Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

When I first bought this film, I bought it for two reasons: it's based on the popular video game (of which I play often) and I wanted to start off my own collection of anime films. I probably would have trashed it right away because the live-action film version of the video game wasn't that great, but after watching my newly bought anime, I actually enjoyed it. The people who made SF2TAM managed to keep the movie faithful to the video game it was based upon and managed to fit every character into it in one shape or another. The characters themselves are portrayed the way they should be and the fights were well drawn. Worth watching if you're a fan of the series and even if you're not, do watch this film. It's a good movie on its own right.

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.

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!

Now this is what the live action street fighter should have looked like. At least in this movie the characters stories are right (most of them). The fight scenes in this movie are really good. Especially the bloody fight between Vega and Chun-Li, for the most part of that Chun-Li is dodging Vega's claw as KMFDM is playing in the background. The soundtrack was changed for the dubbed version, adding bands songs that we know or don't know so well for a few scenes but leaving most of the film score the same during most fight scenes. The songs actually fit with what's going on. The only one that I think was playing in a fight scene was Ultra, and that went really good matching the fast paced action that was happening on screen. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that part of the shower scene was cut. It was a scene that showed Chun-Li's breasts for about 5 seconds. It's not the fact that the nudity was cut out that bugs me it's the fact that I don't like it when I movie gets cut and I find out about it knowing that if I was in another country it could see it. The movie was great overall and anyone who wants to see a good Martial arts film should see it.

My review 8.