Strangely enough, Street Fighter Alpha: Generations still managed to surprise me. Fortunately, the movie has gotten slightly better over time but it's still not a good one, no matter how you slice it up. This movie has been universally panned by almost ALL fans of the franchise. Albeit, some of their reasons are kind of ridiculous in some ways. Still, their anger and disappointment is understandable for the most part.
Street Fighter Alpha: Generations is billed as the prequel to Street Fighter Alpha, and is based on the video game of the same name. I can't exactly put my finger on it just yet, but I just have a hard time buying this as a prequel. Anyway, the film already has enough issues so there's no real sense in searching deeper for more.
One of the issues fans have with the movie is the different look. The characters really aren't faithful to their video game counterparts. The production team clearly went for an original design here. Personally, the new look has grown on me, and I really don't think it's all that bad. The characters have a more traditional anime look to them, and the character designs seem a bit more detailed. The backgrounds are also pretty nice with dark silhouettes blanketed by the rainfall. The soundtrack also fits very well giving most of the scenes a nice feel.
Unfortunately, the problems are poured on as thick as tar here. The run time really does the movie in. The entire movie has a rushed feel. I mean everything is crammed in, and at least one character makes a completely unnecessary appearance. I have absolutely no problem with centering the story only on Ryu and Akuma. Since their rivalry is pretty much the most interesting one in the game, and you get a good amount of background on Akuma, but Ken is reduced to a side character in the worst way, and his cameo appearance was better off left on the cutting room floor. He was of no use here at all.
The action scenes have some good animation and choreography at times, yet it was never taken to its full potential due to the time restraint. The final act was badly damaged. The writers decided to mesh the final battle with the back story narrative. This caused the two different segments to bounce back and forth, which resulted in an unfulfilling climax. The confrontation between Ryu and Akuma should be epic. However, this could easily rank as one of the worst encounters in Street Fighter. In addition, the constant use of the Dragonball Z-ish high energy attacks felt too non Street Fighter.
I can't stress enough how much of a letdown Street Fighter Alpha: Generations turned out to be. I still can't wrap around my head how something so simple, could be so easily messed up. I do not for any reason recommend this to the casual anime fan. As for Street Fighter fans, step into this arena at your own risk.
Highs: Artwork, animation, and soundtrack
Lows: Not enough action and just way too short
