Timely and moderate movement initiation is crucial to our daily life. The striatum, which is the main input nucleus of the basal ganglia neural circuit, plays a regulatory role in movement initiation, whose injury tends to induce movement disorders. In this review, we explore the key mechanism involving striatal neurons in movement initiation, and summarize the commonly-used evaluation methods of movement initiation. Moreover, we discuss the theoretical bases and shortcomings of various movement models, attempting to propose a new model that explains the relationship between striatal neurons and movement initiation, as well as providing new insights into the mechanism of disorders associated to movement initiation.