B

Fans of the cult-favorite anime television series will surely embrace “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.” The big-screen treatment allows the creators’ vision to bloom in a way it could never quite do on the tube, but in essence the movie is basically an expanded episode of the show (which, after all, occasionally extended its stories beyond a single half-hour). After a brief prologue, the four late twenty-first century Martian bounty-hunters–loner Spike, gruff Jet, luscious Faye and tomboy computer whiz Ed, accompanied by their dog Ein–become engaged in tracking down a mysterious terrorist. But their quarry leads them into a far more labyrinthine plot involving a secretive chemical company, gruesome experiments and some highly dangerous nanobots whose existence could threaten all of Mars’ human population.

The business about nanobots is something that “Cowboy Bebop” shares with the recent Frankie Muniz flick “Agent Cody Banks,” but in no other respects could the two pictures be mentioned in the same breath. “Cowboy” shares the series’ dark mood and its cynical, flippant attitude. It also boasts the same stylish, almost surrealistic animation–an impressive sight on the small screen, and even more so in the theatre, where one can appreciate the remarkable detail and atmosphere. Where the picture is weak is in the plotting. Simply put, while the narrative has some nicely grotesque moments and gruesome twists, in its overall thrust it’s a fairly conventional tale that might have served as the basis for an expensive live-action blockbuster. Some of the television scripts, in fact, seem rather more imaginative, and in this case the result is that at nearly two hours the film seems to run on too long.

But whatever the blemishes, “Cowboy Bebop” is certainly a worthy followup to the series. Aficionados of the program should be well satisfied with its coolness quotient, and if newcomers are willing to give it a chance, they’ll probably find it intriguing as well.

Note: This review is based on the dubbed version of the picture, which is the one which will receive the heaviest distribution. But for those who prefer subtitles, at least one non-dubbed print is supposed to be available in major markets, so check with theatres before choosing where to see it. The original Japanese title, incidentally, translates as “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”