Street Fighter Alpha: O Filme

Street Fighter Alpha (1999) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows Ken and Ryu training one day when an orphan claiming to be Ken's brother arrives. The brother trains with Ken and Ryu and eventually they are attacked by a man who wants to steal Ryu's power and kidnaps his brother as a trap to get Ryu into his lair. Can Ken and Ryu save the brother and stop the tyrant?

This movie is directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi (Dragon Ball Z) and contains the voices of Kane Kosugi (DOA: Dead or Alive), Kazuya Ichijô (Cowboy Bebop), Ai Orikasa (Sakura Wars) and Bin Shimada (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind).

The animation in this is just okay and hasn't aged well. The characters are fun to see, especially Vega. The scene he arrives is very well done.

The every day environments the fighters reside in is very well delivered and interesting. There are some clever scenarios our heroes need to overcome, the wooden ghosts were very cool. The fight scenes are good and the final battle is unpredictable and entertaining.

Overall this is a slightly above average addition to the animated genre that is a must see for fans of the video game series. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Okay, granted, this animated film is based upon an arcade game. Not just an arcade game--an arcade *fighting* game. The requirements for a good arcade fighting game (especially back when Street Fighter set the standards) did not involve having a plot. If it played well and was fun, then you had a hit. It's a given that to make a film the creators are going to have to expand on the three sentences of backstory each character has, and the equally shallow endings they all have; sometimes even substancially change them . . . so why did they feel it necessary to invent a whole new villain with artificial fighters at his disposal? No.

Granted, I haven't played the original SF Alpha in ages, but I recall Bison (generally speaking) still being the villain in the Alpha/Zero series (yes, I know, not everyone fought Bison in the first one). I can understand them not wanting to introduce Bison in this film to preserve the storyline of the existing SF Anime, but you still have Sagat from SF1. Heck, this film even brings up Akuma (who would have made an excellent lead villain if given the spotlight) but he's not pursued. Instead we're stuck with a throwaway guy no one cares about who has no connection to the Street Fighter game universe. The only thing worse is they don't make much attempt to make him or his underlings as interesting as the "true" SF characters. He's just a cliche mad scientist. That's all.

Then the presence of annoying existing SF characters doesn't help either. I hated Sakura in the game; I hate her in the anime. Ryu's brother issue started out all right; however, it quickly dissolved into meaningless drivel as the "plot" involving the "villain" consumed him.

Much of Street Fighter Alpha/Zero's vast cast of characters is not utilized (understandably so considering the volume of faces they've developed over the years), but even the ones who are really don't do much but get beat up until Ryu overcomes his inner demons, discovers the true warrior spirit, yadda, yadda, yadda, and ultimately saves the day. Every Street Fighter player knows that Ken is just as bad as Ryu, if not he's even badder; they even fight to a standstill in this, and yet Ken can't put a dent in the android/robot/artificial guy/whatever he was supposed to be? No. If nothing else, Ken would be able to severly hurt the thing.

I liked the original anime and even the V series because in the end Ryu & Ken ultimately team up. One or the other (usually Ryu) has to get the final hit, but it takes both of them for a victory. Akuma would have given them both a run for their money with his raging demon; Street Fighter fans don't want the throw-away Sadler crap, we want the real deal--bring on Akuma.

What sets this film apart from others in the fighting-game-turned-anime genre us that the plot and character setup are especially important to the actual portrayal of the character. Don't expect to be able to jump into this film and like it, because you won't. If, however, you choose to watch it from the beginning and actually empathize with the characters, you will most likely enjoy yourself.

Street Fighter Alpha (the videogame) was the turning point of the street fighter universe because Ryu ceased to be the wandering, invincible (and emotionless) street fighter who is thrown into the plot by accident, and became the central character of the story, in a far more convincing fashion than Guile and Chun Li ever really managed in Street Fighter II. This movie is the expression of that story in film.

The fighting scenes are spectacular and the story well-paced, but in the end, if you're looking for the kind of popcorn-action flick that guys watch during frat parties, the original Street Fighter Animated Movie is much more your cup of tea (or beer). If, however, you're looking for a sensitive film which deals with the personal side of each of the characters involved, Alpha is much better.

Being a huge street fighter fan and thoroughly enjoying the previous film, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, I was really looking forward to this one!

However, it seemed that the film had no real sense of direction or purpose. Most of the characters I could not associate with and it just lacked the intense action that made the other mentioned street fighter film so superior.

There are some good points however, the Animation is superb!!!

Well like i said this is not the kind of movie i thought it would have been.I have been a big street fighter fan since the starting of the video game while it was still on arcade.But of course i just couldn't just stop at that.I was browsing through one of my friends collection of Videos and i saw that she had both the first movie that came out and most of the series.Well of course i went nuts about them and she allowed me to borrow the first movie.This movie i watched over and over again because of some of the best fight scenes i had ever seen at that time.I will admit that i now own both and i watch the first one that came out a lot more instead of Alpha.I found Alpha very slow and the story just didn't fit quite right (compared to the true story behind Street Fighter).If you are looking for a good movie with an all right story line but lots of fighting in an Anime,i suggest "Street Fighter the Movie".Alpha is ok in some sense but i suggest you stick to The movie i just listed and the series(which is quite funny and a good one).I have seen a lot of Anime movies and lots of normal movies.If you would like any info or advice on a movie feel free to email me.