Street Fighter is an excellent video game to anime traslation. In fact, it is one of the best video game to anime translations I have seen, even stronger than SiN and Sakura Wars. SF2 is also way better than any other fighting game to anime movie that I have seen. (Stop it, I can't bear it, don't make me watch _________ again! You can fill in the empty space with Tekken, Samurai Showdown or Battle Arena Toshinden, just to name a few.)

The plot, is pretty non-existent, but at least the script writers try to fool you into beliving that this movie actually has a plot. M. Bison has decided to capture the best warriors on the planet, (those would be warriors from Street Fighter 2.), analyze them, capture them and brainwash them into doing his evil deeds. (which I really have no idea what his dirty deeds are. I wasn't paying attention. Oh shutup, I was paying attention to the fight scenes, ok?)

So, awful plot and lack of characterization aside, why did I like this movie? I am not a huge fan of Street Fighter and I should mention that fans of Street Fighter will enjoy this much more than non-fans, but I have enough knowledge to know that Chun-Li can do a lightning kick and Ryu can do a hurricane kick. So, what caught my eye was the fighting scenes. First off, it was really cool, to see Chun-Li pull off her axe kick, and I was like "Hey, that Chun-Li's axe kick!" Every character's moves are shown perfectly in this movie. Even non-special moves are accurate. Second, the fights are awesome. They are fast, flashy, nicely choreographed. smooth, not to mention, heart stopping. This is one of those movies, in which you truly become excited and your palms sweat during the fight scenes. They ARE that good. Chun-Li and Vega's fight is incredible and I also like the fight between Ryu and Sagat. There are no still frames, ::cough Samurai Showdown cough:: and all the moves are drawn very well. Normally, a flying uppercut or lighting kick would look ridiculous animated, but the moves are drawn in a tasteful way, and they are actually belivable too.

There are a ton of fights and half of em are unnecessary. Characters that aren't involved in the plot just show up out of the blue for no reason at all and start a fight. And it's kinda annoying, since all these characters just show up for two minutes and then aren't in the rest of movie. This was obviously to squeeze in every character from the video game. Fans of SF2 may apprechiate this, but non-fans will quickly get annoyed. Another thing, is that some of the cooler characters are severly underused and some of the characters are way overused. For example, Cammy has one part in the beginning of the movie and that's it, for the whole movie. And it's not even a fight against a street fighter character, bleech. And, she's one of the cooler characters, in my opinion. My other favorite characters have only supporting roles. Chun-Li only participates in one fight, altough it is an awesome fight, I wanted to see her participate in more. Vega, also only is in one fight and that's the fight with Chun-Li. Ryu and Ken could've been used much less. The story focuses on Ryu and Ken. I like them, but it's getting old. I am so sick of Ryu and Ken. Let some of the better supporting characters share the spotlight, ya know? Comon, I want to see more Chun-Li!

The dubbing is Awful, with a capital A. Chun-Li's voice is too low, Ken sounds terrible and I think that Ryu's voice should sound higher. Bison did sound like Bison should, but like the rest of the voice actors, Bison had no emotion. (I........will.....kill you!) The new U.S. soundtrack is terrible too. Yeah, let's try to make this movie cool, and add some Alice in Chains and Silverchair. Hmmmm, that's a no-no. The only anime that needs rock music is Bubblegum Crisis, not Street Fighter. I don't want to hear overused guitar wailing when I watch a fight. There was one rock track that I think sounded cool, but sadly that was the only one. Also, the rock tracks fail to convey the right emotions. I don't want to hear Alice in Chains when Ken is driving down the freeway, ok? The dialogue is a bit weird at times, I'm not sure if it is the dubbing or what. (Dare I refuse that invitation?) The art is pretty average, it's nothing special. The animation is smooth and the moves do look fantastic though.

And now for a random thought, why does Chun-Li wear that. Really, Street Fighter fans would know what she wears, but would you wear that suit out in public. I know that the movie is trying to keep as close to the game as possible and that means recognizable suits for each character, but Chun-Li, wouldn't wear that suit to work, and Ryu wouldn't walk barefoot around on the streets. Anyway, I highly reccomend this movie for Street Fighter fans probably as a buy and reccomend a rental for all others. Aside from the terrible story, non existent characterization (why does Ryu roam the country?) and a really stupid end-end, (don't look at the movie when the credits are rolling, it's so dumb.) the fighting in this movie is incredible and you watch a fighting game anime to see the fighting, right? I'm looking foward to seeing Street Fighter Alpha and maybe even the Street Fighter series.