Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

1994 "The Final Battle Of Good Against Evil Is About To Begin!"
7.2| 1h41m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 06 August 1994 Released
Producted By: Sony Music Entertainment
Country: Japan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Bison, the ruthless leader of the international terrorist organization Shadowlaw, has been desperately searching for the greatest fighter on the planet for years. He finds it in Ryu, a young wanderer who never stays in one place long enough for Bison to find him. He does, however, get a fix on Ken Masters, an American martial arts champion who studied with Ryu as a child under the same master. Meanwhile, Major Guile of the United States Army is forced to team up with Chun Li from China in hopes of apprehending Bison and putting a stop his international ring of crime.

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Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Mr-Fusion I haven't played a Street Fighter game in twenty years, so I didn't approach "The Animated Movie" expecting spot-on character treatments, backstories, etc. The story on this thing's fairly nonsensical, everyone's either a mercenary or government op. But it does benefit from great production values; this looks damn good. And no one comes to this expecting anything deep, I mean it's full of 'roided out physiques squaring off against each other. It's whether or not the movie delivers on the fight scenes, which are top-notch (especially the tense Vega/Chun Li face-off). I imagine that, were I a more devoted fan of the games, I would've given a rip about the story. But again, fights and quality animation are the focus. My only gripe with the U.S. version are the songs, none of which fit (Korn, seriously?).Scratch that, I've got one more gripe. Internet lore tells of an extended Chun Li shower scene, the juicy parts of which were missing here. Manga Entertainment apparently forgot that "sex and violence" is a package deal. You put that T&A back where it belongs! Are we really pretending teens aren't this movie's target audience? 6/10
one_evolver This Japanese Manga is superb. Based on arguably the most popular game in the history of versus fighting martial arts, is the movie of Ryu, who is at least the best fighter on this planet. His is the part I like the most in the movie, other than loving his character, the moment I saw him in the game in the eighties. The way his character is portrayed in the movie, is the way it should be and the way I imagined him: spiritual, lonely, wandering and most of all challenging. The story is overshadowed by the strong appearances of characters. For street fighter fans this must be a treat for their eyes as well as their soul. Check out its dialogs in this connection, which are not just dramatic but soul stirring. Ryu is the character from which I started connecting with Japanese video-game warriors, heroes, characters and their Mangas. So to come up to my expectations, it must have been a great effort(anime) and I tell you, it is.
jaywolfenstien . . . for an anime based on a video game (a fighting game, no less.) So how does this anime succeed in sticking 16 (technically 17) characters into a single feature where its live action counterpart failed? Simple: most characters are no more than a backdrop participating in a fight in whatever location the film needs them in.This gives the main characters (mostly Ryu) more room for more development and lengthier, flashier fights. The character exploration of Ryu and Ken, their history together, proved a nice touch, and Capcom wisely choose not to pursue it too much; afterall, this anime is about Street Fights not Street Dramas. I've always liked Ryu and Ken's rivalry which does not interfere with their friendship that Capcom established, especially the link via Ryu's headband; the two won't hold back when battling one another, but at the same time there's a line neither will cross.Which brings me to the villain, M. Bison (or Vega, depending on where you live), and his posse. Somehow I liked Bison better in the original incarnation of Street Fighter 2 where he was just a guy (with pupils) before they started getting carried away with his 'Psycho Power' and, in the Zero series, the 'Psycho drive' (whee!). It's not enough to have a mean guy as the villain, nope, we absolutely must have the son of Satan. No matter how hard I try to suspend my disbelief, I'll always see Bison as a scrawny guy in a red suit (with pupils) who happens to have a few cool abilities . . . oh yeah, and Akuma can kick the crap out of him any day of the week.The arcade Street Fighter 2 and its numerous variants never really gives much glimpse into the character's personalities, and as a result we have to rely on their back stories (for those who care enough to read into them) and the snippets of between-bout dialogue for such traits. With that in mind, all of the characters are portrayed accurately (surprise surprise). Come to think of it, how did the live action film manage to screw them up when 95% of the personality is left up for interpretation of the gamer? I loved the fights in this anime, the fluid and flawless animation. It was actually one of the first anime's that I ever caught a glimpse of, and then years later revisited to find the battles still hold up against some of the more recent animations I've seen. The animators paid careful attention to weight, balance, centers of gravity, and momentum which I greatly appreciated. I've seen one too many animations with battles involving characters anchored to their place with arms and legs mechanically jabbing at their opponent in alternation with one another. Not to mention the camera follows some creative angles in narrating – in particular, one sequence follows Vega (Balrog) as Chun Li nearly knocks him to the ground, and it follows him as he straightens back up to come face to face with her.Though I'm not particularly a fan of anime, I did like and appreciate Capcom's efforts in Street Fighter 2: the animated movie. I feel anime definitely suits fighting games that originate from Japan (surprise, surprise), and I'm dismayed that none of the SNK fighting-game based animes (Art of Fighting, Samurai Showodown, Fatal Fury) really compare. Then again, Street Fighter was the leader, so I guess it's only appropriate that its anime would rank above its SNK competition.
Movie Nuttball 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!