Street Fighter II: La película

I was one of the many Street Fighter fans that left the theatre in withered disappointment after seeing the live action movie. One would have thought that, after several incarnations of this classic videogame, they'd at least get the storyline right. It was a massive letdown to see them mangle all the characters, too. So, when I heard there was an animated movie being released, I literally jumped with excitement; there was no way an anime would (or could) screw up as badly, after all. To my delighted surprise, it not only didn't screw up, it brought each character from 'Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers' to life.

I've heard people complain about it lacking plot and depth; IMHO, these people have missed the entire point of the movie. The main protagonist, Ryu, is a wandering warrior seeking to improve his fighting skills by constantly testing himself against other fighters in different parts of the world. He is an uncomplicated, unpretentious person with a gentle soul and the heart of a dragon (no pun intended), with no notion of the destiny that lies before him. He and his fellow trainee/best friend Ken parted ways ere they could settle who was the better fighter. The way this part of their fates was handled is well done; and the introduction of each supporting character within this deceptively simple storyline kept me rooting for more, with the buildup to the final minutes masterfully accomplished.

There is no debate whatsoever that both the art and animation in this movie is nothing short of amazing; every movement is smooth and clearly visible, from the flexing of Ryu's toes as he takes a step to every single punch and kick thrown in a fight. The music and dialogue, both in the original and the dubbed versions, is quite suitable (there has yet to be a soundtrack for the dub, pity), and although the dialogue at the end seems anti-climactic, what a setup for a sequel!

An elegantly simple story that captures the essence of the Way of the Warrior personified. I'm still watching it happily more than four years later.

Viewed on: Amazon Prime Video.

Adaptation of the popular fighting game franchise of the same name, it follows a wandering warrior known as Ryu (the "face" of the franchise) as he's hunted down by the villainous M. Bison (series long villain & usual endboss in the games, here he heads off a terrorist organization known as Shadaloo that is capturing powerful "street fighters" & brainwashing them into supersoldiers). Interpol & the U. S. military (represented by series regular good guys Chun-Li & Guile) involve themselves by trying to warn Ryu before he's endangered.

It doesn't have a deep narrative, and it probably won't appeal to anyone not already familiar with the games, but if you do fall into the fan base there's a lot to like here. Ryu's wandering nature provides ample opportunities for most (if not all) of the playable characters of the time to make an appearance, most of which are involved in at least one scuffle. The fights themselves (as well as the true to the game character design) are expertly animated & detailed, with weighty, crunchy impacts that hit hard. The infamous Chun-Li shower scene is another plus (& uncensored on my viewing platform of choice), and is directly followed up by the most tense confrontation in the entire film.

Well you don't have to be familiar with the lore of the games to enjoy this movie, it would definitely enhance it and clear up any confusion. The action scenes definitely make this movie feel somewhat believable. It's well choreographed, and well illustrated. Another place where this movie shines is in its writing. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes the dialogue sounds so far in left field it doesn't even remotely sound like a normal conversation. But some of the conversations between Chun-li and Guile are great and they seem so cute together! My biggest complaint is the unnecessary panning shots of unimportant scenes, and unimportant fights. And by unimportant fights I mean fights that don't have enough time or story relevance to be impactful. But over all I enjoyed it! It's a good movie for it's time and sense I knew the lore of the main characters I feel like they did a great job staying faithful to the series! 7/10.

I am a big fan of the Street Fighter II video games. If anyone wanted an alternate source for the title other than the game and the live action movie then this is your great alternative! All of the classic characters are in it! M. Bison, Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, T. Hawk, Chun-Li, Sagat, Vega, Guile, E. Honda, Fei Long, Dhalsim, Cammy, DeeJay, Vega, and Balrog! In My opinion all of the characters look exactly like they do in the video game. The male characters look super and the female fighters look absolutely gorgeous! The animation is so crisp and clean! I have read that are two versions but I have seen the American version. This film may not be suitable for youngsters because of the minor language such as "hell" and "damn" and blood coming from the characters' wounds. Another is a very surprising scene where Chun-Li is taking a shower and then she puts on a night gown type shirt and some underwear and when she fights Vega you see this and even though that this may be uncalled for in an animated feature but I thought it was cute and animated very realistically. More on that in a second. Another thing was the music. Really music though out the entire film! M. Bison and his men were really introduced properly. It was like this was a real movie. One thing to explain is when Chun-Li was in her apartment minding her own business after she got out of the shower and Vega just came barging in. I really liked the fight between Chun-Li and Vega! That scene was really animated well. Another is near the end when M. Bison, Ryu, and Ken are fighting. I believe that the fight scenes in this feature are some of the greatest fight scenes I've seen and I'm commenting on an animated movie! The fighting in the animated feature is simply amazing and I really liked how realistic everything was! If you like the Street Fighter II video games and the Street Fighter live action movie with Jean Claude-Van Damme and the late great Raul Julia (which by the way I think Julia's role as M. Bison was arguably his greatest ever!) then I strongly recommend that you watch this movie now!

"Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" is an anime that packs everything you could ever wish for in a Street Fighter-anime, and it is everything that the movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme should have been. I think of myself as a fan of the glorious Street Fighter videogames, and especially the original Street Fighter II videogame. This movie brings you brilliant martial-art-sequences and it really captures the atmosphere of the videogame. Pretty much all of SFII`s characters appear in this movie, and although Ryu and Ken are the main characters, every character from the game that is present here gets to fight. An excellent musical score is also worth noticing. This is in my opinion the finest pure martial-art-anime available today. This movie`s intro, where Ryu fights Sagat, is probably the best intro ever for an anime, and it really makes you expect an extraordinary film, and this movie more than delivers. Everyone with an interest in action-anime will love this, and it is completely perfect for the fans of the videogame-series. So, if you fancy watching an anime where you get to see old favorites such as Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li go head-to-head in explosive battles against villains such as Balrog, Vega and Bison, then this is your movie.

10/10