Space Travelers (2000)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I must be honest and say that I bought this movie only because I'm a fan of Takeshi Kaneshiro. I was buying some other movies online, and since the shipping fee wasn't that bad for another DVD, I thought, 'Why the heck not? I'll give it a shot.' After all, I made that same decision with 'Returner', which made me a Kaneshiro fan in the first place.I won't say anything to spoil this movie for you, which makes my comments a little short. Space Travelers is filled with humor and even though my expectations weren't high, it charmed its way to my heart and I didn't want it to end! I'll definitely recommend this one for everyone with a sense of humor!Previous knowledge about the anime Space Travelers isn't needed to enjoy this movie as the movie has nothing to do with that show, but it doesn't hurt to know a bit about it due to all the hints to the characters.. ;)

Well, I was pretty disappointed by this one and also pretty surprised by the ovation it received in the web sites I've been browsing after viewing the movie, and that's the main reason I react here. This is definitely NOT the outstanding movie that reviewers promise...Indeed the characters and relationships are funny to watch, and indeed the general self-derisional plot (a movie version of a manga about the misdeeds of the manga itself, plus a bank robbery plot with hostages progressively taking the roles of the robbers themselves) could have been of great interest. But unfortunately something is missing all along the movie. The excitement of a great robbery plot that takes the viewer in the first thirty minutes of the movie, falls down progressively all along the action slowdowns to finally drawn into inertia. Contrary to what was said elsewhere, even in some of the characters a tenderizing, most are very superficial and they don't really give meaning or bring anything special to the plot...they don't really bring us anywhere nor do they revive the action.A last positive word though, I kind of liked the ending that really surprised me and specially the words spoken by "Black Cat" : "Life is not like in Anime!", which gives at last a final sense to the action. To balance my views , maybe that I was induced in error when realizing this was a bank robbery movie (I had no idea what the movie was about until I launched it), and disappointed in realizing that in fact it was a movie talking about social relationships.So to conclude, not a masterpiece, not a "must see"e, but can be somewhat diverting, specially if you're the average Otaku.

I'll be honest and say right now that I wasn't expecting much from this movie but it turned out to be one of the best movies I have seen in years and is also the best Japanese movie I have seen since Battle Royale.SPOILERS.The plot is basically about three close friends who in their search for paradise (a beach they don't know the location of in picture they have) decide to rob a bank to get the money to find that paradise and things quickly go wrong turning the robbery into a hostage crisis but in a strange turn of events the hostage's (ranging from a shy bank employee all the way up to a wanted international terrorist) don't seem to mind being held hostage after a while and actually end up joining the robbers and taking on the roles of characters from one of the gang members favorite anime series "Space Travelers" a show in which each character has a shocking similarity to each hostage and robber.IMHO the basic story here is about escaping reality, the bank robbers want to escape to their paradise and for a short time the hostages all get to escape from their pasts or their boring, unhappy lives but the other side of the coin is the the dangers of trying to hard to escape reality with the tragic ending that You know is coming but still packs a hell of a punch.A great movie filled with strong likable characters and some very touching moments which is a great way to waste 2 hours on the weekend, 9/10.

My brother is a huge fan of Asian cinema. Every month he goes to Chinatown with a list of films he "needs" to get and returns with three new DVDs or VCDs for his collection. This is how I was introduced to Space Travelers, now one of my favorite films of all time.I don't want to give away much of the plot, because the experience will be so much more enjoyable with the less you know. All I will say is that it begins with a stereotypical bank heist that fails only minutes into the robbery and that three orphans, a fiancée, a feuding couple, an electrician, an insecure bank teller and a terrorist will partake in cosplay* like no one has ever done before.The film is about holding on to something. A dream. A goal. No matter how hard things get, even if the dream is ridiculous, impossible, never give up. During the film I developed Stockholm syndrome along with the other hostages as I began to believe in the three robbers dream of `paradise'. Very rarely am I so absorbed with a film.And for what starts as such quirky comedy, ends in such dramatic and powerful climax. I've heard people consider that a negative thing, but I've seen enough of Asian cinema to realize that ¾ comedy and ¼ drama is not unusual. Such an ending could only work in this Industry; I shudder to think of how it might of ended if it followed the traditional Hollywood formula. Coupled with Faure's powerful `Requiem' and director Katsuyuki Motohiro powerful images the ending of Space Travelers is one that I will never forget.While there are many parts of the film that could be considered flaws (such as some loose ends with certain characters, some low brow humor or some completely unrealistic situations) I found that they never detracted the experience and in my opinion were not flaws at all.And yes there's the title. Space Travelers. What does it mean? Well it's the name of an anime series that used to be popular. One of the robbers happened to be a big fan of the series and collects trading cards for it. Still don't understand? Good, now go see the film.*Cosplay is when anime fans dress up as their favorite characters.