Anime Reviews (2000s): Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Blu-ray Disc Review) (2001)

“Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is recommended to “Cowboy Bebop” fans who want to add this film to their Blu-ray collection or hardcore fans who want to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary!  But I highly recommend watching the entire series before watching the film as I feel that the enjoyment of this film comes from knowing the characters and the world they live in.

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TITLE: Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

YEAR OF FILM: 2001

DURATION: 115 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Dolby TrueHD English, Japanese, French 5.1

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: R (Some Violent Images)

US Release Date: November 13, 2018

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Original Creator: Yatate Hajime

Director: Okiura Hiroyuki (opening), Watanabe Shinichiro, Okamura Tensai (Western film)

Screenplay by Nobumoto Keiko

Music by Kanno Yoko

Character Design: Kawamoto Toshiro

Art Director: Morikawa Atsushi

Animation Director: Kawamoto Toshihiro

Mechanical Design: Yamane Kimitoshi

Director of Photography: Oogami Youichi

Anime Production: BONES

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Featuring the following voice talent:

Kobayashi Ai/Jennifer Hale as Electra

Tada Aoi/Melissa Fahn as Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV

Yamadera Kōichi/Steven Jay Blum as Spike Spiegel

Hayashibara Megumi/Wendee Lee as Faye Valentine

Isobe Tsutomu/Daran Norris as Vincent Volaju

Ishizuka Unshō/Beau Billingslea as Jet Black

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Mars. Days before Halloween 2071. Villains blow up a tanker truck on Highway One, releasing a deadly virus that kills hundreds. Fearing a bigger, even more devastating biochemical attack, an astronomical reward is offered for the arrest and capture of the person behind the destruction. On the spaceship “Bebop,” Spike Spiegel and his crew of bounty hunters (Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed, and Ein) are bored and short of cash. But with the news of the reward everything changes.

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Back in 2001, a few years after the completion of the “Cowboy Bebop” anime series, the staff of BONES returned with an animated film titled “Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira” (Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door).

Set between episodes 22 and 23, the film received a lot of attention before release and was an animated film that would be released in theaters not just in Japan but also in the United States.

Conceived by director Watanabe Shinichiro, he created a film that would appeal to fans of the anime series but also would entertain those who weren’t familiar with the series.  But because BONES wanted to bigger and to incorporate complex animation, two guest directors joined Watanabe: Okiura Hiroyuki (who worked on the opening sequence) and Okamura Tensai (who would create a cinematic Western shown at a drive-in theater during the film).  And to showcase the film’s Arabic style, Watanabe and staff would go to Morocco to do research.

The film would go on to gross over $3 million worldwide and was among the top selling DVD’s when it was released.

Fastforward to 2018 and Funimation Films wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and the film was brought back to US theaters in August 2018.

And now the animated film was released as a limited edition steelbook release courtesy of FUnimation.

The film is set in Mars and humanity have settled on other planets and moons, while Earth was abandoned after a catastrophe.

A mysterious man has detonated a truck in Mars’ capital city and a new pathogen has spread and killed and sickens hundreds of people.  The Mars government issues a bounty of 300 million woolong to capture the culrprit.

Faye Valentine who was pursuing a hacker named Lee Sampson, sees Lee as a driver for the terrorist and she decides to bring it up to the Bebop team (Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV and their AI enhanced “data dog”, Ein).

Each of the crew take on various leads, trying to find a way how they can identify the terrorist but the crew will realize the person they are after that may be more difficult than they imagine.

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VIDEO:

“Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is presented in 1080p High Definition. BONES did a magnificent job with the animation and at the time, everything about the animation and the amount of detail of the backgrounds were lauded.

Characters are well-shaded with attention to detail on the characters faces, clothing but the background art is heavily detailed.  And for the most part, the film looks very good in HD!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is presented in English, Japanese and French Dolby TrueHD 5.1 .  Action sequences utilize the surround channels remarkably well, while the center and front channels showcase crystal clear dialogue and music.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• English Voice Cast Reunion – (15:07) Beau Billingsley, Melissa Fahn, Steven Blum and Wendee Lee discuss the 20th anniversary of the animated film and how the animated film was a breakthrough series in which people began to accept English dub.
• From the Small Screen to the Big Screen – (5:43)  Interview with the Japanese staff on bringing “Cowboy Bebop” to the big screen.
• International Appeal – What’s Not to Like? – (7:02) Japanese staff discuss the popularity of “Cowboy Bebop” overseas.
• Spike: A Complex Soul – (7:20) Japanese staff discuss Spike.
  
• Faye: Intellectual Vixen – (6:37) Japanese staff discuss Faye Valentine.
• Ed: Resident Eccentric – (6:48) Japanese staff discuss Ed.
• Jet: No Ordinary Dad – (5:03) Japanese staff discuss Jet.
• Storyboard Comparisons – Featuring storyboard comparisons for four scenes
• Music Videos: Featuring music videos for “Ask DNA” and “Gotta Knock a Little Harder”
• U.S. Theatrical Trailer

EXTRAS:

“Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” comes with steelbook case.

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Back in 2001, there was tremendous anticipation for “Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.

For the Japanese staff at BONES, they didn’t imagine that the anime series would become so popular overseas and creating the film was in hopes to satisfy the fans of the series who wanted more.

And while “Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was a fascinating, high-action animated film that looked amazing upon release, it’s one of those things where you appreciate the film as part of an extension of the anime series and enjoy it as a whole.  Because independently, while a good film that had wonderful visuals, it was not exactly the strongest when it came to storyline, but yet it was more than enough to appeal to audiences and satisfy their hunger for more “Cowboy Bebop”.

And fast-forward to 2018 and there are fans who still want more “Cowboy Bebop”.

One can also appreciate what the series and film brought to the American anime industry.  It was during a time when fans were still against English dubs and most fans preferred their anime with English subtitles.

But the series and the film is a good example of English dubs done right and “Cowboy Bebop” could be looked at as the spark that would eventually jumpstart the appreciation of English dubs in the United States.  And fastforward over 20-years later since the series debuted, the quality of English dubs has gotten better and the voice talent are literally treated like rockstars.

But “Cowboy Bebop” is a series that will no doubt have a strong place in the hearts of anime fans who grew up watching it in the late ’90s and the film in 2001.  It came out during a time when not many anime series were shown in Japan and was shown on Adult Swim, during a time when certain English dubbing for series was not exactly great, when people saw Japanese animation not tailored for children but for adults.

“Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” revolves around a nanomachine test patient named Vincent with no memories but does one thing and that is create chaos.  The animation is well-done, the backgrounds were exceptionally detailed and for the most part, BONES did a great job in creating this world inspired from reality but also creating an intricate Martian world and as one can expect from “Cowboy Bebop”, plenty of action.  May it be fights to dogfights in space, this is an action-packed film.

The film while gorgeous for its time and still holds up very well today, the story does have some faults.  Wondering if there were scenes that have to be edited out to better understand Vincent, especially the antagonist towards Faye.

While the intention of having the Bebop crew investigate who was all involved, this investigation does take away from the movie a little.  If anything, it’s a popcorn action film with plenty of action but the character development and overall storyline leans towards being average than awesome.  If anything, it’s like an extended episode but for what it’s worth, BONES did deliver in giving what fans wanted, more “Cowboy Bebop” in 2001.  It’s a shame that not more has come out since then.

The film can definitely be watched on its own without knowledge of the animated series, but it does help to watch the original series for more insight.

While the limited edition steelbook Blu-ray release of ” Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is cool to see and also to see the English dub voice cast reunited, this is no doubt a 20th anniversary release for those appreciated the series and want to add the film to their collection.  On its own, it’s hard to recommend it if you haven’t watched the series, as part of the fun of watching the film is knowing more about the characters first.

Overall, “Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is recommended to “Cowboy Bebop” fans who want to add this film to their Blu-ray collection or hardcore fans who want to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary!  But I highly recommend watching the entire series before watching the film as I feel that the enjoyment of this film comes from knowing the characters and the world they live in.

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