Does this movie fill in any holes...
NO!!!
If you are a fan of the Tekken video games and you hope this will do the popular series justice as an adaptation - you may be dissapointed.
If you think this movie will provide you with some anwsers the games have yet to deliver - you though wrong!
Story...
We have a bait-and-switch situation - Nina and Anna kick the film off with their (in)famous sisterly scuffles, which is easily the best fght scene of the file (IMO) and a very familar sight, however, things then change...
Xaioyu is main, she's pretty much 'normal school girl' who's roped into a sticky stiuation - she knows a bit about the conspiracies surrounding the main Mishima.
Xaiyou is pretty much accompanied by Arisa (from the most recent game) as trouble unfolds.
The Mishima family are at odds with eachother and still very much into bio' experimentation.
^This is the premisis of it really.
Character...
Instead of focusing on the Mishima/Kazama's that pretty much headline the games, the lead is...
'Cute, innocent schoolgirl' Xaioyu.
'Cute, innocent, (for convenient reasons) schoolgirl' Arisa.
A mystery, special, smug, bishounen new teen boy who fancies his odds against the 'big tough' leading guys of Tekken.
Other then that, we have breif (breif being a problem) appearances from fighting sisters Nina and Anna, a few charcters who don't get too much attention in the game (such as Lee) playing roles such as teachers in order to incorporate the token 'familar face', a little bit of the Mishima family united.
The large cast, in general, don't get a look-in - dispite this movie being an hour and a half.
Art...
The action is decent...
The graphics aren't quite of the video game quality - not as too bright in picture and a bit of a misty tone (i.e. not crisp ckear), but still, quite fluid in motion, and everyone is pretty.
Enjoyment...
None really - a massive dissapointment and a chore to watch.
If I forget this is an adaptaion of a series I have invested time and money into and see it as a stand alone film (which it pretty much is), suprisingly, this makes things worst!!!
It is only the link to the games that boosts this series up to mediocre, as it gives zero plot and outsider could follow; the material given is minimal - like a lousy fanfiction that has spun 20 chapters from a basic premisis - so shallow in nature it would be lucky to attract an independent fanbase or attract newbie's to the games.
Overall...
A waste of time frankly - even the fight scenes feautre little 'action' - meaning you could re-create a more action packed scrap in the game.
The choice of characters and the situations they where is appeared to be a delibrate attempt to make this as 'youthful' as possible - 'the beautiful bishounen's and bishoujo's' and school situations that may appeal to the impressionable who can fanboy and fangirl over the 'attractive, young* and in action'.
I could complain about not utilising the many characters Tekken has, but taking into consideration what I have stated directly above, there's no point highlighing it, I'm sure certian others may not fit in with the notion of 'typical shounen'.
On a hole - this entire movie could easily have been condensed into 20 minutes of decent material.
If you aren't familar with the series in general - spend this hour and a half of your life elsewhere!
Trust me - this movie doesn't hardly justifies advertising purposes.
