Generations features 2 of the most familiar characters of the series, Ryu and Ken. Gamers might also recognize Akuma, a kind of Ryu on crack, though in this story, Akuma is the man who killed Ryu and Ken's old master. The story begins as two fighters from the past square off, each trying to avoid using a technique known as the Dark Hadou. Think of it as the dark side of the force. In fact, the base story has quite a few similarities to Star Wars, except that the big evil at the end isn't Ryu's father. Most people familiar with the characters and the series won't take too much mind to the story anyway. It's all about the fights...or it should be. I was pretty disappointed. I've seen longer, more intense fighting in 20 minutes of DragonBall Z. I will say that the animation during the 3 fight sequences were incredibly well choreographed and animated, but they were simple too few and far between in a 45 minute show to be entertaining.
The movie was directed by Ikuo Kuwana, an experienced and talented animator coming off of several blockbuster manga movies: Steam Boy, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Blood: The Last Vampire. I can give the guy credit for trying, but he's simply not cut out for directing. Scenes filling time between the scant fight sequences look more like slideshows than animated film.
Bonus features include a 10 minute behind the scenes interview with the Japanese voice cast, previews of additional manga movies and web links. Pretty light on bonuses.
If you're a major anime fan and need a quick fight fix you might find this a value from the bargain bin, but if you're looking for a more epic animated movie, check out Ghost in the Shell or Ninja Scroll.
