Street Fighter II the Animated Movie

This is the best that Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie has ever looked. I still have my DVD that was released back in 2006, but this film is remastered in its original Japanese length entirety as with the U.S. and UK voice and music edits. This is where the edits can get slightly confusing. There are three edits, overall. They edited the english (both American and UK) voice ADR recording and soundtrack to fit the full length of the Japanese edit, which was a great step to make for this Blu ray. The two English edits are pretty similar, and then they have the original Japanese edit. What they did was basically take the original Japanese edit of film, and apply it to both English ADR edits, and somehow it worked great. So we get a super clean film with three ADR track edits. Then we get a fourth edit; the U.S. ADR Edit with the Japanese edit and Japanese Soundtrack. I would've preferred a Japanese voice edit with the Japanese cut, and the U.S. and UK Song Soundtrack and Music Score composed by Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea, in with the Japanese dialog track, and here's why . . . I always felt the American and UK dialogue sounded so childish, and unnecessarily edgy with its bad language. When I watched the Japanese version on my DVD from 2006, it was very serious, sort of sophisticated with its plot, and the subtitles were extremely different in tone from the dialog of the English versions. But my problem with this version is with the Japanese soundtrack . . . it's full of vanilla J-Pop and the songs and music score are so non-appropriate to the situations they are supposed to underline. The best example is the fight between Chun-Li and Vega. The song that is played to the scene is CRY by Naofumi Suhara and performed by Big Life. It's a sad song, and seems like it's supposed to play to the tragedy of Chun-Li being severely beaten and killed by a brutal killer, Vega. Except, THAT isn't how the scene plays out. Chun-Li proves to be more of a match for Vega and kicks the snot out of him before she defeats him and sends him through a wall. The U.S. and UK SOUNDTRACK has KMFDM's ULTRA. It adds the proper danger and threat, without compromising Chun-Li's capability, or the proper action underscore of the scene. The other piece that I felt the U.S./UK SOUNDTRACK really captured the proper spirit was the introduction scene of Guile. The film cuts to Patterson Air Force Base where Guile is landing an F16 fighter jet, and is about to be introduced to Chun-Li. The music in the original Japanese sound score was like Kenny G scoring a movie. The U.S. and UK versions had a guitar riff and rhythm beat that reminded you of the vibe of Top Gun, which is how it should be. The Songs and music are seriously mismatched in the original Japanese version, and it makes me wonder what was running though the minds of the composer and director when they were working their way through the film. The music throughout should sound worldly, tribal, and full of verve, not 80's teen comedy or Eric Serra's The Big Blue score. It should be rockin' in places and tranquil in others. The music playing to Bison's entrance at the Shadaloo (Shadowlaw in the English versions) base should sound the way it is in the English versions; intense, intimidating, sinister, and full of intrigue. The Japanese version makes no sense, it sounds too tranquil and weird in a bad way. Weird in that it sounds like a Jedi is walking down corridors, and not a Sith Lord walking down DARK corridors. The only voice actor I like in the English versions is Tom Wyner, because he was appropriately menacing, and the man had a HEAVY voice. When you see his character, he has this huge jaw, and massive physique, and his voice seemed to do that image justice. Ryu really didn't fit for me. At times he sounds like he belongs in Goodfellas, because the inflection the actor chose was very Italian mafioso at times. Ken . . . too whiny, and not fast talking enough. He should sound like a showman with pinoche, and not have a voice at a scratchy pitch that could crack glass. The actress that portrays Chun-Li sounded too stilted and choppy. There wasn't a single line she read aloud that had any smooth rhythm to it. The others play out pretty much the same way, so I'm not leaving anything out by not covering each one. Like I stated before, get a mix that includes the American Soundtrack with the Japanese dialogue and subtitles, and I will consider THAT Blu Ray release a COMPLETE VERSION.The Movie itself is a wonder to behold, visually and for its story. It globe spans from Seattle WA, to Japan, to India, to Las Vegas NV, to Thailand and the Thai Laos Border. The background paintings are exquisite to the eyes, and the animation is top notch. The character designs are a bit dated, but they look close enough to the game designs to do the work justice. The story is one we've seen in the games from the late 80's to early 90's from Capcom. It covers Ryu's esoteric journey, the discovery of self as a martial artist. It has Ken's journey of finding that perfect fight with the only person he WANTS to test himself with, his old friend Ryu. It's about Chun-Li's path of Justice, and Guile's quest for vengeance against M. Bison, who had Guile's air force wingman Charlie, brutally killed while on a mission. It features all the Street Fighter II characters such as Blanka, E. Honda, Dhalsim, T. Hawk, Cammy, Balrog, Dee Jay, Fei Long, Zangief, and of course Sagat who gets the curtain call scene at the beginning of the movie with Ryu. Here you'll witness the fabled moment when Ryu defeated Sagat, and how Sagat got that huge scar across his chest. This movie is rich with Street Fighter lore, built from the years prior. It's THE Movie that we should've received in theaters instead of that ridiculous cash grab that exploited Raul Julia, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Kylie Minogue as Cammy (for some stupid reason). But THIS Blu Ray is the one to get, because the transfer is NOT cheap and disappointing. The versions presented here are crystal clear and have never looked better. The ADR editing was supervised by the original ADR mixer, Les Claypool who went on in the previous years to work on music and sound for South Park and Robot Chicken. People forget he used to do work for anime dubs. Get this version before it's gone, because we might not get another one this great.

Fast delivery,good packaging,my favourite manga animation movie.

Not sure how I missed out on this movie as a kid, but seeing it for the first time was a great experience. It’s almost perfect.Came shrink wrapped with a nice looking slipcover.Within the first few minutes I was hooked. Not being familiar with the source material, I’m not sure how much they cleaned up the image but it’s gorgeous! Grain is intact, lines are clean and sharp, the level of detail is impressive. The first scene is very dark, but when Ryu starts charging up and the electricity around him starts popping, the highlights literally lit up the whole room. Discotek made excellent use of the hdr layer, the vibrancy and pop of the colors is a little toned down (it’s not like watching a Pixar movie or anything) but some of the highlights beat my expectations for an older animated movie. It reminds me of the work that Disney did on Cinderella and Snow White m, where you don’t feel like you’re watching a modern movie, but the best possible version of the original - how it should be. There is some dust here and there on the image but it’s only certain scenes. Other times I was shocked by the clarity.I chose the English soundtrack and was pleasantly surprised - one of the first songs in the movie is sliverchair - Israel’s son. Such a cool time capsule of a movie. Will be watching many time over I’m sure.

old school style, i like it

Street Fighter 2 The Animated Movie is what you'd expect. Great fight scenes. The story does its job to tie the characters together. But it definitely takes a back seat to the fights. And honestly, the fight scenes/action is what I expected. I got most of the backstory playing the video game. So thats where I came from before watching the movie.As for this particular product, I LOOOVE that you have the option to watch with different soundtracks. English voice acting with Japanese ver. music, Japanese voice with English ver. music, etc. I first watched the Street Fighter 2 The animated movie with subtitles and original track. I've always been a fan of that version. The english version is still great but I wasn't into the music. Specifically the fight scene between Chun-Li and Vega (Balrog). Nothing wrong with the KMFDM version. But I really liked the emotional pull of the original music track. I felt it really added to the fight scene.But NOW I can watch it with the original music soundtrack AND english voice acting! I do like the japanese voice acting but its also convenient to just focus on the visuals without reading subtitles. And I can always go to the other different versions if I want. Win win!

Item arrived in good condition