As a pop cultural form, "anime" certainly casts a wide and quirky net. Case in point, Cowboy Bebop -- the movie version of a popular Japanese adult cartoon TV series.

For those who don't necessarily "get" anime, Cowboy Bebop is a curveball, something a little more realistic and adult than those big-eyed Dragonball Z cartoons. The style is sleek retro-realist, recalling some of the later work of Ralph Bakshi.

On the other hand, one mustn't confuse "adult" with "mature." The fact that the female characters' impressive breasts are always on the verge of popping out of their shirts gives you some idea of the not-so-subliminal appeal of this franchise to the fanboy population of both Japan and North America. As for the title, those two English words may have simply sounded cool to Japanese ears. The heroes of our film are futuristic bounty hunters (hence: Cowboys) and they travel through space on a ship called Bebop. There's also an easy listening jazz tinge to the soundtrack, which is about as relevant to the title as things get.

The noir-ish bounty hunter characters -- familiar to fans of the 26-episode series -- include lean, young, chain-smoking bounty hunter Spike Spiegel, his musclebound partner Jet Black, their female accomplice Faye Valentine, an annoyingly infantile child computer whiz named Edward and a genetically advanced super-intelligent dog named Ein.

Our mercenary heroes are all accomplished martial artists, which means the film breaks out regularly in extreme but not bloodily-violent episodes, which generally adhere to the laws of gravity. In between, there's a portentous end-of-the-world plot, involving a lethal artificial virus, a paramilitary corporation that wants to hush things up, and a supposed-to-be-dead Supersoldier named Vincent who hates the world and wants to share the ennui by killing everyone.

That's not nearly enough plot for the almost two-hour running time, even with a plethora of kick-ass fight scenes. So the writers fall back on a lot of narrative side trips -- including Spike's trip through a "Moroccan bazaar" and a meeting with a mysterious Arab.

With all that, Cowboy Bebop is a movie that really seeks to ride home on stylishness and sheer cool. How engrossing you find it still depends on how long you are entranced by the pretty pictures.

(This film is rated 14-A)

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