Dragon Ball/DBZ Movie Reviews

Let's Go Fearless!

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DBS Broly Movie
Pros:
1. A good detailed backstory of the Saiyans.
2. The animation and art were great.
3. Each fights were awesome and well done IMO.
4. Less inconsistencies than I thought.
5. Broly's rage towards Vegeta was so much better than his non canon counterpart.
6. A lot of funny scenes IMO. Frieza's height and bad breath were funny and made me LOL.
7. GOAT Gogeta made his debut.
8. Bardock story was well done although not as great as his non canon counterpart.
9. Bulma's current V.A did justice IMO.
10. Frieza was raped by Broly. :rape :pakl

Cons:
1. The movie seems to be shortened which is understandable since they want to release it as a movie version (I've read someone that the original length of the movie was 3HRS so I hope we'll get the extended version of it.)
2. Similar to the 1st one, Bardock's fight seems to be cut.
3. Broly is too haxed.
4. The age of these Saiyans
5. Another story where Beerus doesn't participate in the fight.
6. Fusion was retcon IMO. According to the OG manga, after the fusion wore off the you ll have to wait for another hour to use the technique again which was clearly forgotten here.

Rate: 9.5/10 if ignore the inconsistencies of the movie.
 

Captain Cadaver

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So, after enough time having passed, I decided to subjugate myself to the :trash that is Super Broly and bump this thread.

This movie captures almost everything wrong with modern Dragon Ball. First, there's the obvious retcon of the Saiyans and Bardock from Minus being fully canonised not only contradicting what we're told and shown in the original manga, but being a great disservice to the TV Special that had gained Toriyama's approval, making it apparent how much of a disingenuous hack his current self is. Even ignoring the retcons with it being far from the first to the original canon even prior to Super, the way in which the Saiyans were portrayed in the film is a perfect comparison of how modern action series are compared to the infinitely better decades of the 80s and 90s. The regular Saiyans in Z may have been one-dimensional in how they only cared about growing stronger and killing their opponents, but it made sense with how their society's history was portrayed and helped contrast how Goku's upbringing allowed him to differ so much from the standard. Now, the Saiyans are portrayed as a bunch of skinny soy boys, with their average male being scared of a giant crab.
Going onto the titular character, Base Broly is an improvement on Manchild Broly from the previous appearances, but not by much and in some ways, makes even less sense in the story than his non-canon self. Though made to be more complex, all that is thrown out the window once he utilises his Rage form and becomes a one-dimensional berserker. Moreover, his power makes far less sense than in the movie trilogy. Non-Canon Broly grew so strong from ravaging planets for years. Meanwhile, all the new Broly did was fight against crabs on some backwater planet and is somehow able to go up against those with God Ki. It also makes no sense why Freeza would just let him go up against Goku and Vegeta without a Plan B when he wasn't given any strong evidence for Broly's power beyond his battle power being immeasurable to a scouter, something that's been standard ever since the Freeza Arc.
Going onto Freeza, this film continues Super's trend of ruining him further by making him abandon immortality all for the sake of a gag of having a Napoleon complex. Abandoning immortality would've been fine if he'd explained it'd still not be enough to surpass Zen-Oh, but the reasoning he gave of not being able to die when trapped in Hell was asinine. As soon as he dies, he'll be back there again, so if anything, it should make him more determined to become immortal. More proof that Toriyama and the current DB Room staff have no idea how to write characters.
On the subject of characters being poorly utilised, you also have Beerus being reduced to a babysitter and removing any sort of respect he still had. It also doesn't make any sense why when wasting an hour with the fusion dance, nobody thought of contacting him and seeing if he'd want to fight Broly, especially when he'd previously been completely determined to fight someone nowhere near a fraction of his true power like SSG Goku. Nobody even tries to intervene in the battle, despite the likes of Gohan and #17 being more than decent support. This shows the primary flaw in Dragon Ball that's persisted ever since the Freeza Arc - the scope of what characters are relevant to the plot constantly shrinks to the point that Goku, Vegeta and Freeza are the only ones allowed to do anything anymore.
Along with Gogeta being fanservice pandering and leading to an anticlimactic ending, the aftermath makes no sense either. Broly suddenly goes back to normal when being sent away, rather than just wrecking Vampa as well.
Even trying to enjoy the film for something as surface level as animation is also impossible when a lot of the pivotal fight scenes are ruined by switching to 3D models that are worse by today's standards than something as old as Budokai 1.
Is it the worst part of the current canon? Not entirely. It's not as bad as the Future Trunks Arc or ToP, but is still bottom of the barrel even by Super's immeasurably low standards.

1/10
 

Pocket-Gog~

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I'd say it's worse than Future Trunks arc because of the Minus portion.
 

Keedounan

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Looks like I didn't miss much by just watching the fights of the movie on Youtube.
 

ahill1

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Out of order, yeah, but this one is the most recently watched by me.

Lord Slug

I liked their idea for a villain, exploiting the possibility of another Namekian swaying for the evil and tormenting them all, but most ideas executed in the movie were mere rehashes of plot points already employed in DB, like Slug deciding to be young again, or Gohan and Piccolo's battle vs Slug's henchmen. I'd say that the usage of Piccolo's hearing and employment of this as a weakness and point to break the also Namekian vilain was a plus, but it stands somewhat silly for a whistle from an almost dead Gohan to have that much effect when Piccolo could stand it for quite a while initially.

4/10
 

SSJ2

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Might attempt to watch the DBZ movies in order. I've still yet to see M9 and DBS Broly. :facepalm
 

Captain Cadaver

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Movie 9 had the potential to be the best of the Z films, with its first half being a nice change of pace from the typical formula, only to be ruined by the second half returning to that formula with its incredibly bland main villain as well as some plot holes (how did Bojack know where Earth was and get to it in what seems to have been a couple of months?) and inconsistent character moments (why does a post-Cell Games Gohan need to be given yet another pep talk by Galu about using his power?).

DBS Broly is :trash beyond animation, though not quite as bad as the ToP and Moro Arcs as far as major parts of Super go. It can be watchable purely as popcorn entertainment to look at the animation (other than the CGI parts that look like PS1 era graphics), but that's basically it.
 

SSJ2

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M7: 11/10

[youtube]KGgetdpkAVI[/youtube]
 

GreatSaiyaman123

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Bump because I've watched DBS: Broly and might watch all the other movies and specials.

DBS: Broly is horrendous. I hate the fluidity of the animation style and the 3D models look like something out of FighterZ. The fights gave me a headache. Surprisingly though, I liked how the fight was going before Paragus died: I knew Goku handled Broly better than Vegeta and thought it would be bs, but the fight does a good job showing Goku on the defensive and even trying to talk Broly out of fighting.

Talking about Broly, they actually gave him a character here, or at least the foundations of one... But it doesn't even matter since he's got to go crazy and fight the others anyway. It was also weird for him to calm down when he returned home. He should've kept going berserk until he saw his old pet or something. We also don't even see his reaction to Paragus dying once he regains his mind! How does he feel about that, besides angry? Sad? Relieved? Does he want vengeance on Freeza now? Probably not because he's a bitch.

Everything around Freeza in this movie was crap. Why is he shirtless in the beginning? How does it make any sense that he doesn't want to be immortal because Hell sucks? He spent a whole hour taking punishment from Broly? Let's face it gang, the "oh no fusion gone wrong it's fat/skinny" was only funny with Gotenks.

Also fuck this movie for reminding me Minus is canon, but that's not really the movie's fault.

Knowing this isn't even the worst Dragon Ball movie, I'm willing to say 1.5/10 instead of 1/10. Actually, 2/10 because I watched it dubbed and the brazilian dub makes Whis' faggotry fucking hilarious. Love this guy. Did you know Whis' BR voice actor also dubbed Spider-Man? He's the main VA for Drake Bell, so he's in Drake and Josh, Superhero movie, current Spider-Man and anything else he's done.
 

Keedounan

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Bump

Alright, time to fullfill my challenge.

Battle of Gods

To sum it up, it was quite a refreshing movie, in more ways than one. For once, it was a relatively well paced movie in which there's a good balance between moments of levity and moment of action. For once, it was a movie that doesn't rehash the canon material. For once, its antagonist wasn't a generic one-dimensional villain, but one who could actually be agreeable...provided somebody shares their food when he's asking anyways (dammit, Boo. Was one pudding too much to ask?). For once, Goku didn't win with a miracle punch or Genki Dama of any kind. Instead, he lost...twice, and in both scenarios, he wasn't even close to winning. I would have probably prefered that the godly transformation of the movie didn't simply consist of the "Power of Friendship", though.

Overall, while it wasn't groundbreaking in any kind of way, watching that movie for the first time was a relatively agreeable and refreshing experience that single-handedly justified the newfound interest in the series' revival. It's a shame that everything that came after (including both of the movie's adaptations)...weren't really up to par...starting with the sequel. It's a solid 6 out of 10 for me.

Resurrection F

Okay...what can I say that hasn't already been said by everybody else? Do I even need to? It speaks volumes to how bad this movie was that even our resident Super fanboy rated it 0 out of 10. Between Freeza being shamelessly recycled, his asspull power-up, Goku and Vegeta being given advice that are typically given to rookies rather than the experienced fighters they're supposed to be, the training session of the protagonists being vastly skipped over, the recolor transformation, and Whis using a reset button to solve the plot, anything that worked in the previous movie was butchered here. I wouldn't have blamed anyone for dropping anything DB-related after this trainwreck.

1 out of 10.

Broly

Oh, Broly. Keep in mind that I actually didn't even watch the movie, but watching some Youtube clips and reading the synopsis was all it took for me to actually know enough to grasp what this was about. Which is quite sad when you think about it. People only really watched this movie for one thing: Broly VS Gogeta. And once you get past all the pretty colors, you can clearly see that this fight could have been so much better without the somewhat messy model switch mentioned by Captain Cadaver.

With that being said, between the unnecessary retcon of the Saiyans' backstory, a mediocre antagonist with a nonsensical power level considering his upbringing and who somehow manage to have even less personality than M10 Broly as soon as he goes Berserk, an useless fanservice character whose only use was to unleash Broly and save his life at the end of the movie, even though we have enough recycled antagonists at this point, and the pretty much anyone who isn't Goku or Vegeta being either ruined or poorly utilised (and characters like Gohan aren't even involved), there really ain't much to praise this movie about.

And that's another 1 out of 10.
 
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GreatSaiyaman123

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Just watched Dead Zone. It's a pretty fun rehearsal of the Raditz fight, but the coreography is slightly better. It's much more martial arts inspired - notice how there's only one instance where Ki blasts are used. Goku even uses his Nyoibo on Nikki!

Garlic Jr is a interesting villain with more genuine motives than most and competent enough to actually wish himself immortal. I wouldn't say he's better than Raditz since the later got interesting interactions with Goku and opened the door to the more space oriented stuff, while Garlic Jr stays closer to the series' early roots. A lot in this movie borrows elements from classic Dragon Ball.

The ending was fairly anticlimactic because of Gohan. This movie's biggest sin is that it rips offs a "saga" that's actually just the first act of the full Saiyan Saga, so it feels incomplete. Gohan's outburst vs Raditz was his "crossing the threshold" moment, while here it was just a Deus Ex Machina.

EDIT: Maybe I underestimated the ending. There’s a fairy sweet theme of greed in this movie. Garlic Jr could’ve succeeded without fighting anyone, but he decided to attack Piccolo and kidnap Gohan because he could. Goku and Piccolo almost lost when wrapped in their own rivalry, and had to be saved by pure innocent Gohan. It’s also implied Garlic Sr’s grudge was his downfall; he’s stuck in the Dead Zone, but only Garlic Jr is shown to know that technique.
There’s still Kami, but if DB is anything to go by he’s not aways honest about his past.

There’s also a very interesting parallel between Garlic Sr and Kami. Garlic was ruled out because he was evil, but Kami created an evil almost as great in order to become god.

6/10.
 
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GreatSaiyaman123

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This was a pleasant surprise. Most DBZ movies just do a rehearsal of another saga (Dead Zone) or an hour straight of brawl (Broly). But this movie? It actually has an original plot with mad scientists! Dr Gero and Myu ain’t got nothing on Uiro and Kochin. The movie does rip off the Saiyan Saga a bit in the end though…

This movie also gives Oolong and Roshi some stuff to do, which is always good. And a Goku vs Piccolo rematch! Where was this in DBZ?

I also think this is the best usage of the Genki-Dama ever. Uiro and Kochin had their mad ideas shunned away by society. And when they attemp revenge, yet again it’s the power of the people that defeats them. How fitting.

This movie got plenty of issues though. How can Uiro sense Ki? Why didn’t he put his brain on Piccolo’s body? Did he and Kochin expect Roshi to be stronger than Piccolo despite the legends? How did Uiro even expect his big ass brain to fit in anybody’s head? The Vegeta fight rip off also gets too blatant after the beam struggle.

5/10
 
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GreatSaiyaman123

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DBZ Movie 3 - Tree of Might

This was really disappointing. Not sure if this is a dubism of not, but Yamcha says it took him 15 years of loans to buy this car. This means he’s been taking this loan since his desert bandit days! He then proceeds to talk about this car for the rest of the movie, and it’s frankly the most interesting thing about it.

For started, Tullece fell completely flat as an evil Goku. Gohan is the only person to notice the similarity, and Turles immediately downplays it. He doesn’t even act like Goku, sucking the energy from planets to make himself stronger. He’s not evil Goku, he’s a bitch.

Anything interesting about him was done better by Vegeta. Has some sort of tie to Goku? Check. Evil? Check. Greedy for power? Check. Rebelled against Freeza? Check.

The Crusher Corps are also completely redundant. All they do is beat up the humans, who don’t do anything besides getting beat up by them. Oh well… At least we got the humans in a movie. Plus Yamcha getting owned all the time carried the movie.

When Tullece made Gohan become an Oozaru to make him reveal his Saiyan roots, things seemed promising. But then he blew up the moon… and Gohan didn’t transform back? And he can one shot 100k Oozaru Gohan, but is shitting bricks at 30k+ Goku?:alex2

To say some nice things. The first act with all the florest thing was adorable. I like Icarus. The final western face off between Goku and Tullece was one of the best final duels in the DBZ movies, maybe overall. So much tension.
Btw, I totally forgot Piccolo was in this movie :cage2
4/10



By the way, I decided to switch rates between M1 and M2. I noticed something about M1 I hadn’t before.
 

Captain Cadaver

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This was really disappointing. Not sure if this is a dubism of not, but Yamcha says it took him 15 years of loans to buy this car
That's in the original too, though trying to expect an accurate gauge of the film's quality watching the dub is a flaw in itself (unless it's the GOAT Big Green/Malaysian dubs of the Funi dub of DBZ Movie 7) :troll.
Anything interesting about him was done better by Vegeta. Has some sort of tie to Goku? Check. Evil? Check. Greedy for power? Check. Rebelled against Freeza? Check.
Not to mention any attempt at him representing what Goku could've become without his head injury has even the slightest bit of subtlety removed by Bulma and Roshi spelling it out to the audience right at the end.
Well, let's look on the bright side, at least this evil Goku attempt didn't also ripoff Ginyu by stealing his body :cage2.
 

GreatSaiyaman123

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That's in the original too, though trying to expect an accurate gauge of the film's quality watching the dub is a flaw in itself (unless it's the GOAT Big Green/Malaysian dubs of the Funi dub of DBZ Movie 7) :troll.

Not if I’m reviewing the dub :CC

Not to mention any attempt at him representing what Goku could've become without his head injury has even the slightest bit of subtlety removed by Bulma and Roshi spelling it out to the audience right at the end.
Well, let's look on the bright side, at least this evil Goku attempt didn't also ripoff Ginyu by stealing his body :cage2.

Well, green Kaioshin Ginyu at least succeeded on immortal and killing everyone though, and wasn’t exactly beaten by Goku :idk
 

GreatSaiyaman123

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 4 - Lord Slug

Lord Slug combines the two best Dragon Ball villains that are Freeza and Piccolo. So obviously, this is the most boring movie this far.

I’m not sure if the very premise of this movie makes sense. Planetary disasters shouldn’t be much of an issue to Goku and co. post Namek, even if this is their mid Freeza Saga selves. Lord Slug is such a Freeza rip off that even two of his goons look exactly like Freeza’s. The similarities to Piccolo are way more obvious and not even worth pointing out.

The movie really doesn’t have a lot going on. Evil guy wants to take over Earth and gets beaten by Goku. Granted you could say the same about most movies, but this one is literally just it. Most other villains had wanted more. Garlic Jr wanted revenge, Willow wanted Roshi’s body, Tullece wanted to plan the Shinseiju. Slug was literally JUST world domination.

The movie drags on because Goku and Kuririn are taken out for no reason at all. Literally nothing important happens without them. There’s Piccolo vs Dorodabo, which is very cool, but it’s not like Goku would’ve intervened.

False Super Saiyan looks as cool as normalSSJ, but it really comes out of nowhere and serves no purpose. Goku doesn’t even defeat Slug and the form wears out for no reason at all and then is never mentioned again.

I like Namekians being sensitive to whistling. Such a random, fun piece of lore.

2/10. Like with DBS: Broly, there’s worse shit to come.
 
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Pakl

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 3 - Lord Slug

Lord Slug combines the two best Dragon Ball villains that are Freeza and Piccolo. So obviously, this is the most boring movie this far.

I’m not sure if the very premise of this movie makes sense. Planetary disasters shouldn’t be much of an issue to Goku and co. post Namek, even if this is their mid Freeza Saga selves. Lord Slug is such a Freeza rip off that even two of his goons look exactly like Freeza’s. The similarities to Piccolo are way more obvious and not even worth pointing out.

The movie really doesn’t have a lot going on. Evil guy wants to take over Earth and gets beaten by Goku. Granted you could say the same about most movies, but this one is literally just it. Most other villains had wanted more. Garlic Jr wanted revenge, Willow wanted Roshi’s body, Tullece wanted to plan the Shinseiju. Slug was literally JUST world domination.

The movie drags on because Goku and Kuririn are taken out for no reason at all. Literally nothing important happens without them. There’s Piccolo vs Dorodabo, which is very cool, but it’s not like Goku would’ve intervened.

False Super Saiyan looks as cool as normalSSJ, but it really comes out of nowhere and serves no purpose. Goku doesn’t even defeat Slug and the form wears out for no reason at all and then is never mentioned again.

I like Namekians being sensitive to whistling. Such a random, fun piece of lore.

2/10. Like with DBS: Broly, there’s worse shit to come.
Lord Slug is movie 4, not movie 3.
 

GreatSaiyaman123

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 5 - Cooler’s Revenge

What can I say about this movie that hasn’t been said already? Cooler and co. are great additions to the lore. Piccolo gets some more spotlight killing all the goons. Cooler and Goku’s fight looks great. Power scaling is a bit wonky though. Does Goku need SSJ to beat Freeza or not?

7/10
 
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