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Not to be confused with that God-awful Van Damme live-action movie, Street Fighter II: Animated is as close to the original material of the Capcom video games as you're probably ever going to get. Not only that, but it's a damn good action movie in general.

Visually, SFII is fantastic: Right from the opening duel between Ryu and Sagat, up until the epic final duel between Ryu/Ken vs. Bison, the animation is fast paced and second to none. Like most action films and video game anime, the character development is minimal, giving every character the chance to provoke a scrap and showcase their fighting skills at most opportunities. They have the physique and choreographed ability that we've come to expect from the video game sprites.

Street Fighter purists may be slightly disappointed by the lack of an extensive plot; however, other hardcore fans may be overwhelmed by the amount of high quality battles present here. Either way, it's still an immensely enjoyable action fest accompanied by some fast-paced music, that it'll make you wonder why you ever bothered to watch Van Damme in the first place.

(A final note: The Uncut, Uncensored, and Unleashed 2007 version of the DVD includes the original Japanese version and the dubbed-English version; particularly, the shower scene with Chun-Li has been fully restored. Get in!)

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.