Dragon Ball/DBZ Movie Reviews

[Captain Cadaver]

Based on Fearless' idea for a Forum activity, we'll review each of the Movies from DB Movie 1 (The Legend of Shenlong/Curse of the Blood Rubies) to DBZ Movie 14 (Resurrection F). Note that this is just the movies, not the TV Specials like the Bardock or Trunks ones, unless anyone wishes to go through them after we finish the movies. I'll just lay a few ground rules for the topic to start off:

- We'll review one movie per day as to give anyone who wants to post enough time.
- Reviews ought to be at least a typical paragraph's length. No 1-2 sentence ones.
- Scores on a 1-10 scale are optional, but not mandatory.
- No rewatch of a movie is required if you can remember enough to have a solid opinion on them (plus who actually wants to rewatch most of them?)
- Pray to Rumoosh you plebs.

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So, we start of with The Legend of Shenlong/Curse of the Blood Rubies

This film loses quite a few points due to just being a reboot of the first arc, though I must admit it did so somewhat well. The main villain felt like far more of a threat than the Pilaf gang and it was good to see how some of the scenes were reworked into a more connected and less episodic plot, as well as interesting in retrospect due to it forming a separate "Movie trilogy continuity".
However, it wasn't as good as the Pilaf Arc it was based on due to most of the humour that made up the bulk of both the film being copy-pasted from the arc. The only new gag added was further use of Yamcha's shyness to women when he was fighting that female henchmen.
Overall, it was OK for what it was, and not as insulting as some of the rehashed plot lines you'd see in later films, though there's no need to watch it to see a retelling of early DB when The Path to Power does the same concept far better.

Score - 3.5/10. Maybe a 4/10 for simplicity.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Zamasu bless you all mortals.

Anyway, I didn't watch any DB movies not even once so its time for Zamasu to watch it for the first time.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

I just watch it and it was really bad since everything felt so rushed and less character development unlike the anime version of the story. One of the positive thing from that movie was the fight was a lot better than the manga and anime from what I've remember and like CC said King Gurume was a better villain than Pilaf. Pasty kinda reminds me of Launch or Hasty and much hotter than Bulma IMO. Can anyone confirm that the girl from the movie is same girl that Goku met on the RR arc?

And the excuse of Roshi for not helping was really dumb and doesn't make any sense unless if it was gag scene. Also it has a plenty of funny stuffs such as Goku VS Oolong which was better than the manga/anime IMO.

3/10 or Grade E.

 

[Papasmurf]

Yeah, I didn't like that the movie was basically a copy-paste of the first arc with some elements of the RRA saga thrown in, plus the other 3 movies of DB are pretty much far better. Some of the retold events were interesting enough I guess, and with the failure of many other Toei features this one was just kind of a been there done that type of deal, but wasn't bad by any means. It does kind of bug me with its short length, but that could be said about any of the films in general.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

I'll review any movie i feel like, whenever i feel like it.

 

[SSJ2]

Man, I've never checked out any of the DB films before, maybe I should.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Man, I've never checked out any of the DB films before, maybe I should.

You're not really missing much if you're trying to find quality. The first 3 are part of a trilogy continuity that just rehashes plotlines from the start of the series up until the 22nd TB in a more rushed manner. The Path to Power is a decent watch, however. Definitely better than most of the DBZ movies.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

lol Bluto from Popeye made an appearance on this movie.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

So, time to review Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

Despite my good memory of this, I don't think I've seen the film since I was about 7-8. That says a lot about this.
This is easily the worst of the movie trilogy as far as I'm concerned. In it's favour, I will say this is less of a copy-paste of canon content than the others, but with it ultimately acting as a means to reimagine canon content such as Oozaru Goku and meeting with Lunch, the original content was more like padding if anything. This content in itself isn't impressive. Whilst Lucifer had a better goal than most villains due to wanting to simply remove a fatal weakness for his kind, it's hindered by the typical DB writing of rarely writing a villain beyond a one-dimensional bad guy. This is a shame, since his goal could've allowed him to be more sympathetic and memorable than most other villains in the franchise overall had he been written well. It also doesn't help that his goal of needing a virgin girl's blood to make contact with a jewel to empower a superweapon to destroy the sun is as unecessarily convoluted as the way Marty wakes up in Back to the Future.
The fights were also some of the most boring in any DB Movie. This is hindered most by demons using guns rather than any kind of creative power. Kuririn being given a good amount of screentime in his introduction only to become less relevant than Yamcha made this even worse. The finale was also very anticlimactic, and not in the subversive way; the boring way.
Overall score - 1.5/10 (2/10 approx). It avoids being a 1/10 trainwreck because of the potential Lucifer could've had (and not being as much of a wasted opportunity as Broly).

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

So its the worst movie of its trilogy? Wish me luck tonight when I watch it.

 

[SSJ2]

I'll start writing about the films when we reach Z territory.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

I'm watching it right now...

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Done watching...

That movie was really great!!! The friendship development between Goku and Krillin was a lot better than the manga/anime version and the quality of the movie was great too. Goku is truly a beast in this movie and went on the high road and also saved Krillin like thrice which is a great character development like I said before. One of the things I don't like on this movie was Goku's voice and it doesn't sound Stephanie Nadolny to me which is my second favorite voice character after Sabat of course. I can't believe that Roshi would lied to them lol just imagine if the gang died in that castle, I would never forgive Roshi again and that's because of :toei

6/10

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Now to move on to Mystical Adventure.

This is easily the best of the trilogy imo. It's plot isn't anything too grand, being just a reimagining of events from the 21st & 22nd TBs along with the Red Ribbon Arc, though it succeeded in being the nice tribute that it was and delivering action to a greater extent than either of it's predecessors. The ending was more solid than the other two, even if still being fairly weak. Chaozu's role in the film was particularly interesting, since it gave him better characterization than the actual canon by not just making him Tenshithand's boipussy booty call. The cameo of Arale was also a nice touch, even if it made the Taopaipai battle fairly anticlimactic. I will admit that it did lack the adventure aspect of the other two, though considering the shift in focus of the manga at the time, that's understandable.

Overall, I give it a 4/10. It's pretty simplistic, though a more decent action flick than either of the other two.

DBZ Movies come tomorrow.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

The best? I'll watch it on godtube tonight.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Did you watch it yet? We'll be moving on shortly.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Dammit! I forgot, give me an hour to watch and review it!!!

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Ok so I watched.

That was gay as fuck, Chouzu and Tien should get married someday lol. Also Chouzu as an emperor? That reminds me of Zeno lol! The movie is pretty much random from 21st to 22nd Budokai characters are together. I loved how Launch seems to have fun with the gang which is rare since I didn't watch the original series a after 22nd Tenkaichi. And why does Bulma was searching for DBs anyway? She already have what she wants right?

6/10

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Now we'll move on to the DBZ Movies. For those wondering why we didn't do The Path to Power first, we're going in order of release date (it will be in-between DBZ Movies 13 and 14).

So, DBZ Movie 1 - Return My Gohan!/Dead Zone

Like many of the other DB Movies, this one rehashes the battle with Raditz, but does so in a more original way than most other movies' copy-pasting of canon content. Garlic Jr. is probably one of the best written DBZ movie villains, since he has an actual goal beyond complete conquest or destruction. It's also good to hear him being voiced by Akira Kamiya, though it's unfortunate it was just for this movie. The action wasn't anything outstanding, though the movements were at least closer to the martial arts of the original DB than the slugfests we'd get in later films, Goku using the Nyoibo whilst fighting two of the henchmen being a particular highlight. It's comedy wasn't much beyond some immature gags such as Kuririn getting pissed on, though it was at least more balanced in tone than comedy would be in some later movies, plus I did enjoy Gohan tripping balls.
Unfortunately, it did have an anticlimactic ending and didn't give enough time to make Garlic Jr. much of a worthwhile villain overall, though at least he was competent enough to wish for immortality rather than Piccolo Daimao's youth restoration, or Daimao 2.0 (aka Slug) doing the same.

Overall, I'd give it a 3/10. It doesn't have much rewatch quality, though it avoids being any lower due to not being as much of a shameless rehash of canon content as most later films would.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Garlic Jr. was voiced by Toriyama?