Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie

Mix equal parts Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee and Japanese anime, shake and stir…er, make that slice and dice…and you've got Samurai Jack, the Cartoon Network's surprise hit animated series, which attracts nearly half a million adults and over a million kids. Sporting lush animation (with multiple split screens during fight sequences), a catchy Far-East-meets-hip-hop soundtrack, and one of the most laconic butt-kicking heroes to ever grace the small screen, Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie traces The Samurai in White's (voiced by black actor Phil LaMarr) roots: when his father is enslaved by the evil shape-shifter Aku (voiced by Mako), young Jack is sent to train with masters ranging from Robin Hood to the Shaolin monks. Returning as an adult to confront his nemesis, Jack finds himself popped into a wormhole and flung into an Aku-dominated future, where he embarks on a quest to find his way back to the past to cut Aku off at the evolutionary kneecaps so to speak. Needless to say, there are obstacles: hence the show. While the exposition of the premiere movie is a wee bit slow, the third-act showdown between Jack and an army of mechanical bugs is unbelievably long, rather violent, and absolutely engrossing. DVD extras include a funny bonus episode (#11, in which Jack and a bagpipe playing Scot meet on a narrow, rickety, miles-long suspension bridge and trade pejoratives), a behind-the-scenes doc with creator Genndy Tartakovsky, an art gallery, and more. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)