Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (1994)

[餓狼伝説 -THE MOTION PICTURE-]

Director: Masami Obari
Starring: Kazukiyo Nishikiori, Keiichi Nanba, Nobuyuki Hiyama

Synopsis:
After defeating Wolfgang Krauser, Terry Bogard and his friends go on a globetrotting quest to stop a madman from assembling the pieces of the Armor of Mars.

Impressions:
I never really played the SNK fighters back in the day. I was more of a Street Fighter person. As such, I don't have that much investment in the franchise and I think that's a key component to enjoy this. Just as movie-based video games tend to be disappointing, so too are video game-based movies. Particularly with adaptations of fighting games, you've got typically paper-thin plot and characterization to work with and loads of characters you feel compelled to squeeze in to satisfy all of the fans. It doesn't make for streamlined plotting. This movie is fairly pragmatic about it, focusing on the core quartet of Terry, Andy, Joe and Mai, but all the cameos for many of the rest of the characters tend to go nowhere. As is common with feature-length anime, you've got original characters that are weaker than anything from the source material and an unsatisfying excuse plot. I say unsatisfying, but you've got a tolerable enough story here. I'm not a fan of Masami Obari's character designs and the animation quality tends to fluctuate quite a bit, often rather bad for what's supposed to be a feature film. Another staple of the fighting game anime is gratuitous fanservice, but with the generally unappealing art, it probably won't do much for you. This movie will have nostalgia value for people who saw it back in the 90s when there was a lot less anime available in the West, but contemporary audiences probably won't see the merit in it unless they're fans of the series eager to consume just about anything connected to it. Take it or leave it.

Also, it's Laocoon, not Laocorn. Open a book once in a while, Trish. Jeez.

Rating:
50/50