Cowboy Bebop: The Movie(カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉)

Village Voice by

Americanized through western showdowns, shadowy film noir, gangster shootings, sci-fi, Bruckheimer explosions, slapstick, and soaps, Bebop aims to transcend its own genre by emulating all genres, and it falls short only in the melodrama.

L.A. Weekly by David Chute

There are so many good ideas at the visual level that you can't help wishing the narrative elements had been more cleverly worked out.

Film Threat by Eric Campos

Good news is that most of the marvelous English dialogue cast from the Cowboy Bebop series has returned for the film. The bad news is that the heart and soul of the series hasn’t.

Portland Oregonian by Kim Morgan

It's a stylish work, seeping with brilliant animation and potentially interesting characters that didn't need so much time to establish themselves. It's worthwhile, but it's a good thing there's a television show to refer to.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey

With all due respect to Japanese animation fans and pop-culture enthusiasts, life may be just too short to plunge into the busy world of Cowboy Bebop.

Dallas Observer by Luke Y. Thompson

When the action sequences work, they work well; the climax cribs heavily from 1989's "Batman," but improves on Tim Burton's finale.

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

Brisk, engaging story.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Overlong, overplotted and underdrawn.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker

Isn't exactly adult animation but it's more complex and ambiguous than the usual Hollywood live-action blockbuster, and just as splashy.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

If you want state of the art anime that comes within spitting distance of escaping the limits of its genre, this might be your cup of bootleg sake.