REVIEW | Why "Cowboy Bebop" and "The Wheel of Time" Fail

So you can know what is the most watched on Netflix 1:03

(CNN) -

Streaming services continue to launch expensive series based on pre-sold concepts, but those big bets can lead to big mistakes.

Two main examples are available this weekend: "Cowboy Bebop," a Netflix adaptation of a popular anime show;

and "The Wheel of Time," Amazon's poor man's version of "The Lord of the Rings" based on popular fantasy books.

Both programs fail, for different reasons.

"Cowboy Bebop" seeks to replicate the style and tone of the violent animated series, a space western featuring a trio of bounty hunters (or "cowboys").

They are played by John Cho (under a mop of tousled hair), Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda, hunting a strange variety of targets, throwing pranks and weapons in almost equal measure.

While much of the action is episodic, the season is connected by a larger plot involving the villain Vicious (Alex Hassell), from Cho's character's past, and the seductive woman (Elina Satine) who came between them, a thread that sounds so familiar as to fall asleep a bit.

Presented in Japan in 1998 and in the US via Adult Swim three years later, the series proves once again that it is not easy to approach the tone of a cartoon in a live action format, even one that in its content it is for adults.

(Netflix is ​​also streaming the original show.)

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Altogether, the new series is big, loud, and generously produced, with a music-infused sensibility that works to its advantage, or at least it should.

Yet somehow, the producers have managed to put together a show that appears to have sparked skepticism among devotees of the original series, who speak of it with the kind of reverence once reserved for "Citizen Kane," without actually inviting. to newcomers to the party.

Whatever the cause, the chemistry feels bad.

And although the action sequences are elegantly choreographed, "Cowboy Bebop" finally moves to a rather dull tune.

Rosamund Pike in "The Wheel of Time".

At least "Bebop" doesn't aspire to be much more than fun, while "The Wheel of Time" - adapted from Robert Jordan's books - has a more epic scope that adds to the sense of dramatic inertia.

Rosamund Pike provides a touch - or at least the most recognizable face - as the mysterious Moiraine, who arrives in a small town where she recruits five young men and women on a quest to thwart the return of "the dark one" with a member of the quintet. , still unknown, that represents the prophesied savior of his world.

The drooling minions of the dark are naturally in hot pursuit, but the characters simply don't possess enough spark to appeal to those not already steeped in mythology, and the special effects are uneven.

What emerges like this feels like another fantasy-based soap opera, populated by fantastical creatures and stark dialogue filled with hateful warnings like "The dark is coming for your friends."

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I blamed "Game of Thrones," which led all viewers to carefully analyze the concepts of fantasy with literary foundations to take advantage of that genre.

As noted, Amazon's big gamble is an upcoming series based on "The Lord of the Rings," which only fuels the feeling that this represents a unique version of it.

While there have been successes, the streaming world has also absorbed costly failures in testing these waters, with "Cursed" and "Jupiter's Legacy" among the recent wonders of a Netflix season.

On the bright side, it's good to see streaming companies take their chances with material that requires such ambition.

However, there is not much in "Cowboy Bebop" that warrants waiting for an encore, or something in "The Wheel of Time" to provoke excitement about the possibility of it moving forward.

"Cowboy Bebop" and "The Wheel of Time" premiere on November 19 on Netflix and Amazon, respectively.

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