Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

Bare-bones DVD Release

By Robert V Aldrich

            For many people in both the anime world and the martial arts movie world, the Street Fighter II: Animated Movie is held in a special esteem. When it came out on VHS a while back, much of the entertainment world was a twitter to see if it could live up to the high, high standards set by the Jean-Claude Van Damme live-action film. The movie hit with some fanfare and became an impressive standard that other anime-action titles would have to contend with.

Making the leap to DVD, this movie has some of the most superb fight scenes ever, anime or otherwise. The hand-drawn animation stands the test of time, allowing for an impressive synthesis of realistic martial arts techniques and the highly stylized video game moves you would expect. The music on the Japanese track is a bit awkward to most western listeners, having kind of a pop sound, but the English music is appropriately brooding and intense, and even has some tracks provided by alternative bands like Alice in Chains and KMFDM. The story is pretty straightforward (something about M. Bison wanting to capture Ryu) and the dialog is adequate at best. The voice acting isn’t terrific, but both language tracks are pretty comparable, with personal taste being the deciding factor about which version of the movie’s cast is better. The biggest news is that the movie gets a serious facelift with the move to DVD, with a clearer picture quality and surround sound that only adds to experience.

            Sadly, that’s about where the benefits end.

            For a DVD release, even an anime one, this one falls short. While the movie does come in dual-languages, they’re on opposing sides of the disc for no identifiable reason. There’s very little in the way of extras (the UK trailer on the English side and a handful of character profiles on the Japanese side) and despite what the packaging says, there are no new scenes. A few scenes have been extended by a second or two, but about the only one that really matters is a slightly more detailed Chun-Li shower scene.

            All in all, this DVD is kind of a letdown. While the movie is a classic, the DVD is really lacking in the delivery. There are only a few chapters so you may have to do some fast forwarding to get to your favorite scene. The different language tracks on the opposing sides of the disc are kind of awkward and the lack of appreciable extras is especially disappointing. They couldn’t even get some of the actors back together to do a commentary track?

            At the end of the day, if you’re a fan of the franchise, this is definitely a DVD you want to pick up if you’re VHS version is wearing thin. Action movie fans will also get a kick out of it, but in general, this one just doesn’t have enough to warrant the purchase.