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I can't believe how I've been refraining myself from watching this movie the first time I'd heard of it. From the title 'Space Travelers', I thought that it's going to be somewhat a science fiction movie. But it turned out that it had nothing to do with space...or traveling through it!

I rent this movie from a rental nearby. I rented it just because it's a Japanese movie, yes...I'm a Japan freak...nevertheless, I was the most reluctant to watch this movie, aside from my other rented titles at the time. But from the moment I started to get into the picture, I couldn't get my eyes off the TV set not for once. The comedy is really great, the pacing is great also and not to mention the ending. Although many would say that the ending sucked...but I really liked it. It really serves up to the Japanese melodramatic spirit, if you know what I mean. If you pay attention, most of Japanese drama's ended in a very unsuspected yet realistic way.

Anyhow, this movie really deserves the credit for being able to capture one's emotions and drag the audiences' feelings to it. Although you've never robbed a bank (or ever will), you're still able to relate with the characters in the movies, their dreams, their desire of doing something really meaningful, even in the most absurd ways. I'd give this movie 5 out of 5 stars! ^_^

I know... I know... this ISN'T the animated movie. But it IS a pretty good Japanese action / comedy flick and believe it or not, it really has nothing to do with space at all. I can't tell you why the name is what it is without spoiling the plot of the movie but I will say it has something to do with Ando Masanobu (of BATTLE ROYALE fame) and his favorite Anime (Japanese cartoon) series and we'll leave it at that. I can say that it's a basic bank robbery film where there are the robbers, the hostages, the police, and big "get-away" at the end but NEVER assume too much with Japanese movies. This is an extremely pleasing film to watch and I'm glad I took the chance to pick it up sight unseen on Region 3 DVD.

SPACE TRAVELERS is a comic thriller about three men (Takeshi

Kaneshiro, Masanobu Ando and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), orphans all,

who decide to rob a bank just before closing time to finance their

escape to a tropical paradise. Plans, as they often do, go south

and the trio ends up trapped in the locked-down bank with an

eclectic and eccentric collection of staff and customers, each of

whom corresponds to characters in an anime show adored by one

of the robbers (Ando, the psycho kid in BATTLE ROYALE). In short

order, the hostages realize their captors are actually misguided

losers and decide to help them out, adopting character names

from the anime and making the growing throngs of cops outside

think the gang is much bigger than it really is and, in the process,

discovering untapped potential and new senses of purpose in

their mundane lives. A fast-paced, often touching piece of work,

with extremely well-drawn characters.

I bought the dvd after reading a couple of good reviews and a interesting synopsis. I like the idea that instead of a live action anime that would never work (like Dragonball live action) they instead had a character resemblance movie. That was a clever idea to execute the movie and at the same time make it closely based on a Japanese animation. However 30 minutes into the movie it became a disaster case. It was unbelievablely corny. Anyone who finds this movie good, has serious problems and has absolutely no taste in movies what so ever.

I was lucky enough to be in Singapore at the time of the release of this movie, and I'm certainly glad for it. The movie was one of the more artistic and stylish action movies that I have ever seen, with some libertine cinematography and a dash of the fantastic. I'm not a big fan of subtitles, but the humor shines through in any language, and it's definitely worth seeing.

Although it is a "bank heist gone wrong" movie, it is surprisingly well done, with vibrant--if slightly shallow--characters, understated and well-placed special effects, a hip, hip soundtrack, and a good sense of humor about itself. Highly recommended.