent of Signs where water defeats the aliens. Overall, it's a nice visit for the fans but it doesn't add much to the show.