Space Adventure Cobra

"Space Adventure Cobra" isn't as entertaining as I remembered. It's too good-natured to dislike openly, and I appreciated the fact that the hero is actually very unusual for an adventuresome protagonist. But I also found it impossible to follow or care about.

The movie begins with a pre-credits sequence showing Cobra performing some heroic action. The credits come on with music and slow visuals that are straight out of any James Bond movie. So I thought, oh, I get it, Cobra is like a spacefaring James Bond. When the Bond-girl stand in, a female bounty hunter was introduced, that seemed a safe bet.

But then the duo were attacked by a flying alien head, and Cobra's efforts to stop it were a failure - the bounty hunter lady saved the day. And she wasn't interested in Cobra, although he was interested in her. But when she realised who he was, she seduced him, rather than the other way around.

Cobra is actually a pretty hapless character, not suave at all, though he is charismatic. The movie is probably more about the lady and her sisters, who are imprisoned on a planet somewhere, and she wants Cobra to help her save them - although she hardly seems to need his help.

I wasn't able to interest myself in any of this, and nor could I focus on it for long. It's pretty boring and confusing, and just seems like style over anything else - and the style isn't even that great.

This 1982 anime based on the comic books by Buichi Terasawa centres around the adventures of the infamous Space Pirate Cobra. After Cobra falls for the sultry bounty hunter Jane, he finds himself embroiled in an intergalactic power struggle. This film is best known for its attempt to re-create the 3D movie experience without the need for cardboard glasses. While this process makes for a few amazing and interesting shots, you can hardly tell the difference. The 3D effect may be limited, but the attempt makes for interesting cinematography. Director Osamu Dezaki can be applauded for combining the involving story and the stunning visuals, without letting one element drown out the other. If a few of the shots look familiar, it's because the film was showcased in Matthew Sweet's video for his song "Girlfriend." You can also look for quite a few references to 'Star Wars,' 'Star Trek,' '2001,' and a rip off of the 'Superman' theme during a heated battle scene. 'Space Adventure Cobra' is best recommended for those already familiar with this genre, as it provides an excellent example of the beginnings of modern Anime.

On a scale of 1 to 11, 11 being an example of "taking it up a notch," 'Cobra' gets a 7.

Potentially this was a great anime. Some interesting themes were up for exploration: a hero must do battle with death incarnate to save the woman (women?) he loves. The individual vs. the corrupt state.

But it's a bit of a let-down. The hero is just too indestructible and and in the English language version at least, seems emotionally disengaged from what's going on around him. The soft-porn card gets overplayed, too. Sexy girls with sexy guns? Yup. Some great visuals, as you would expect from Japanese anime, but not a great example of the genre.

Based on the Japanese manga, Space Adventure Cobra is an animated feature from 1982 following the exploits of Cobra, a blond, cigar-smoking Han Solo type with a "Psycho-Gun" embedded into his arm who goes around fighting evil space Guilds and such.

Space Adventure Cobra is a surreal action flick that could be described as kind of a cross between some cheesy 70's cop show, Zardoz, Flash Gordon, Barbarella, Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Star Wars. The character of Cobra was inspired by French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was mostly famous in the 1970's for over-the-top French action thrillers. Cobra's partner is a mouthless robot gal called Lady Armaroid. She's usually in charge of piloting the ship and secretly lusts after Cobra, when she's not delivering exposition. There's an obvious charm to Space Adventure Cobra: it's corny as hell but in exactly the right way.

You've got the cool tough guy hero who spouts out corny one-liners, sexy space ladies wearing not very much at all when they are wearing something, a Yoda-style mentor in a bubble, snow gorillas, a James Bond opening title sequence, funky music and an arch-enemy amusingly called Crystal Boy, easily one of the least threatening bad guy names ever. The latter's character design is creative, though, as he's made of glass, gold, claws, guns, just about anything you can think of. To give you an idea of what you can expect from this movie in terms of tone, think the anime series Space Dandy if it was tongue-in-cheek by accident.

The plot is appropriately ludicrous and somewhat confusing unless you've read the manga but it essentially boils down to a treasure hunt, the search for some Ultimate Weapon, Crystal Boy wanting to destroy an entire galaxy and Cobra butting heads with snow gorillas (don't ask) while getting friendly with the Royal triplets. "Royal" being the ladies' last name, except in the English dub where it's Flower. This feature isn't particularly kid friendly as, apart from the action sequences and the light-hearted, wise-cracking Lupin The Third-style protagonist, it's mostly a trippy, busy and gratuitous romp. With the amount of random nudity this movie has and the random violent moments, plus the fact that Crystal Boy is genuinely creepy, this is one for older viewers.

That said, it is a funny flick and the adventure itself is effortlessly engaging so anyone can get a kick out of it. What lets the film down a bit is its animation which feels a little too much like a lower budget saturday morning cartoon at times. However, even this added layer of cheesiness works quite well in combination with the trashy vibe of it all. Unless you're a fan of pulpy, goofy 70's/80's sci-fi, then you'll probably write this one off as too silly. Indeed, this falls quite easily under the guilty pleasure banner in that respect but there's definitely a simple charm to it and, as a good old-fashioned piece of space-set nonsense, it works.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Space Adventure Cobra. It may look and sound a bit clunky at times and it's all rather ridiculous but it's also tons of fun. Worst comes to worst, you'll get a good laugh out of it so why not check it out?

Enjoyably camp space opera.

This anime was underrated and still is. Hardly the dorky kids movie as noted, i still come back to this 10 years after i first saw it. One of the better movies released.

The animation while not perfect is good, camera tricks give it a 3D feel and the story is still as good today even after i grew up and saw ground-breakers like Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon. It has nowhere near the depth obviously but try to see it from a lighthearted view. It's a story to entertain, not to question.

Still one of my favourites I come back too when i feel like a giggle on over more lighthearted animes. Not to say its a childish movies, there are surprisingly sad moments in this and you need a sense of humour to see it all.