Reaction & Review | Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the "Video Game Movie Marathon" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 1994. That movie is "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie".

Now as I've made mention before in my first "Video Game Movie Marathon", I'm not really that big into fighting games. I will, of course, play Smash Bros on my own time and sometimes at tournaments during conventions. But aside from that, and a couple of other fighting games that I play on my own time, I'm not really that big into the competitiveness of fighting games. And the same could be said for video game movies based off fighting games. Now admittedly, I've only seen a handful of fighting game movies. Things such as the first two live action "Mortal Kombat" movies, that shitbag DOA movie I reviewed a couple of years back for this series, and the 1994 "Street Fighter" movie that I still watch to this day because of it's cheesy awesomeness.

And speaking of which, tonight, I'm actually going to give the "Street Fighter" series some spotlight, as I'm gonna be watching the animated adaptation of one of the most popular fighting games ever made. Now in terms of my history with "Street Fighter", I've barely had any interaction with this series. I believe I may have played one of the games on the SEGA Genesis, although I don't know if it was Street Fighter II or not. I do sometimes play as both Ryu and Ken as guest stars in Super Smash Bros., although they're not really my favorites when it comes to characters I play with. The only other time I've had any interaction with the series was both with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the wildly underrated Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars for the Nintendo Wii. On an off note, I would *love* it if Capcom were to remaster the latter game for the Switch. As much as I'm against ports for the Switch, considering most of them looked very lazy to me, I would love to see a remaster of that game on the Switch and give it some more spotlight. That game was awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anybody that owns a Wii or Wii U and play it for yourself. Mind you, the game itself is out of print, so finding a physical copy of it might prove to be difficult, but totally not impossible, since I still have my copy back when I bought it years ago.

But anyway, I'm getting far off topic talking about an obscure fighting game, I should really be focusing on tonight's movie. Now I have heard positive things about this movie, so there is a chance this thing could be really good. But I also have to keep in mind that I said the same thing about the "Tomb Raider" film from 2018, and, well, we all know how *that* turned out. But still, I am hoping for this thing to be really good. And the only way I'm gonna find that out is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie".

16 minutes later

Well, guys, I am able to say one thing so far. The music in this movie is great. Every single piece of music that's been used so far has felt very original and I'm really digging it as well. And so far, the movie has been rather good, and I'm hoping it continues to stay that way.

19 minutes later

All right, I have a really stupid question that I know is very trivial, but I want to ask it anyway. Why exactly is the terrorist organization called Shadowlaw instead of Shadaloo? Was it because the name sounded too hard to pronounce, so when they translated the film into English, they went for a more simpler name to pronounce? Or was it because it sounded cooler for some stupid reason? Again, I know it's a very trivial thing to be complaining about, but it is something that I'm a little curious about is all.

19 minutes later

OK, that fight sequence between Vega and Chun-Li was really awesome, even if it was in Chun-Li's rather small apartment. Still, at least it made for a really awesome fight scene, so I'm totally cool with that.

18 minutes later

I know I've already mentioned this, guys, but once again, I'm *really* digging the music for this movie. It really is that good. I may have to give the soundtrack a listen to at some point, but it's starting to grow on me more and more as I continue watching this thing.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie". Let me go ahead and shut the film off here...OK. Well, um...where to start with this one? Well, I can say this much. As someone who's not really into "Street Fighter" in general, I am willing to say that this movie was fucking amazing! It really is. Which is kinda surprising, because while I did go into this thing hoping for it to be good, I was still a little bit cautious, considering my stance on the series and everything. But all in all, it really did surpass a lot of my expectations as a movie and I'm willing to admit, it impressed the hell out of me, which is awesome to see.

So now that I've gotten my general impressions out of the way, let's actually get into the film itself here by discussing the writing. The writing here is really solid and very easy to follow. Bison is trying to recruit strong fighters for his terrorist organization known as Shadowlaw, and he does so by sending out these cyborg monitors that keeps track of all of the powerful fighters from around the world. He's mostly looking for Ryu, but considering he's on the move all of the time, he instead targets Ryu's close friend Ken, who he later ends up brainwashing instead, considering Ken's fighting style is very close to Ryu's. Which then leads into a showdown between the two later on in the movie. And on the other side, you have our other heroes like Guile and Chun-Li trying to locate the homeworld of Shadowlaw and basically try to destroy it before they can enact their evil plan. And like I said, it's really to follow despite the fact that the story can kinda go all over the place. So you won't be confused as to what's going because of the film's simplicity of it's storytelling. And what makes it flow better is the pacing. This movie is about 107 minutes long, but it honestly just goes on by. It doesn't feel like it's overstaying it's welcome, but it also doesn't feel too short either. It has a very good length that gives enough breathing space to tell it's story while also showcasing the fight scenes. I'll talk a little bit about those later.

I do want to comment on a couple of minor nitpicks. One of those I'm gonna talk about later on when I talk about the technical stuff, but I do want to start with one thing that sorta bothered me a bit. Now as I mentioned earlier, I'm not really the biggest fan of "Street Fighter", so my knowledge about the series is sort of limited. But one thing I noticed that kinda bothered me a little bit was the fact that the terrorist organization is called Shadowlaw and not Shadaloo. Now even though I'm not entirely a fan of the "Street Fighter" series, I do remember Bison's organization being called Shadaloo in the games. So I don't entirely know why they decided on calling it Shadowlaw in this movie. And what I find rather funny about this is that even the 1994 "Street Fighter" movie, as far as it was from being accurate to the source material, was able to use the Shadaloo name for it's adaptation. Now admittedly, I don't know if it was a translation issue from when they were dubbing the movie into English, or if that was somehow also an issue in the original Japanese version, but either way, it is something that could potentially get to you, especially if you are a "Street Fighter" enthusiast. Myself personally, it's not too big of an issue, but again, it is something that you could potentially notice, even if you might have limited "Street Fighter" knowledge like I do.

Now with that in mind, our characters here are mostly fleshed out and are very likable. Mind you, a lot of the characters in this movie are mostly just cameos, and a lot of them don't really play that much of a factor into the film. So you'll have characters like Cammy, Dhaslim, Dee Jay, Zangief, and Blanka as a few good examples of characters who make a short appearance and don't have any roles beyond that. Then again, considering the film is a little over an hour and 40 minutes long, there is only so many characters you could put in within that runtime, and the movie does a good enough job to provide as much fanservice as they possibly could. On the subject of characters, I sorta brought up the subplot where Bison captures Ken and brainwashes him to fight Ryu. And there is where the movie really centers in on our characters, specifically Ryu and Ken. Throughout the movie, you get to see flashbacks during their younger days when they were training and not as buff as they currently are. This is where most of the development happens between the two, and it's great. You really do feel the bond between Ryu and Ken's friendship and what ultimately ends up happening when the two reunite to battle against each other. And that also includes the moments between Guile and Chun-Li since they also get a decent amount of screen time together. So yeah, writing wise, in terms of who they included as our main and supporting characters, it's really good stuff.

So now that I've given enough praise for the writing being really good, I can also say the same thing about the movie's English dub, too. The English cast for this movie is really well put together. Just about everybody here sounds perfectly casted for their roles, and they do a really good job at it. Even the ones who I mentioned earlier involving characters that get a very short appearance in this movie, they also pull off really good performances here, too. Bison's voice actor is probably the one that stands out the most to me, because it has a slight hint of what Raul Julia gave to the character in the 1994 live action movie. Granted, I understand that it's probably not fair to compare two different performances like that. However, I couldn't help but make the comparison. And while Raul Julia's performance as M. Bison will never be topped in my opinion, the voice they chose for Bison also sounds pretty menacing, as well, and perfectly suits the character. And like I just said, everybody else here sounds great, so it's a win-win situation for this English dub. Now granted, there is an option on the DVD and Blu-ray versions to switch over to the Japanese dub on the off chance you don't want to listen to an English dub, however, I would still recommend the English dub, since that's the version I watched first and it is very good, overall.

Animation here is fantastic from just about everywhere. The art-style is also really good, too. Every character here looks exactly how they looked in the game, and it's great to see these characters feel like they came to life in an animated movie. And since we're talking about a series that is mainly a fighting game, the fight scenes are also animated very well. A lot of the moves feel like they also came from the video game, and they look really cool in action. I normally don't ever get a chance to comment on the fight choreography in an animated film before, but with this movie, I had to make a special exception. So anyway, in any case, the animation and the art-style for this movie is great.

Before I get to the sound-mix and everything else, there is one other minor nitpick that I wanted to comment on, and that would have to be the subtitles. Now I understand that since I watched the English dub, I shouldn't be expecting very many subtitles, unless there's a word in Japanese and there's a small English text that's suppose to translate what it says. However, this movie kinda has a bit of a problem with not translating certain words into English. Now I should mention that most of the Japanese text you see in this movie is mostly regulated to the opening and ending credits, and I don't really have much of a problem with that. But what sorta did bug me a bit is that when there's a scene that's suppose to take place in a new location, the text will pop up, telling you what the name of that location is. Except, the text is all in Japanese, so I honestly didn't know what location a scene of the movie is suppose to take place in. Now you could probably guess a couple of them on your own, such as when a scene is suppose to be taking a place in either India or Las Vegas. In fact, I remember someone uttering the words "Las Vegas" before the scene actually cuts to Las Vegas. But for every other place, I honestly couldn't tell you where a scene is suppose to take place at. So a scene could possibly take place in something like Thailand, New York, or China, but I couldn't tell you if those are the right locations or not because all of the text that's suppose to tell you the location of the scene is entirely Japanese. And unless you know Japanese yourself, you're gonna be left wondering where the hell a scene is suppose to be taking place. And I honestly think they could've taken the time to at least translate that much just so it would be a little bit easier for English speaking audiences. But aside from that one minor gripe, guys, the locations themselves look great, regardless of what scene the movie's suppose to be taking place in. And it's not really that big of an issue, unless you really think about it for too long.

Sound-mix here is mixed really well. The music, both in terms of it's score and soundtrack is great. The score itself is great, because it uses a bunch of different music such as rock, hip-hop, and I think possibly taiko drums as well as a few examples. Admittedly, I'm not sure if that last one is at all accurate, since I'm not really a drum expert, but I will say that they sounded pretty cool. And the soundtrack itself is also really good, too. Personally speaking, I prefer the score over the soundtrack, but I still think it's pretty good for what it is.

Overall, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie"? Oh, absolutely yes, guys, this movie is great! And I'm saying this as someone who isn't really a fan of the series. It really is that good! So it's very well possible that this movie could please non-fans of "Street Fighter". Then again, I also watched and enjoyed the 1994 live action movie as well, despite not being a fan of the series then as well. So really, it's just take it or leave it. But anyway, I can definitely recommend this to fans of the franchise, assuming of course they haven't already seen it yet. The animation is great, along with the voice acting, story, and great music. And for anyone who wasn't really a fan of the live action "Street Fighter" movie from 94, then this will definitely be more loyal to the source material for fans of the series. So yeah, I can totally recommend this movie, and I'm quite happy myself for picking a copy of this movie up at a convention last year, and it was totally worth the wait to cover it for this series. And I'll definitely be holding onto this movie by adding to my DVD collection. Now, since I just got done mentioning "Street Fighter", I'm gonna go and rewatch the 1994 movie again, because I love it so much, and hell, I might even marathon both this and the animated movie back-to-back if I'm ever in the mood. So yeah, that's what I'm gonna go do next after I get done typing this review up.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.