Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is fun enough, but we don't like it as much as we like the series. The film is a 2001 animated feature based on the series. Wikipedia reports there's some difference of opinion about where the movie falls chronologically, but it seems obvious to us that the events in the film come at some point late in the series.

The New York Times is unimpressed. Variety likes it, preferring the Japanese to the English dub. Salon.com describes it as "a kind of sci-fi noir" and says it "could be considered anime for people who don't like anime (as well as, of course, for those who do)." Moria doesn't much like it:

The film’s crucial failing is that the heroes familiar from the series are never particularly well integrated into the story concerning the black-garbed man planning to release the virus. And even on its own the story about the revenge-obsessed villain is rather torpidly paced and not terribly exciting.