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Street Fighter Alpha - The Movie Directors: Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Joe Romersa Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Animated, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 90 minutes Studio: Palm Pictures/Manga Video Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-01-30 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 72 Average rating: 3.0 "surprisingly PHILOSOPHICAL for a Street Fighter movie" 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. "READ!!! This Will Influence you LOTS!!!" The First thing I have to say about this movie is...Very x 100 disappointing...let me repeat...very x 100 disappointing. I am a lover of 2-d fighting games, I own the street fighter IIV series, I have the SFAnimated Movie, and lastly, I have this movie. I thank the lord that I got this movie from...ahem...suehprom(spelled backwords...don't want to stir up trouble...). It is SOOOO disappointing. The only "fight" scene that is mediocrely decent is the first one, with Ryu and some thugs, which is about 1 min long...The story was Ridiculous. The last two "boss" fights were 10 seconds each, and...ridiculous. TRUST ME!!! I know what you expect. I've always looked up to capcom as the ultimate, and I still do...Devil May Cry...Onimusha, the like, but this movie was so ridiculous that I just want to....ugghhhh. Don't get it. I mean seriously. The story, action (if any) was really really crudy. I was extremely excited before watching this movie, and 1/4th through I was like, I hope this movie blows me away at the end, otherwise, I'll be angry. Guess what...I turned out to be enraged. This is absolutely ridiculous. If you must remember one thing about this review, it's that the storyline was terrible, just terrible...I don't even suggest you rent it, unless you want to. DON'T buy it. "It Rocks but sadly disapoints" The manga was really good, I watched it several times because the fight sequences play with the imagination, but sadly I felt a little let down. I was waiting for the big showdown with Akuma and a explosive ending but never occured.I wanted to see alot more of Akuma as he is the main boss instead we are left with a mad docter.This manga needed Akuma and more moves from Ken and Ryu. This manga never got the finish it deserved because it is really good. The final "boss" I feel dies too quick and Ken and Ryu never display the Dragon uppercut(shorryuken). The uppercut is only performed once by Ken towards the end in a explosive outburst but to no avail. As street fighter fan I would love to be given the opportunity to direct my own streetfighter movie as there is so much to be done. The first streetfighter movie (Street Fighter II -The animated movie), was excellent all the way through. This movie ended and finished the way it should have, explosive and fierce. MY VHS copy was ruined as kept rewinding the film over and over again to see the fight scenes. I would recommend these two movies to buy because after watching them you will be left doing the 'shorruyken' and 'hadoken' on your mates and to the extreme standing outside trying to power up. "good movie" the movie is good, ...there arent many fight scenes, and the ones that are in the movie, arent all that great, but there are a couple of cool lookin moves/combos, plus ken has a really cool voice, and the screaming he does when he attacks ...but, i dont think this movie is all about fighting, i was more focusing on the plot. it wasnt all that great, but it was very well done. somehow it didnt feel like streetfighter sometimes, because of the doctor and that other big guy. this didnt bother me much though, it was both good and bad. it went pretty deep into ryu's struggle against the dark hadou and stuff, and i really liked the scene right before ryu and ken were goin to fight... get the movie, but if u want just fight scenes, akuma and bison, rent it... either way its worth watching "Cool movie!" If your a Street Fighter Alpha Fan than you'll like it!