Customer Reviews

Street Fighter Alpha - The Movie [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this review, then you are a Street Fighter fan. I know there's a chance that you're just an anime fan in general, but chances are if you're after something this specific, then you're a fan of the game series. Well, I am too. I love SF to death, and I love this movie too.
First of all, I cannot understand why anyone would prefer the SFII Animated Movie over this one. About the only redeeming factor of that movie was the fight scenes - but if you're anything like me, then the plot is quite important also; I can't get excited or even really care if the people on the screen are just fighting for no evident reason. Enter SF Alpha.

Plot - First and foremost, the plot. Where everyone who has written previous reviews gets off saying that the plot sucks is lost on me. To sum it up: Ryu and Ken get word that their master has been murdered. They return to Japan and are surprised to meet a young boy who inists that he is Ryu's younger brother! Moreover, Ryu has been feeling a dark, evil power within him, one that he isn't sure he can overcome. From there, they discover a menace has been preying on street fighters the world over, capturing them and sapping all of their energies, under the disguise of some kind of tournament. Many characters are met along the way, and all are portrayed exactly like you would expect; no one says or does anything out-of-character, but that by no means makes the experience a shallow one. Rather, it makes it an enjoyable one. Yes, Akuma makes an apperance - but no, he and Ryu do not fight. This did not disapoint me as much as I thought it might, mostly because Akuma tells Ryu that he must come back and challenge him when he is ready.

Animation - Superb. Fluidly done and totally appropriate. I have no real gripes about it, aside from wanting the whole time for Ryu to put on a red headband, but that's so minor it's not even a complaint. The scenes where Ryu briefly succumbs to the dark energy are particularly well done, as are most of the fight scenes. Each fight scene is done in a stylish, over-the-top way, but not so much that you think it's too fake to be entertaining. The character designs are great - each character looks his or her best, with the overall style clearly influenced by the designs of the video game namesake.

Voice acting - Also very well-done. I was so worried that the young boy who claims to be Ryu's little brother would have an annoying, nasaly, little-kid voice, but thankfully I had no reason to fear. He is voiced by an accomplished anime voice actor - I think it was the same person who voiced Jim from "Outlaw Star". Ryu had a suitably deep, thoughtful voice. Ken was perfect - he could go from outlandish and comical to serious without sounding like a totally different person. Sakura was a good pick, as were Chun-Li and even Akuma. Akuma's lines were terse and precise, which is good since he would not likely blather on, and the actor had a dark, intense, punching sound to his lines.

Music - Unremarkable. All the tunes fit the situations, but they won't get stuck in your head.

Overall - Fun, entertaining, and suprisingly deep. This won't disappoint anyone who liked the alpha games, nor should it disappoint anyone who likes Street Fighter in general. This one was a champ.

Street Fighter Alpha could have been a great movie but it has many things missing to make it great. The whole movie seems to be about Ryu which seems pretty good since he's the most popular and most played character throughout the Street Fighter Series. Ryu is beginning to become more evil which each fight he enters which is being caused by The Dark Hado (gets so mad that he goes insane) During the movie, a mysterious boy claims to be his brother and that where his Dark Hado begins to increase. There are a handful of Street Fighter Characters in the movie but that doesn't mean that they are all good. I was surprised that M. Bison wasn't there not even Sagat which his name was mention during the movie. The fights are pretty good and very bloody but there aren't that much fighting going around. Akuma did make an appearance but did not fight anyone unless you count the ending credits. But in all the animation is great and very smooth, the story is a bit dull but isn't that bad. It's just a bit sad that there aren't a lot of famous characters which could have made this movie better and more interesting. The DVD has 2 languages Japanese and English Dubbed w/ English subtitles. I'm surprised that the English version of SF was better than the Japanese version . All in all, this movie should be rented first and you decide if it's good enough to buy. Hope you agree with my comments.

First and foremost, I love the Street Fighter series, ever since Street Fighter II: World Warrior was made available on Nintendo, ahhh memories.
The thing that set Street Fighter apart from anything else were the strength of the characters, diverse yet loveable over time. All had very interesting histories that had led them to this point, (hence the creation of the current Udon comics).
I have to say i love this movie. This film is the way it should be. I'm such a sucker for films which combine an element of destiny and spiritual self discovery.
I think i'm definitely a minority when i say that this animation is better than the animated effort before it, Street Fighter - The Animated Movie. That film had good combat sequences but failed miserably in delivering a story, i mean come on it was so cheesy, it hurt. And the voice acting... OH MY GOD, that was sooo bad!
Anyway, that is in the past and now we have Street Fighter Alpha, it's just soo perfect, adopting a very compelling story, although i do believe it loses its way towards the end.
The writers have done great job with the script, whereby the characters convey themselves the way should be, along with the voice acting which is also perfect. It really is, the script and voice acting make the characters likeable (i particularly like the way Ken was intepreted), we can really understand their positions. Unlike the previous film which made the characters appear arrogant and stupid, it made me hate the characters more than anything.
Also the animation is very nice, with very "arty" moments such as Ryu's blood washing away in the rain, these moments really add to the film as whole.
Sorry i know i'm long winded, but the ending is also worth noting, i don't think many people like it, but i always like an ending with some question attached and climax.

All in all, a great film
This coming from a loyal and huge Street Fighter fan.

3 stars = somewhere in between "BIRDIE doo doo" and "DANtastic!"

The weak points of this anime have been repeatedly exposed by the previous reviews, so I won't get into that. But I'm compelled to write a review because people seem to be missing the one thing I thought was interesting about this SF anime: why does one fight?

When I got this, I expected a weak plot thinly diguising a series of non-stop fight scenes (essentially, another SF II animated movie). Oh how I was wrong. The fact that it wasn't what I expected was disappointing but also refreshing. In fact, it was downright intriguing.

SO HERE'S THE DEAL:

SF fan or not, you'll DEFINATELY be frustrated with the plot, character development, resolution, and/or fight scenes. It's either too weak, too underdeveloped, too slow, or too subdued.

BUT!!!

If you don't mind thinking a little when you watch a film (i.e. if you're not simply looking for a mindless viewing experience), Street Fighter Alpha will bring up themes and questions you never thought to ask.

Why does Ryu fight?

Chun Li ponders this question. So does Sakura. As does Ryu himself.

"One possessed of an evil spirit
will fight out of pride until his dying day,
and most likely to kill...
...just like Akuma who took up the Dark Hadou
and whose hands are now dark with the blood of his own master..."

A street fighter's life is all about fighting. But for what purpose? It is the old age question of identity, of the meaning of life (hey, street fighters are humans too!). Ryu must find an answer to this question, not only for HIS sake (or rather, the sake of his soul), but also for the sake of those who look up to him (Ken, Chun Li, and especially Sakura).

It was an audacious move on the part of the filmmakers' to instill such a reflective tone into a SF anime. I can say that as an aspiring screenwriter the intent was honorable, but the execution was lacking.

As for the DVD itself, the video quality is excellent while the audio is only stereo for the Japanese language track (as opposed to the 5.1 DD for the English language track). The "MAKING OF" is pretty weak (it's basically a music-only montage of the filmmakers talking, drawing, writing, etc), but understandably so since it'd be impractical to have a real documentary. Finally, the "INTERVIEWS" are a bit disheartening, mainly because seeing the voice actors talk about their dubbing experiences breaks the illusion of the world of Street Fighter. Moreover, they're a bit bland. So I advise those of you who haven't already seen them to refrain from doing so.

That's about it. As everyone else has already suggested, RENT FIRST.

I have been a long time fan of Street Fighter videogames and I can tell you this movie is a must have for anyone who has an interest in Street Fighter anime or Street Fighter at all . I have this movie on VCD and I gaurantee it will be pure eye candy on DVD. The designs for the animation is taken from some of the art of the Street Fighter Alpha videogame series. It is a most beautiful and jaw dropping example of Street Fighter animation done right. The fight scenes are fast and furious, and you'll see some characters from the Alpha series you never thought you would see in a SF anime. INCREDIBLE!! GO FOR IT!! BUY THIS MOVIE NOW!!

this movie, although decent, doesn't do justice to what started back in 95' w/ Street Fighter II.

If your a real street fighter fan, that movie is the holy grail... this one... ehhh, it's entertaining.

This one should really have continued where that one left off.

First off, the DVD features are awesome. The graphics on the DVD are just plain sweet. Plus, it features interviews from every voice actor, the art director, and the producer. So, what characters from the game can you look forward to seeing in the movie? Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li have the most major roles, Akuma, Sakura, Rose, Zangief, and Birdie have a fair amount of time on the screen, and Vega, Dhalsim, Dan, Adon, Rolento, Guy, and Sodom, all make brief cameos.

As for the movie itself, the character designs are ugly, and Ryu's facial expressions when he's possessed by the Dark Hadou make him look like he's due for the insane asylum. Akuma looks especially menacing. Apparently Manga decided to call everyone by their English name rather than the original Japanese names, even in the subtitles, as Vega is called Balrog in Japan, and Akuma is called Gouki. Besides the name changes, the dubbing is pulled off rather well, and an enhanced audio track is offered on the dub, too. The soundtrack is orchestrated, and pretty memorable after a while.

The story itself focuses on Ryu's long lost brother, Shun, who comes to visit him in Japan, and is kidnapped by the Shadowlaw organization during a tournament. Along with a bunch of other Street Fighter characters who have their own reasons, Ryu enters Shadowlaw to get his brother back. At times, Ryu is gripped with a violent, demonic force similar to Akuma's, that he tries to resist from consuming him. There is surprisingly little action in the first half of the movie, but the first fight scene and the long final battle are nice. I was greatly disappointed, however, by the fact that Ryu and Akuma never really fight. I mean, their rivalry is the basis of Street Fighter Alpha. Vega, er, M. Bison doesn't make an appearance in the movie either. Just like Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie, Street Fighter Alpha suffers from mixing a feature-length movie with an overly simplistic plot. The events in the story just don't flow smoothly enough to be an enjoyable ride. Plus, the "why do we fight?" theme in the movie is so forced and cheap. But, when packed with all sorts of features in a great looking DVD, it's still worth checking out... just not worth buying.

First of all, if you like SF2 the movie or SF2 V the series, it does not mean you will like this movie at all. The animation is not near as interesting, picture Ken and Ryu with "Hobbit" feat. The story line is much more chaotic and more than a little confusing at some points. Basically Ryu is being influenced by the "dark side of the force," well the martial art equivelant to anyway. Ken is in the movie a good deal, but he really doesn't do much. As far as characters are concerned, there are not a great deal of them in the movie. Rose has an appearance and a couple of others come in and out as well. There isn't a dual story like in SF2 with Chun Li and Guile, and there really aren't any great fights between the Street Fighter Characters. The script seems pretty juvinile as well, non of the characters seem to have anything interesting to say! Also, there is light reference to Akuma in the movie but don't get your hopes up, Akuma is hardly in it.

Why two stars? Well, the animation may not be so bad if don't compare it to the rest of the Street Fighter Series. Fair or not, I am comparing this movie to the others in the the street fighter series. It didn't measure up. Rent before you buy it, it is your best bet.

In this review I will discuss this movie's good and bad points. First, some of the new characters like Sakura, Rose, and Birdie were in the movie briefly but in a meaningful way. Secondly, the dubbing was very good. The scenes with Sakura in them were very cute and humorous, even Ryu's alleged brother Shun had some adorable moments.

Now on to the bad points, the back of the movie box claims that this movie is a sequel to the Street Fighter II V series, however this is not the case. In fact Chun-Li is reintroduced to Ryu and Ken (yawn).

This movie has character designs by Yoshihiko Umakoshi the result is that the characters look the way that they do in the Street Fighter Alpha games which in my opinion isn't nearly as good as the character designs in the Street Fighter II movie or the SF II V series. The fact that this is a Street Fighter movie I expected the fight scenes to be equal to or better than the fight scenes in the previous SF movie or television series, but unfortunately the fight scenes aren't that great. Also, I was a little upset that some of the Alpha characters that were in the movie like Guy, Sodom, Rolento, Adon, Vega, Dhalism, and Dan, had roles that were short-lived and corny. The story wasn't fully realized by the writer's in my opinion, because it had the potential for being so much more than a story fit for a Saturday morning cartoon show. The characters were also in many cases repeating the same tired lines over and over again which was very annoying.

"Street Fighter Alpha: the movie" is a no hold free for all filled with beautiful animation, incredible fight scenes and decent music. Where the film falls short is in a sometimes overpredictable story. The voice cast does a good job. Yet I was dissapointed that Ryu never fought Akuma in this film. Compared to "Street Fighter II: THE MOVIE" this film is quite a few steps down. Yet for those of us whom have loved the game and the anime since it arrived this is a fun film that is a worth watching. Note only diehard Street Fighter fans should buy the DVD. Anyone else woulf\d be better renting this movie. This film contain no rating yet I would rate it PG-13 for non-stop martial arts violence, and some gore.