Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Gisaburo Sugii
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
100 mins
Year
1994

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie VHS

By John Huxley
23rd May 04

Like most people, I had the heinous displeasure of watching the abomination that is Street Fighter The Movie before I watched the animated version. And unlike that plague eating away at the fleshy exterior of videogame-to-Hollywood conversions, the anime adaptation is unexpectedly great. I'd go as far as to say that I've never had the pleasure to see any martial arts based anime that betters it, or even comes close. Yes, even Fist of the North Star (although that anime features a different kind of action, so any comparison can only concern taste).

The plot loosely follows the path of the games, with the evil M.Bison (Vega) up to no good again with his Shadowloo (haha) organization. Before you can say "You called it WHAT?", Ryu, Ken, Guile and Chun-Li are on his back punching his face in and kicking him in the gonads. Or at least trying to. To be honest, the plot is the weakest link in this otherwise unsinkable ship, but the characters are strong enough - or at least our bond with them is strong enough to carry the film through unimpaired. It can't be underestimated how good it feels to watch characters you know and love from the videogames bought to life and fully animated. Ryu in the live-action film was a pale imitation of the great man himself, preferring to portray him as a no-good street punk than a brave combatant constantly searching for answers and the ultimate foe. Ken is also faithfully recreated much to audience delight, and the relationship between him and Ryu is back where it should be. Actually, the relationships between all the characters, and how they all play off each other to defeat a much stronger enemy is probably the most interesting aspect of the characterization in Street Fighter II. Certainly, this film helps build their otherwise minimal personality portrayed in the videogames.

Now, the fight scenes. This is where the director and the art team really begin to shine. The animation is fluid and clean, the art is crisp and true to the original source, but above all, the direction is so clear you could swear they used motion capture to help choreograph these scenes. Each and every fight introduces a new set of moves and a new scenario, and these fights help build up to the final, lengthy fight between Ryu, Ken, M.Bison (Vega) and all the others (although it comes down to just those three in the end). I highly reccomend you check out this (link dead) synopsis of the fight scenes, which might give you an idea of just how well directed they really are (I also stole the pics from there!). There isn't much more to say. Every single minute flaw, mishap and argument concerning Street Fighter II become redundant when you consider the action offered up here. If anime were cars, this would be a Dodge Viper. Who cares if it can't carry the shopping? VROOM!! VROOM!!!

9/10

-- John Huxley 23rd May 04

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie Images