Street Fighter Zero (1999) Reviews

• Sadler who?

  jaywolfenstien2002-12-20

  Okay, granted, this animated film is based upon an arcade game. Not just an arcade game--an arcade *fighting* game. The requirements for a good arcade fighting game (especially back when Street Fighter set the standards) did not involve having a plot. If it played well and was fun, then you had a hit. It's a given that to make a film the creators are going to have to expand on the three sentences of backstory each character has, and the equally shallow endings they all have; sometimes even substancially change them . . . so why did they feel it necessary to invent a whole new villain with artificial fighters at his disposal? No. Granted, I haven't played the original SF Alpha in ages, but I recall Bison (generally speaking) still being the villain in the Alpha/Zero series (yes, I know, not everyone fought Bison in the first one). I can understand them not wanting to introduce Bison in this film to preserve the storyline of the existing SF Anime, but you still have Sagat from SF1. Heck, this film even brings up Akuma (who would have made an excellent lead villain if given the spotlight) but he's not pursued. Instead we're stuck with a throwaway guy no one cares about who has no connection to the Street Fighter game universe. The only thing worse is they don't make much attempt to make him or his underlings as interesting as the "true" SF characters. He's just a cliche mad scientist. That's all. Then the presence of annoying existing SF characters doesn't help either. I hated Sakura in the game; I hate her in the anime. Ryu's brother issue started out all right; however, it quickly dissolved into meaningless drivel as the "plot" involving the "villain" consumed him. Much of Street Fighter Alpha/Zero's vast cast of characters is not utilized (understandably so considering the volume of faces they've developed over the years), but even the ones who are really don't do much but get beat up until Ryu overcomes his inner demons, discovers the true warrior spirit, yadda, yadda, yadda, and ultimately saves the day. Every Street Fighter player knows that Ken is just as bad as Ryu, if not he's even badder; they even fight to a standstill in this, and yet Ken can't put a dent in the android/robot/artificial guy/whatever he was supposed to be? No. If nothing else, Ken would be able to severly hurt the thing. I liked the original anime and even the V series because in the end Ryu & Ken ultimately team up. One or the other (usually Ryu) has to get the final hit, but it takes both of them for a victory. Akuma would have given them both a run for their money with his raging demon; Street Fighter fans don't want the throw-away Sadler crap, we want the real deal--bring on Akuma.

• What is with Chun-Li's butt?

  gears_chatroom_god2002-05-19

  Spoilers ahead. You've been warned. I was quite disappointed by this film, after enjoying the original animated feature so much. There's so much in the film that's unexplored. Akuma is the focus of much of the promo material and the blurb on the back of the video/DVD packaging... and yet his appearance in the film it little more than a sixty-second cameo. IS Shun Ryu's brother or not? It's apparently implied that he isn't by his dying words, but if he's not - what IS he? Maybe the Japanese language version had it better, but it's very confusing and scrambled. The inclusion of the character of Sakura is utterly needless and adds nothing to the flim - perhaps if she had just been in a short cameo like some of the other game characters, and you could just point at the screen and go "hey, there's Sakura," and that was all, it would work better, but as it stands, she serves no purpose being the film at all. My main problem with it is the general *pointlessness* of it all. By the end of the film, we're right back exactly where we started, and nothing's changed, except Ryu's a little better off. Deeply, DEEPLY annoying is the animation team's apparently fascination with Chun-Li's butt, crotch and chest. Almost every shot of her opens up on one of these body parts, and when the camera's on other characters, one of these three parts is always poking into the screen from the side. It's very irritating. I'm not even sure if this is supposed to be in the same continuity as the first SF movie, because there's a lot of things that don't match up, even if it's supposed to be acting as a prologue. Basically, this film is trying to be something it shouldn't. Street Fighter shouldn't be about a deep, meaningful storyline - it should be about people beating the snot out of each other, which is what the first film was, and it was all the better for it.

• Not the kind of movie I hoped for.

  Noko_272003-04-17

  Well like i said this is not the kind of movie i thought it would have been.I have been a big street fighter fan since the starting of the video game while it was still on arcade.But of course i just couldn't just stop at that.I was browsing through one of my friends collection of Videos and i saw that she had both the first movie that came out and most of the series.Well of course i went nuts about them and she allowed me to borrow the first movie.This movie i watched over and over again because of some of the best fight scenes i had ever seen at that time.I will admit that i now own both and i watch the first one that came out a lot more instead of Alpha.I found Alpha very slow and the story just didn't fit quite right (compared to the true story behind Street Fighter).If you are looking for a good movie with an all right story line but lots of fighting in an Anime,i suggest "Street Fighter the Movie".Alpha is ok in some sense but i suggest you stick to The movie i just listed and the series(which is quite funny and a good one).I have seen a lot of Anime movies and lots of normal movies.If you would like any info or advice on a movie feel free to email me.

• Disappointing

  richard-3372001-07-06

  Being a huge street fighter fan and thoroughly enjoying the previous film, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, I was really looking forward to this one! However, it seemed that the film had no real sense of direction or purpose. Most of the characters I could not associate with and it just lacked the intense action that made the other mentioned street fighter film so superior. There are some good points however, the Animation is superb!!!

• don't bother!

  tieniemajig2010-05-03

  Street Fighter is a video game series that's very near and dear to my heart. It is a series that's not exactly known for its deep and profound story, but the characters are iconic, from Ryu's dusty old white martial arts uniform and red headband, Ken's bushy eyebrows, to Chun Li's buns and thunder thighs. Where this movie went very wrong, I think, was that they chose to create new characters rather than try to incorporate the rest of the Street Fighter cast in any meaningful fashion. I feel that this is a great disservice to the fan base. Even putting aside the lack of characters from the game (but where was Cammy?!), it was very hard (for me at least) to care about any of the new characters or the overall plot. And it didn't have to be that way. I don't think we have ever seen in the Street Fighter games or movies any hint as to Ryu's past: we take him for what he is now, a stoic world warrior whose greatest struggle is within. This could have been an interesting fresh look at this character, but in its execution it just fell flat. If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (listed on IMDb as "Sutorîto Faitâ II gekijô-ban"), which does a much better job of putting together a coherent story and weaving in all of the characters.