Street Fighter II Movie

I think this is the ultimate anime in adapting video games. It just made something epic out of it. With the exemption of Akuma’s brief cameo, pretty much virtually every character has their own memorable placement even though some may not have any direct connection to the establishment or progressions of the main story. It is very true to the source material and even influenced the Street Fighter Alpha branch of the series. I do have some complaints such as the lack of use of Sagat after the intro. I was hoping Ryu and Sagat would fight one more time, but that didn’t happen ... and I think the staff had the right reasons why they couldn’t make it happen. But I have trouble over looking it being a Sagat fan and all.

Well, the character design is just fantastic. Very true to the games and makes them recognizable to newbies and veterans of the series alike. The art isn’t too stereotypical by relying on big eyes too much with the exemption of its female cast, but other than that, everything is just perfect and you couldn’t ask for more. No wait, you could. You can’t have Street Fighter without some kung fu fighting, which is the heart and soul of this movie. The staff wanted a more realistic and technical approach but yet still raw, which translated flawlessly into this movie. The action was coordinated by Ishii Kazuyoshi, the founder of the K-1 kickboxing promotion, and former K-1 champion, Andy Hug. Hug, god bless his soul, passed away nearly 10 years ago of Leukemia after winning a tournament, and Ishii is now in prison for tax evasion. Anyway, in addition to the realistic approach to the pacing, movement and techniques, it still balances out with the inclusion of the signature moves such as hadoukens and sonic booms. It can also get a little bloody at times. It’s extreme and keeps you on the edge of your seat, and doesn’t get old. And to me, nothing can top the extremities and technicalities of the art and animation.

The dub and Japanese voice acting are equally excellent in their own rights. My favorite performances were both that of Vega or Balrog, which name you are free to refer to him as was definitely breath taking. Both actors captured his character of being a sadistic narcissist in a way that exceeded your expectations of what that character could sound like. And for that example alone, I’ll leave it at that.

The music between both versions is of course a different manner of discussion. I think the selected American music with the likes of KMFDM, Silverchair, Alice in Chains, and Korn and the Jpop in the Japanese version were appropriately used in relation to capturing its target audience. And after watching the English version for 12 years, listening to the Japanese version the first time, totally threw me off. The difference in the music selected in each version really captures your attention and makes you view things in different ways. To me, watching the English version of lets say the fight between Chun Li and Vega made me feel an intensity that I was watching a pay per view fight, while watching it in Japanese, I felt like I was watching a fight to the death and I was able to feel the struggle of Chun Li more as if she was going to lose, while with the American music, you had that notion she was going to come out on top and finish it with nothing to lose. I’m not saying one is better than the other, it’s just it all depends on how you react to things in my perspective.

And one last thing, the main theme Itoshisa to Setsunasa to Kokoro Tsuyosa to sung by Shinohara Ryoko, the song that plays when Ken and Ryu fight Bison, I’ll admit is catchy and I love it a whole lot and is still considered a huge hit in Japan, but really felt out of place in contrast to the action presented. Even though I think both Japanese and English are great, due to the uses of differences of music, I can’t say one is better than the other and you’re going to have to watch it in both languages to have a full appreciation of this movie.

I say fans and non-fans alike of either the Street Fighter games or anime in general should and must give this a shot. This was one of the animes that came out in 1995 during a time way before anime was cool and is still way cooler than a lot of animes today. Luckily, this came out when I was getting into anime and being a fan of Street Fighter, I just had to get this. And for me, this was the right anime at the right time. I was 11 when I first watch this and many elements amazed and shocked me, and it may have with a lot of people. One being the Chun Li shower scene and all video game animes that followed had to have this kind of scene including Fatal Fury, Battle Arena Toshiden, and the piece of shit Tekken anime. It was something different to me and I didn’t take the scene offensive and thought of this was something acceptable to Japanese people which is yes and no true. Eventually I got around to showing this movie to my friends and we could watch this movie all night over and over. Especially Chun Li vs Vega which anyone who has seen this movie cannot deny that is certainly one of the best anime fights of all time.

Before I get into my review, I have to preface this by admitting that Street Fighter II in particular has played a very huge part in my preference when it comes to video games so I can admit that there is going to be a bit of bias during this review.

Animes based on video games have been,for the most part, a huge smoldering ash pile of disappointment. They often do not stick to the source material of the game, take too many liberties on a simple story line that is starring them right in their over ambitious faces, and ultimately its a blunder ... before it even gets started. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is the exception to the latter.

When you are doing a cross over of a popular ip and placing it into another medium, taking from the exact source material is a very very crucial detail that will aid in your success. Anime studio Group TAC understood this and by the end of the film, I could have literally jumped out my seat and kissed them for it if they were standing close by.

The first crucial element of my happiness with this film was the obvious character design pulled directly from the conceptual art of those involved directly with the original game. Every character looks like the genuine article, and it further pushes the films enjoyment when the true magic takes place.

It goes without saying that the stand out moments of the film are where they are supposed to be, in the fighting. Most of the fight scenes are choreographed with the utmost attention to detail while incorporating many of the moves that fans of the series have come to love. What plays a minor part in the scenes that make the experience of these scenes bigger as a whole are the sound effects as fists clash against flesh in a realistic manner excelling the enjoyment of what takes place as you watch.

The first scene of the films sets the stage for all of this perfectly and by the films title introduction it is clear that your going to be in for a good watch. The story, while pretty generic in its approach, did enough to push the plot and not take you out of the film. M. Bison, the films antagonist, is monitoring the worlds strongest fighters in search of a vessel that will aide him in his quest for world domination.

As the plot progresses, you find a few character story lines from the game meshed in between. It may have made for a much better film if the script was fleshed out to involve more of the characters but for the most part you get a sense of the motivations from the main protagonists and I personally thought that was good enough.

Before I jump into the soundtrack, it is very important to note that there have been various versions of the film over the years and the one that I specifically watched was the original. The original score was by no means grandiose yet and still it did enough to please and I prefer it greatly over the redone version that came to the western shores.

It must be said that despite the minor scenes that were omitted from the western version,if you have not seen the uncut version or the original, you may just want to save your criticisms about the film until such time that you have.

Ultimately, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was an amazing showcase of the source material and in my opinion, should be judged from that view point alone. To just watch this film with no context of where this film derived from will do you no justice. Make no mistakes -- this was fan service at its mind blowing best!!

Based on the popular video game of the same name by Capcom. This movie contains each of the characters up until Super Street Fighter II. Therefore, fans of particular characters will at least get the opportunity to see their favorite do something. Although in some cases they won't get to see very much.

For those whom may not know; I hate video game to anime films. Mainly because in terms of quality anime almost none of them have cracked the ceiling of mediocrity. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie somewhat fits into the category. Fortunately, for a video game to anime translation the movie isn't too ... bad because it gives something to the fans, and it's many notches above awful titles such as Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, and Devil May Cry. Street Fighter delivers well animated choreographed fights between some of the most popular characters in the SF universe.

SFII contains some of the best hand to hand action scenes in fighting anime. The animation is very fluid during the action scenes. The characters battle with real martial art moves for the most part, and I enjoy the attention to detail. Some of the characters actually perform the regular moves from the game and most of them are very cool to see.

The artwork is great also with the characters perfectly resembling their video game counterparts. The art style fits perfectly for this type of anime. I also enjoyed the soundtrack with standout songs being Them Bones by Alice in Chains and Blind by Korn. However, several times I can remember the BGM was quite boring, and has caused me to come quite close to dosing off. In other cases, it brought out the best during some fight scenes. The voice actors and seiyuu are pretty good to me. I don't have any complaints except the dialogue can be very cheesy at times. Plus, there's a bit of profanity thrown out there which can be a bother for some.

I have to give credit to the production team for bringing SF to the TV screen for fans. Now, speaking from a fans point of view. I really did enjoy seeing some of my favorite characters going at it, but that's where the major problem begins. As in all video game to anime I have seen; non fans of the game will come away feeling as if they wasted their time. Outside of the main characters it is highly unlikely a non fan will learn anything about the remaining cast. Character development is very low to non existent because so many characters were just squeezed in. Characters appear only to deliver a couple of moves and disappear as quick as they came.

The plot is very boring and I was rarely sucked into the story. Thankfully the pacing makes the movie less painful. The fights are well dispersed, and most of them make the wait well worth it. In truth, the action is the only reason to bother with this.

Street Fighter II is something that I can only recommend to fans of the franchise. However, if you're not a fan of the franchise but love action anime in any form; then this may be for you as well. It's definitely better than all of the fighting game to anime I have seen, and better than its so called sequels or side stories, but it's not a great anime by any stretch of the imagination. Non fans of the franchise and action films should skip it without hesitation.

Pros: Very good fight scenes, very good animation and artwork, pacing, good for fans....

Cons: ...bad for non fans, boring plot, too many character appearances

Adaptions of games, particularly fighting games, into anime are usually disappointing. I generally go into them excited at the prospect of seeing familiar characters in some ass kicking action, only to see it turn out like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. "Fatal Fury" movie was bad; The recent spin-offs from the"Street Fighter IV" games managed to reach the dizzying heights of mediocrity; and as for "Tekken: the Motion Picture"? Well what a big pile of sh*te that was!

But once or twice, there's comes an adaptation that's actually pretty good, and the pick of that bunch is "Street Fighter II: The Animated ... Movie". Despite being one of the first anime I watched, I still see it as the standard which other fighting game adaptations are judged against even to this day. It pretty much ticks all the boxes that fans of the game look for when it comes to these kind of adaptations. Let's take a look, shall we?

1. Faithful adaptation of story? Check.

Fans, especially purist fans, hate it when adaptations take too many liberties with the story, especially if it ends up not obviously better than the original.

"Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" was careful to remain faithful to the source material, and built its story from that instead making wholesale changes. And in fact I heard it said that this movie inspired capcom to take some of its plot points and incorporate them into the official "Street Fighter" canon [INSERT YOUR OWN CITATION HERE]. It's a testament of how well this movie adapted the story (if it's true). It would also explain why I find it really hard to tell where the official part of history ends and where the anime exclusive material begin.

So what is the story? Well, the basic premises is that Bison's Shadowlaw crime syndicate are monitoring fighters around the world and recruiting the strongest ones to their cause. Having witnessed Ryu's extraordinary power in his battle against Sagat, Bison and his organisation are scouring the world to try and find him. Ok, sounds a bit thin on the ground, but hey, it's a fighting anime based on a fighting game, what did you expect? At least it works well for its purpose, and isn't utterly ridiculous, qualities that can't taken for granted when it comes to these kind of anime - just look at that load of tosh from "Variable Geo"!

2. The fights kicks ass? Check.

This is usually the most disappointing aspect for fighting game adaptations - I can overlook a paper thin story when it comes to these kind of anime, but the fighting is the thing you expect the most from them. But too often the action ends up being boring or, in the case of "Street Fighter IV: The Ties that Bind", nearly non-existent.

With "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie", the fights are the best part of the show - they're great to watch, having been choreographed by a professional fighte. There's little or no repeated animation in sight, and the final boss fight is for once appropriately climatic. This is how things should be! What's more...

3. Special moves from the game are seen regularly during the fights? Check.

Ok, you can call it fan w*nk material or whatever, but the fact of the matter is that it's always exciting to see special moves from the game being incorporated into the fights (unless you're unfamiliar with the game... but who cares about those people). The "Street Fighter II V" series had some nice fights, but special moves from the game were so sparse in that anime that something feels amiss.

This movie on the other hand, gives the fans exactly what they want, throwing those special moves out with great regularity, and not just those staple Ryu/Ken hadoukens either: Fei Long's Flame Kick? Yep, seen that. Guile's Sonic Boom? That's here too (though it misses and flattens a hut instead). Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick? That's used in the best freaking fight in the movie! Which brings me to another point - the special moves are properly integrated into the fights and not just spammed all over the place and end up bogging the action down. What more could you ask for?

4. Lots of cameos from characters of the game? Check.

This is kind of similar to 3, in that in addition to seeing special moves from the game, it's also exciting to see lots of characters from the game making cameo appearances as side characters. To be fair, most adaptations of this type actually delivers on this point (well, apart from that recent "Tekken: Blood Vengeance" movie, in which they used about 5 characters in total), and "Street Fighter: The Animated Movie" is no exception. There's an argument about throwing in tons of characters from the game for no reason being a bad idea, but the way I see it, if you can do it in an unintrusive way, where's the harm in it? I'd rather have some background characters who happen to be game characters rather than faceless mobs, and that's exactly what this anime does - Fei Long turns up in the ring as Ryu travels around looking for new challenges; Balrog just happens to be one of Bison's henchmen, etc. They don't have to be there, but they don't distract from the story, and add a bit more game flavourings to procedures. Also, it's good that none of the characters are so intolerably annoying that they end up ruining the show (again, I'm looking at you, "Tekken: Blood Vengeance"!")

By this point, I've probably made the movie sound pretty close to the greatest piece of animation mankind has ever made, so I should probably put things in perspective: "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" is a good anime, no more, no less. I'm raving about it because it's the ONLY fighting game to adaptation I can think of that's actually good. The story may be a bit simplistic, the music may be distractingly heavy at times, and the dub might be a let down as usual, but it's an anime that duly delivers everything that fans of the game would want, and that's surprisingly rare.

I am a fan of the street fighter game, so I might be a little biased here, however i do believe the movie did a great job on representing the game itself.

In terms of the story its true to the game itself, we do get representation of each character, although some characters its very short representation, but can be understandable since its a movie, and they cant really go in details of all 16 characters. That being said they represented each character well, and stayed true to their story based on the game itself.

The animation is pretty good as well, and the characters look ... solid, the sound and music in this movie is done nicely as well, I do think it could have been a little better but still overall pretty good.

I like how the story shows Ryu going from one place to another travelling by foot, the representation of each characters countries were pretty cool as well. The voice acting is really good too, I personally found the voice actors they used were well suited for each character.

I will say that if your a street fighter fan, than this is a must watch and i believe you will enjoy it, however for those who are not a fan of the series or whom never even played the game, it might not be the most amazing anime movie out their for you, but it can still be enjoyable.

I absolutely loved this movie, Ryu, is my all time favorite street fighter character in the video game as well as the movie, & the series. Ryu, lives to test his skills against other formidable foes across the entire world, I can relate to his determination as someone who is determined myself, I can see his yearning for testing his limits as well as achieving whatever limits he sets for himself, he is an amazing fighter. Ryu's Hadoken is very powerful, especially his hurricane kick. He trains hard, & fights even harder, he never abuses his body with drugs, he is his own master, after ... being trained by one of course, he eventually continues his training on his own, he, with his best friend ken, both trained together at the same dojo for ten long years. Mastering their skills in the martial art Shotokan Karate.

Excuse me, I'm Spanish and I don't usually write in English. You can read this review in Spanish.

In order to talk about this film, it is impossible to ignore the fact that it adapts the first world-famous videogame of the saga: Street Fighter II (1991). For that reason, it deserved a film to match. Although the studio in charge of the work, Group TAC, was not one of the most outstanding studios of the moment, the visual result exceeded expectations and had the involvement of industry heavyweights such as director Gisaburou Sugii (Night on the Galactic Railroad, 1985; and The Tale of Genji, 1987).

Street Fighter ... II: The Movie (1994) is a work that fits perfectly within that group of action films of the 80s and 90s in which the plot was almost an excuse to show great action scenes: car chases, destruction of cities, displays of superhuman strength and, above all, fights to the death. Although deadly encounters are strange here, the film is mostly a huge gathering of wrestlers and their numerous battles throughout the footage. Each member of the Street Fighter II squad is present to show off his fighting style (karate, muay thai, sumo, etc.) and characteristic techniques (Shoryuken, Sonic-Boom, Hadouken, among others).

Not one of them will be left without their share of the limelight to show us the best they have in amazing 1v1 fights - except for the last one for the collaboration of Ryu and Ken against M. Bison. And one server says amazing because these battles, which include martial arts, magic, supernatural powers and other types of unknown arts, in terms of action are a joy for the viewer. Beyond the very successful soundtrack that accompanies them, the fights stand out for their fluidity of movement and the display of strength of the fighters. None is very marked by extreme violence, except the meeting between Chun-Li and Vega for being a little more savage. It is also the most remarkable showdown, although all fights are worth it and none are the same. In visual terms, most agree in the use of short shots and in a continuous dynamism without interruptions.

Unfortunately, he is far from winning the Oscars because there are a couple of drawbacks that deny him such an award. Like Ninja Scroll (1993), the reviewed film is almost a succession of combat after combat that ends with the confrontation against M. Bison. However, Kawajiri's masterpiece is above her. Not just because it's creatively so superior, but because a lot of the adaptation's fighting isn't built into the main plot. Battles like Blanka and Zangief or Dhalsim and E. Honda have no relation to their main plot. In other words, they are little more than fanservice for fans of the video game. It is clear that they contribute to the show, but the null participation of the characters and the absence of any personality and background prevent them from functioning as they do in the video game, where there is a gameplay. If you are a stranger to the franchise, in addition, your emotional connection with the fighters is non-existent.

This unnecessary accumulation of characters also impaired the characterization and development of the relationship between Chun-Li and Guile, who occupy a privileged place within the narrative as representatives of justice. The connection between the two characters is related to the fact that they share the death of a loved one at the hands of M. Bison, but this question is not explored. Nor does the relationship strengthen beyond Chun-Li convinces the man not to take revenge alone. In fact, his contribution to the resolution of the conflict is insufficient, so much so that if we discount the work of the Interpol members in the search for Ryu and the destruction of the hideout, the only thing they did was defeat Vega. And this feat is a credit to Chun-Li, which is why Guile ends up in a worse place. Interestingly, both also share the absence of a relationship with the protagonist, who learns of Shadaloo's existence from other fighters with no connection to the duo and all this mess.

Fortunately, Ryu and Ken's bond is better built thanks to the presence of small flashbacks that inform us of their friendship and rivalry during the time they both trained together in the same dojo. Although there is no contact until the end, this issue does not present problems beyond the lack of creativity of their mental breakdown and joint fight. Which, by the way, if we talk about them, we must mention the person responsible for their confrontation: M. Bison. Despite the fact that he is the classic evil and powerful antagonist who seeks to rule the world, without any particular background, his dictatorial character and his displayed superiority in fighting give him a certain charisma and moments to shine.

You can also find my review here: https://elarmarioanimados.blogspot.com/2020/10/resena-street-fighter-ii-la-pelicula.html

Having watched the live action movie with Jean Claude Van Damme (which happened to be on TV the same week) last week, I can say that this version is far superior.

I love Jean Claude but that movie seemed like there was 20 minutes or so missing in the beginning whereas this one doesn't and the storylines are completely different. In the live action Bison has hostages and wants billions of Dollars for them but in this one he's turning street fighters in to terrorists in a much better scripted movie.

The action in this is also a lot better, there is a lot more ... of it and it's a lot better because the characters in this have their powers that don't exist in the live action I presume because it'd be too expensive.

I watched the uncut version I think that was aired on Sony Movies which featured some scenes that had previously been cut out such as the shower scene although it still didn't contain the swear words.

I would definitely say watch this one over the other one, it's a lot better and in the dubbed version, it has a great English soundtrack with one of my favourite bands, Korn doing the song on the end credits. It was actually a great dub.

I thought the animation was great and didn't really look that dated to me, I thought it looked cool.

I loved the story and enjoyed it a lot! I'd definitely watch it again in a heartbeat

Let me preface this review by saying that I don't have the same problems with Capcom that a lot of gamers do. However, one legitimate complaint that always comes up about them is that they milk their fighting game franchises to an absurd degree. Capcom always seems to have a “super ultimate hyper deluxe turbo” edition released a year after the first installment comes out that's pretty much the same game with a few very minor additions and the Street Fighter franchise is the biggest offender, which isn't surprising since it's one of Capcom's biggest franchises. Also unsurprising is the fact that it's had quite ... a few adaptations, the worst of which were brought to us by Hollywood. Most of the anime versions, including this one, were handled by Group TAC, the same studio that brought us Shinigmai no Ballad and Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Before we take a look and see how much better this is than the Hollywood film that came out the same year, please note that I'll be using the original names for M. Bison, Balrog and Vega. I know that some versions switched that around so, for reference's sake, M. Bison is the boxer, Balrog is the matador and Vega is the big bad.

Story:

Our tale opens with Sagat fighting Ryu while strange computer readings appear on screen. The battle ends with Ryu giving Sagat his signature scar and we skip ahead to the British minister of justice being assassinated by none other than Cammy, who can't remember much, not even her position in British intelligence. It turns out that Vega and Shadowlaw have found a way to brainwash street fighters into doing their bidding and they're looking for Ryu. Meanwhile, Chun-Li and Interpol team up with Guile and the American military to find and defeat Vega and Shadowlaw. While all of this is going on, Ryu is wandering around, presumably as part of his goal to become the greatest martial artist there is.

It probably seems like there's a lot going on, but the story is well paced (somewhat fast-paced but not to a ridiculous degree) and the disparate plot threads all come together really neatly. The story builds tension well and has quite a bit of intrigue, which does go beyond what you'd expect from a story based on a fighting game. That being said, it isn't nearly a perfect story. One issue with the narrative is that there are some pointless moments. The whole scene in Las Vegas, for example, contributes nothing. The only reason it's there is to have a fight scene between Zangief and Blanka because... they wanted all the game's characters to at least appear briefly. The worst of these scenes, not in terms of pointlessness but just in general, is Chun-Li's shower scene. It's a pretty long scene with Chun-Li's bosom and buttocks being shown in detail. The problem with the scene, aside from the basic gratuitous nudity for fan-service and ignoring the lack of class, is that it takes place right before a really violent fight scene between Chun-Li and Balrog. During this fight scene there are several panty shots which, especially when combined with the previous scene, bring it uncomfortably close to sexualised violence.

Characters:

Most of the focus characters are surprisingly three-dimensional. Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li in particular. The antagonists, however, are kind of flat and generically evil. The closest to having any kind of developed motivation is Sagat, but he doesn't get much screen time aside from that opening sequence. Most of the Street Fighter characters just appear for a short scene or two and then get banished from the film, which gives them no time to get fleshed out.

Art:

The art is really strong for this film. The character designs are spot on. The backgrounds are lively and have a nice variety (they even sneak in several of the game's stages.) The action sequences, aside from the aforementioned uncomfortable one, are absolutely fantastic. They're dynamic and intense with movements that are very natural. Surprisingly so given that they incorporate the game's special moves like the Hadouken and the Sonic boom.

Sound:

The voice acting is pretty good. Haga Kenji and Shimizu Kojiro give capable performances as Ken and Ryu respectively. Fujitani Miki does a good job as Chun-Li and Kusaka Takeshi makes for an imposing Vega. The music is frequently unfitting. Most of the film uses soothing and soft music which clashes a bit with the atmosphere. Sometimes it makes sense, like when a character deliberately selects the music in question while relaxing, but at other times it's just jarring.

Ho-yay:

Somebody at Group TAC was shipping Ryu and Ken. Throughout the film these two are constantly thinking about each other and their flashbacks almost inevitably feature what can only be called "mood" music. At one point Ken broaches the subject of marriage with his girlfriend, which surprises her since he's never mentioned it before and, shortly after, we hear his thoughts. “Ryu, I'm tired of waiting for you.” These two bump the ho-yay factor up to a 5/10.

Final Thoughts:

That's Street Fighter II: The Movie. The action sequences are awesome, the major characters are fleshed out nicely, and the story is well told. The biggest flaw is that one particular fight scene between Chun-Li and Balrog which does detract from the film. That being said, if you can forgive that scene and you want to see some epic action, you'll enjoy this one. My final rating is a 7/10. My request queue going into May is: Doki Doki Precure, Sword Art Online, Shingeki no Kyojin & Kill La Kill. I'll get back to that shortly, but next week Ancient Book of Ys.

what a fun anime this is.it follows a simple storyline of an evil organization useing street fighter as assasins and the conflict that stems between the evil mastermind byson the villain and the force of good.the animation is great with the characters having great detail without being skinny or odd looking with the pencil noses.the action is the best you'll see anywhere,a plus for fans of the game is that all the main characters of the game are here,even though only briefly as ken, ryo,chung lee, gyle and byson are the main characters.a true action classic easilly way better than the other trash street ... fighter anime movie

Street Fighter II set the bar for not only future fighting games, but also future anime movies. Loosely based off the video game series, this short but sweet action film follows from the perspective of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile most of the time. Lots of different things are told throughout the movie, such as the scene where Ryu gave Sagat his scar throughout the beginning of the Street Fighter series. Chun-Li is also following the traces of M.Bison's organization known as Shadowlaw (Shadowloo in the video games). Lots of things during this film happen and you don't really have to pay attention. Remember, you're ... here to see your favorite characters do what they do best. Fight. The story in Street Fighter isn't very important to me but the lore with the characters really flesh the world out for me.

The action in the Street Fighter II is extremely intense and super fun to watch. There is one scene in the beginning of the flim where Ryu fights off against Fei Long in classic Martial Arts styled fashion. This scene is extremely intense and very well executed. The best part about this scene is that you get a taste of Ryu can do, as he pulls off his famous Hurricane Kick against the Martial Artist in full Street Fighter II fashion. It's always fun seeing what the main character does in game translate so well into animation form. Many more fights will take part throughout the movie and plenty of characters are shown throughout the film. My only issue is that I just wish some characters got way more screen time. Some characters like Balrog, Vega, Zangief and Blanka only show up for a few minutes. Then, they just vanish like that. It would have been nice to some of the characters get a bit more time. But, you can't always fit everyone you wanna see. Atleast, they got the most important characters in the movie down.

The animation for its time was absolutely superb in this movie. Everything is drawn out so well and all of the action scenes look super vivid in motion. If you haven't seen the SF II movie, let me tell you. It looks absolutely stunning in motion. Voice acting gets the job done, all of the characters fit their respective roles. This was my first proper time ever hearing Ryu or Ken speak english. So whenever I hear the characters speak English, this movie always comes to mind for me. The music for the scenes really appeal to me. Very nice blistering heavy metal plays throughout the soundtrack which includes bands like Korn, Alice in Chains and KMFDM. Espesically when a few of the songs play during the fight scenes. BTW, if you do own this movie on DVD. You can get the original Japanese score. But, since I grew up with the American version the added soundtrack to me is incredibly nostalgic.

Overall, Street Fighter II The Movie is a fantastic roller coaster ride that'll keep you entertained. The animation is absolutely fantastic and the fight scenes are all super top notch. I really enjoyed seeing this movie, you'll get way more mileage out of this film if you're a Street Fighter fan. But, even if you're not into the series. I believe you will enjoy this movie if you're looking for some sick action.

One of the If not the BEST videogame-to-/anime product EVER and has been, and always been praised by streetfighterfans world wide till this day, with very sucsessful franchises and movie's ova's.This os one anime movie for me to give it a 10/10 Purely because the whole movie is sooo well done from beginning till end, animation is just fluent en exceptional, charachters were way above ecxpectations , heroes and villians alike, and ofc the famous/infamous Chun-li shower scene with the legendary vega fight after wards. Slight 90's 3-d elements in the movie made it eyecatching for the fans back then plus the music, oh hell ... yeah alice in chains!!!! still after 90's this anime movie is the shit!

story: it was pretty interesting. of course the story doesnt matter much in the SF games, but they obviously focused a bit more of it here and added in some stuff. more of the shadaloo stuff.

art: this was older (not older older, just older) style anime type artwork so it was sometimes a little choppy-ish, but hey it's freakin SF, i know what they look like. it was fair.

sound: nothing really stuck out to me, so it was good i guess.

character: pretty good representations (from what i remember) based off of the SF game (both looks and personality)

enjoyment: yeah i liked it. it was just ... the SF characters and Ryu's quest and stuff. also every time i see Vega vs Chun Li, i ALWAYS think of the bathroom scene, always. everybody who's seen this remembers that scene

Nostalgia. It scares me to think that something I once loved could in actuality be a disgusting mess. I cautiously watched this movie for the first time in years. If you asked me before today I would say of course it was awesome. After today, I'm proud to say that Street Fighter II: The Movie still kicks all kinds of ass.

I watched the American dubbed release as I did when I was a child. The voice acting is actually pretty solid. Ryu occasionally sounds bit too high pitched. Every other main character sounds really good. The American version also added some rocking tunes from bands ... like Korn and Alice in Chains. Whether you like that genre of music or not, it fits very well in the places they insert it. The rest of the original music in the film sounds fantastic as well.

The art resembles most anime from the early 90s. You will either like it or you won't. I personally don't have an issue with different art styles so I love it. The fight scenes are incredibly well animated. You feel the impact of each move as flesh shifts upon contract. It's all quite visually stimulating.

The story is M. Bison is bad. He's using his powers and influence to collect strong fighters. Cyborgs are out on the prowl monitoring the strongest fighters. Guile and Chun Li are on a mission to stop it. Along the way Ken, Ryu, and many other well known characters are sucked into Bison's plot. It's simple, but it works in such a way to show off a lot of different fights, while still being relevant to the plot. Although sometimes I feel like they just added random fights with little explanation just for the sake of it. It's all entertaining, it just lacks purpose sometimes.

The ending cliffhanger is dumb. Not going to spoil anything, but it was just silly.

I am pleasantly surprised. i fully expected to return to this film and be left with regret. However, I remain impressed with this film even after all this time. If it's been a while since you've seen this movie it's safe to watch it again. If you've never seen this movie before then get a move on.

This film is definitely one of the best video game movie adaptations out there. If your a big fan of Street Fighter then this film is a must see.

What frustrates me to no end is how the other Street Fighter movie adaptations don't follow the games story and character traits very well. Out of all of them this film is probably the best. The characters are well portrayed and the story is very fitting to the Street Fighter universe.

With all the Street Fighter 2 characters and good action scenes, this is the best Street Fighter movie to watch.

This was one of my favorite anime movies back in the 90's. I thought it was the coolest fighting anime at that time, and upon watching recently I learned that it still is a great fighting anime. With the exception of the music, this movie holds up really well.

This anime has a simple yet solid storyline. It focuses on the more popular characters from the video game and does enough character development in the short time they have to keep it from feeling rushed. It introduces other characters from the game intelligently with quick cameos and short fight scenes. They are seen in passing while ... the story moves forward around the main cast of characters.

Where this anime lacks is in how dated it's music is. Late 80's styled music just doesn't hold up at all in my opinion. Had it been a classical score then this anime would have been bumped up to a 9 in my book. It was lacking enough to be a little distracting.

The animation looks older as well, but the realism the animation allows for you to adjust to the faded, older look. Quite frankly, it felt like a real movie, and I strongly feel that it is better than most live action films that came out around the same time.

This anime is not filled with glorified violence, so it can be viewed by both children (I'd put it around the PG-13 audience in America) and adults alike. Aside from one shower scene with Chun-li it's a fairly tame anime. It's a highly enjoyable animated movie to see, and I do highly recommend it even to today's audience.

One should always be wary of a movie or animated adaptation of a video game franchise, because it's usually bad. Remember Super Street Fighter IV OVA? Or the live action adaptations of Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighters? Ugh.

But I had heard that Street Fighter II: The Movie was actually quite good and generally considered to be the best Street Fighter anime adaptation to this day. So naturally, as a big anime and Street Fighter fan, I had to check this out.

First and foremost, I was pleasantly surprised how the characters were so faithfully portrayed, even the ones we don't get to see much ... of. But the ones we don't see much of aren't really relevant to the plot, so it doesn't really matter. Although I can understand big fans of said characters to be disappointed with their lack of screen time compared to others, but I can't say that was my case since most of my favorite ones got enough screen time.

Second, the fights were really good. There's two great fights even that just leave you at the edge of your seat. But the others are quite good too since you can see the signature moves of almost every character and they all look pretty tough as they should in an anime that's marketing a fighting game. This movie lacked Akuma, though. Which is odd considering that it was released in the same year as Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo was. Then again. Akuma wouldn't have fit in the movie with this plot. It would have to be very different, I'd say.

As for the plot, Shadowlaw, an underground organization is trying to recruit the strongest street fighters in the world in order to increase their power. Sounds fairly simple, but it's well execute nonetheless and that's what truly matters in a movie like this.

I definitely consider this as a must see for any Street Fighter fan. And even if you aren't a big fan of the franchise, I'd still recommend watching it if you enjoy a movie with good fights and action. It's nor everyday that you see a good movie adaptation of a video game franchise.

Such a decent adaptation for the most popular fighting game brought you a good story with some wonderful fightings scenes besides that we got the chance to see some memorable and noticeable street fighter's characters , I really loved the animation it was so beautiful so basically the movie was an amazing showcase for to source material and I'm really sure every street fighter fan will absolutely enjoy it .

besides that I can that movie made for veteran of the serie and newcomers like you really jump right into and watch it even you don't have previous knowledge about the game , the movie itself ... was chill with some action and with story progression you get more elements to enjoy such as soundtrack or the good voice acting whether English dub or Japanese were so perfect

I wish they do some kind of a reboot to the anime and get more adaptation of this universe

Editor: "How many camera pans do you want?"
Director: "Yes."

The Street Fighter II movie was one of the most drawn-out films I have seen. "When will this be over," is a question I asked myself during many of the scenes. I'll elaborate.

Many of the issues I've had are directional/editorial. Particularly, any scene with Vega or Ryu would include dreadful silence and an impressive amount of camera pans. There were many quiet scenes followed by flashbacks of Ryu and Ken training together. Then, we'd be in New York, Los Angelos, or another location.This movie should have been appropriately named, "Street Fighter: Around the World." The variety ... of locations along with a lack of transition lead to some confusion, despite the plot being clear and characters voicing their motivations.

As for the animation, the characters are kept on-model, and there aren't any oddities I could spot. There was some love put into this, but the aforementioned issues really distracted from that (exception for the fight scenes).

As for the sound, it might just have been the player I was watching in... but I couldn't hear any music until the battle at the end where it was mixed really loud. Otherwise, it sounds like what I would imagine as "90's techno" or "90's music."

I'm not a Street Fighter fan, but I can admire how iconic the designs are! While Ryu and Ken were having their bromance, I really enjoyed the interaction between Guile and Chun-Li. I really wished the focus was more of them doing Interpol activities v. "Hey, here's Ryu walking around in another location."

There was a fight with Chun-Li that had me excited, but the rest of the film made me really bored. If the film runtime wasn't 1hr 41min, my enjoyment might have been higher. The Street Fighter II movie felt like a compilation of assorted events that should've been set to music, yet ironically it was a very slow and quiet film despite being based on a fighting game series.

Ok so I was staying in a hotel through work, it was late, I wanted an easy film to watch so I picked this that had been on my list for ages. Setting the music to one side, this film is garbage.

Firstly, I watched the English dub version, which has songs like Them Bones and Ultra on it. I'm a big fan of AiC and KMFDM so anything that is in that vein for 90s related I'm a sucker for. I won't be saying it's the best I've ever heard, it's just a collection of songs I like put other anime. The music certainly does ... suite the action, especially the Chun Li Vs Vaga. But I can't really give it more than a 7/10 and I feel that's generous.

Animation wise I'm a little confused. Its really terrible. The excuse of it being a 90s anime can't be used here. Comparing to Akira for example, which is from 88, it looks terrible. Ghost in a Shell came out a year after this movie and it looks like it's from a different time. Considering how much Capcom was riding high from the success of SF2, SSF2, SF2 Champ Edition, you would have thought the animation was top notch. It has no business being this bad. The characters, look like the characters yes, but over than likeness, it's really poor. 3/10

Story, well, nothing to report here. Its boring, unexciting and turns into a bit of a slog to get through after about 10 mins. The only thing that kept me interested was wondering which great tune will appear next. There is no rewatching potential here. It barely has the potential for it to be consumed once, let alone multiple times. Story I would give it also a 4/10

This gives us an average of 4/10. Not recommended, I shall say no more.