TYTD Reviews

A nice complimentary piece to Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Elvis Biopic. EPiC is essentially a pseudo documentary/concert film that came about as a result of Luhrmanns research team discovering hundreds of hours of previously unseen footage of Elvis performing in and around his Vegas residency period. The film flows in and out of songs with linking interview narration from the King himself as he talks about his feelings towards being a performer, his personal life and the toll it takes on him.

I always find documentary hard to really comment on, concert films even moreso really…But whats presented here is probably the best Elvis ‘Concert’ film to be released commercially (Not including the comeback special or ‘Aloah from Hawaii’) its imperfect…but its rock solid.

What works here is the editing, which is frankly obscenely good in my opinion. there are segments of the edit here where we weave in and out of different iterations of Elvis singing the same song at different points in the 70s and it flows and moves so effortlessly as to be border faultless. The music mixing is excellent REALLY blowing the dust of these rapidly approaching 50 year old recordings and remixing demos live performances and studio mixes to produce a modern feeling, but respectful of the era set of song mixes that on a good sound system felt like you were watching the concert itself live in person.

The documentary elements are a nice touch and help weave a solid narrative between the Elvis the crowd saw, and the quieter; goofier counterpart hanging out back stage.

It also has to be said that this footage looks immaculate, they mix in some more famous archive footage with the newly restored stuff, but all of it looks incredible, almost as if filmed yesterday and on a big screen, it really shows every fine detail. its really a remarkable work.

As for the not so good? Well…while I do think they did a good job in remastering and remixing the concert tracks, they have a really bad habit of mixing tiny snippets of other elvis songs into the film…but not really developing them or cutting them short. The most notable one for me being a brief moment where they start to play ‘An American Trilogy’ but cut it short before it even really begins. ‘In the Ghetto’ gets similar treatment. And it was frustrating because they are two personal favourites of mine, and to have them play about 20 seconds of them both before cutting to something compeletly different left me aching to see what they could have done with those tracks.

Equally; while the editing for the most part is an incredible work…with ‘Polk Salad Annie’ being a particular highlight for me. Sometimes it feels a little TOO breakneck for its own good, careering around the show and the audience to the point that it becomes difficult to really keep track of what im supposed to be looking at…the random use of psychadelic manipulation of the concert footage as well at times worked out okay…But for the most part just felt a bit cheap and weird…and not in a good way.

But! Overall, I really liked this one. i’ll almost certainly nab a 4k if it gets one, I can absolutely recommend it if your a fan of 70s Elvis, or just like the hits. and I can definitely see myself catching this one again in future. Though…quite HOW they missed out ‘See See Rider’ given it was Elvis’s intro song for a LOT of his concerts is totally missed on me!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/epic-elvis-presley-in-concert/

Watched on Saturday February 28, 2026.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/bloodbath-at-the-house-of-death/1/

Watched on Saturday February 28, 2026.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-harry-hill-movie/2/

I’m probably quite bias really because, i’ve been a fan of the works of Harry Hill from pretty much his first outings on TV in ‘Fruit Fancies’ and ‘The Harry Hill Show’, and as a fan of surreal and weird comedy more generally; Im an easy sell to his brand of weird and wonderful alternative comedy.

By the early 2010’s Harry Hills popularity was pretty much at its peak, ‘TV Burp’ had been leading Saturday afternoons and syndication slots ratings wise for years, only backed up by him also dominating ratings slots with his hosting duties on ‘You’ve been framed!’ (Essentially the UK’s version of ‘Americas funniest Home Videos) he’d managed to get himself into that sweet spot of being affectionately adored by not only grown ups who grew up watching him do increasingly daft things on stage and TV, but by a new generation of kids who were bored in rainy England and suddenly had this unpredictable firework of a man explode onto their screens.

A ‘Harry Hill’ movie had been on and off in the works for the better part of a decade by the 2010’s, but in 2013; they’d finally pull the trigger and the results are ultimately a mixture of good to iffy that I feel gets a LOT of slander sent its way, simply because it didnt meet the audiences expectations.

SO. ‘The Harry Hill Movie’ is set in a surreal and colourful version of the UK in which Harry lives with his Nan in a bungalow and gets up to all kinds of crazy things from Rascle scooter races to Chicken based warfare. However, Harry’s getting older and wants his Nan to move out of the Bungalow so that he can bring girls around…Thats when his Nan reveals that Harry in fact has a long lost twin who was abandoned by her and raised by Alsations. A revelation that doesnt really land with much of a splash to Harry, as she apparently always tells him this story whenever ‘Eggs’ are mentioned, and for the fact that there are dozens of photos of this ‘long lost twin’ all over the house.

This subplot is cut short however as the main plotline reveals itself. Harry has a puppet Hamster named ‘Abu’ (voiced by Johnny Vegas) and he’s sick. They take him to the vet, where they reveal that Abu only has 1 week left to live. Distraught. Harry and his Nan take Abu home and ask him, if he could have one thing before he dies, what would it be? To which Abu says ‘A date with Rhianna’ but Harry misinterprets as ‘A trip to the top of the Blackpool Tower’.

Thus; a great British roadtrip begins to get Abu to Blackpool before his untimely demise and all the crazy and wild hijynx that come with it. However! they wont be travelling alone! as its revealed that the Vets Harry went to previously was in fact a secret hideout for 2 Evil henchmen…WHO ARE WORKING FOR HARRYS EVIL TWIN!

Thus! Comedy shenanigans ensue, as the dim witted henchmen try to capture Abu to take back to their boss. Abu thwarts there attempts, and Harry and his Nan obliviously take in the sights and sounds of Britain.

I’ll be honest; I never really fully understood the hate that this movie recieved, even on my first time watching it, it felt very much in line with Harrys ‘schtick’ from the stage and in line with his more ‘stand up’ oriented TV shows like ‘The Harry Hill Show’.

A bit of an issue that Harry experiences as a comedian is that, because he’s a colourful and whimsical comedian, he predominantly appeals to kids, BUT. because he’s also got a nice dark comedy streak running as an undercurrent and is prone to rug pulls and ‘blunt’ comedy, adults like him too. This, at its heart is aiming to be a family comedy, with emphasis on it being fun for the kids, but enough humour for the grownups to have a fine time too. But I feel a lot of adult viewers go into this expecting his more snarky ‘TV Burp’ persona and for it to be more in line with his more mature comedy stuff, and come away incredibly dissapointed when its just a silly 87 minute romp that runs the gauntlet of Slapstick, gross out, innuendo, visual gags, low brow and high brow humour.

Im not going to sit here and say that this films a masterpiece or a true original. Fundamentally it feels almost identical tonally to ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’, just without the darker elements or the Burton-esq direction.

But what I can say is that (in my opinion) this is a reletively sturdy kids comedy film that opens strong, maintains a good pace and tone through most of the second act, and maybe slows down just a little *too* much in the third act for its own good.

Otherwise? it keeps a good pace for most of the runtime, i’d say the gags land more than they flop. the dialogues got a nice waft of Harry all the way through it. The final act is a little turbulent, being honest, this is a surreal comedy movie. I wasnt expecting a powerful and emotional resolution. But the end does feel more like a wimper than a bang, and the comedy kind of starts to get sidelined in favour of the plot as the 2nd act winds down…But the plot isnt all that remarkable, which means there are points in the 3rd act where it seems to get a bit dry.

Humour obviously is subjective, but i’d say I laughed my way through the majority of this, nothing too ‘gut buster’ great. But enough to keep me watching comfortably till the end without clock watching. The characters are all fun, non serious and whimsical. And while its not the most ‘original’ film in the world, I could still appreciate it for what it was and I think it works fine enough as a complete work.

The direction is probably my favourite element of this, a tapestry of animation, stop motion and hyper colourful visuals, its a swirling picture of ideas and concepts that, for the most part feels like a non stop rollercoaster of thought. However; that does come at a bit of a drawback because they’re throwing so much at the screen at one time, that I feel some ideas dont really get the time to develop to their maximum pay out. there are LOTS of incidents where something funny will be shown, and then promptly dropped or forgotted, when; had they given it just a bit more time, or developed it further. it could have led to a bigger laugh.

The cine too is wonderful, a flurry of an edit supports colourful and funky visuals that show a real creative flare. Do I think this is the prettiest film in the world? absolutely not. But its distinct and has character, and in a sea of movies that choose ‘polish’ over ‘presentation’…I think that counts for something.

Performance wise, I had a real good time with this one. Harry and Julie Walters play their parts exquisitly and are essentially worth the price of admission alone, cameos from Julian Barrat and Jim Broadbent were surreal, but very welcome as they totally throw themselves into the characters.

I do have to say though, while there are some fun performances here, some of the supporting cast dont quite feel right to me. Matt Lucas misses the mark by a hairs breadth as Harrys evil twin, coming so close to getting the performance right for me. But just…Not quite scratching the itch. I feel like he cant quite balance the ‘evil but whimsical’ line…and the end result is a just kind of…weird neutral zone that was fine…but not great.

Simon Day, Sheredin Smith and Guillaume Delaunay as ‘Michelle’ and the evil henchmen again just…dont quite feel right here, they feel a bit awkward in places, almost like they dont quite commit fully to the surreal element of the performance. Its somewhat understandable, as comedy often teaches to have a ‘straight man’ and a ‘fall guy’. But Harrys specific style of humour means that playing that kind of, slightly self aware and awkward persona, doesnt quite land…it works temporarily if its done by an extra, or as a one off bit. But giving a support character that personality type for the full runtime means the film regularly feels like its reviewing its own confidence on the situation…which I wasnt a big fan of.

The film is also partly a muscial (because why not?) and the songs range from actual earworms that’ll stay with you well past the credits (Julie Walters rapping has to be seen to be believed) through to actually just kind of pedestrian parodies that take longer than i’d like to be over with. On the whole? with the inclusion of some ‘jukebox’ numbers…its fine. but almost certainly could have been better.

On the whole? I feel like ‘The Harry Hill Movie’ hit the same issues that ‘The Three Stooges’ revival movie encountered…Which is that you have this household name thats loved by multiple generations, but has evolved and grown in so many different directions that trying to accomodate all tastes and flavours becomes and almost impossible task, this coupled with the fact it feels SO close to ‘Pee Wees Big Adventure’ in execution, leaves it feeling a little bit *too* specific for mainstream appeal…

That being said, I enjoyed it. I think its a fine enough way to get introduced to Harrys style as a performer and comic. It keeps a good pace, is genuinely funny in places and almost certainly could have been a lot LOT worse. Id even go as far as to say this is somewhat underrated, and i’d say if you havent seen it before, and you like weird alternative british comedy like ‘The Mighty boosh’ or ‘Garth Marenghis Darkplace’…Or if your just an Adult swim fan…you’ll probably get a bit of a kick out of this.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-harry-hill-movie/1/

And so, we arrive at the final ‘Original era’ Dragonball Z movie…and; well…its something I guess.

The plot here is set some time after the Buu Saga concluded, with the gang chilling and just…doing what they’ve always done, when a mysterious Warlock appears with a music box, claiming he DESPERATELY needs it opening in order to release a long trapped hero that will save the earth from an incoming threat. The gang try their hardest to open the music box before realising that its sealed magically, and will need the help of the Dragonballs to break the seal.

Naturally; they do this, and it turns out the Hero was sealed in there for a good reason, as the Warlock is revealed to have alterior motives and a curse that was sealed away with the hero ends up unleashed threatening the entire planet with annihilation.

Theres a fundamental issue with ‘Wrath of the Dragon’ as a film, and its an issue the film makers were clearly aware of, because they make it a mission to try their absolute DAMNEDEST to try and make you forget about key plot points from ‘Dragonball’.

Because you see, the ancient evil thats unleashed is some kind of ‘legendary’ demon beast from hell that annihilates planets when its awakened…and if youve ever watched the original run of ‘Dragonball’ you’ll know that a key plotline of the back half of that series is around a demon ressurected and rejuvinated, attempting to destroy the planet, and Goku, Master Roshi and the teams attempt to seal him away using the ‘Evil Containment wave’ technique. Which is LITERALLY a move designed to capture ancient evil entities and contain them near permanently in a jar or rice cooker…NEVER to be seen again.

Funnily enough, the Evil containment wave technique doesnt get a single mention in this film, so how do I know that the film makers were aware that it existed and would be THE biggest solution to this problem? Because Piccolo is totally and completely missing from this film. And, in fairness, it would be impossible to include him in this plot without the ‘Evil Containment Wave’ technique cropping up in conversation, given thats literally the reason he’s a friend and not a foe by this point in the series.

Now, I know that the ‘Evil Containment Wave’ could have been used at many MANY points in this series. But for the vast majority of cases there IS actually an in universe reason as to why they couldnt REALLY use it…Not in this movie though! they just bashed out a half assed Kaiju by way of Evangelion plotline and then realised at the end of pre-production that they actually had a major issue on their hands, so they had to hide all evidence of the quick fix as QUICKLY as possible.

As such, whats left is a…slightly bizarre alternate origin story for how Future Trunks wound up the way he is…and outside of that its basically just ‘The gang fight a big scary monster’ thats somehow stronger, and more dangerous than ‘Kid Buu’…a character that could literally destroy galaxies in a couple of hours and could rip a hole in reality into hell to go destroy that too!…But at the same time, the new threats not SO strong that he can really even destrou a city in a couple of days…

This whole things a great big convoluted contradiction of the shows own rules on power scaling. And while it is nice that they focus a bit more on Trunks here and give him more of a fleshed out character, it pushes everyone else into the fringes of the story and makes it all feel a bit flat ultimately.

I didnt actively hate this one, but the pacing is so lumpy, the tone is just weird…it tries humour, but it just doesnt work quite right here, and the serious moments arnt nearly played serious enough to make me invested, as such it falls between two chairs ultimately, leading to the feeling of ‘Dragon Ball Z…if it was made by Temu’

As is the case with all of these, I cant really fault the art direction, cine or storyboarding, this looks pretty awesome in places…But the story is such a mess and the characters are so…out of character for most of the runtime (not to mention they do that GOD awful thing of giving key core characters 3 minutes of screentime before locking them up away…I WANT MORE ROSHI AND VEGETA GODDAMNIT!…it all feels quite hollow.

Ultimately; this one is a film that I feel I’ll only watch again if im going through all the movies. Its not good enough or ‘Vibey’ enough for me to just put on on a whim.

I cant recommend this one, even if your curious about the alternate ‘what if?’ factor of, what did the gang get up to after the anime ended…Very much a movie led by ‘Nice Video; Shame about the song’.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-wrath-of-the-dragon/

The penultimate entry in the original ‘Dragon Ball Z’ movie franchise and…Well…if you just want a quick caption review of this one, what this movie lacks in substance and plot, it MORE than makes up for with frankly BEYOND bizarre visual storytelling.

The plot? This is set in one of those ‘What If?’ universes, and based on what information we’re told of this timeline, its set in a world where ‘Kid Buu’ never happened and the Z fighters somehow managed to defeat Majin Buu in his original form. The end result? Goku is still dead, as is Vegeta and Piccolo is presumably dead too.

Why does this matter? Well; because the film opens with Goku taking part in the afterlife equivilent of the ‘Tournament of Power’ as a representative fighter for King Kai, when danger strikes. See; at the check in point between heaven and hell, an explosion happens in one of the hell ‘cleansing’ tanks, releasing raw, condensed energy into the environment in gas form. This evil power gas attaches to one of the demons who works in processing for hell and turns him into an ungodly powerful super demon who creates a hard barrier around the check in desk, not only trapping all the demons IN the check in area. But removing the barrier that keeps dead people in Heaven or Hell.

This in turn then creates this films two key storylines, with Goku travelling down to the check in desk to defeat the super demon thats created the barrier and restore order, while plot B focusses on earth, as Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Videl (along with a Mr. Satan Cameo) fight an army of the evil dead that have returned to earth looking to take it over…

And…Theres no way really around this, one of the subplots is Goten and Trunks fighting the DBZ universes equivilent of Adolf Hitler…Who ponders recruiting the kids when they turn Super Saiyan due to their blonde hair, blue eyes and strong physiques…This film goes to strange places.

Is this film great? No. The story is an absolute mess, a mixture of frankly BIZZARE comedy moments that literally wouldnt happen today and what feels like a half hearted filler arc from DBZ. The pacings all over the place, as is the tone, the whole thing feels like scraps of ideas that have been reformed into some kind of Schwarma log of a movie.

And like a Schwarma…I know its bad for me, I know I couldnt eat one every day…but damnit if it isnt tasty.

This is a movie that I just sat agog in front of for 50 minutes, and while it wasnt exactly wall to wall insanity, it didnt stop the experience from feeling jarring, surreal and strange all in one. At times, it felt almost like a parody of DBZ, but a parody in the most respectful and sincere way that a movie in which children fight the reincarnated army of Hitler COULD feel respectful and sincere.

There are some works that I think its fair to say, are hard to explain the love for them. This is a movie that…I cant really explain exactly why I love it, but the vibes, the way its assembled and its ‘IDGAF’ attitude to its audience is just…SO watchable. Its a junk food movie in the best possible way.

Adding to this some wonderfully creative and distinct art direction and some interesting cine choices. Cameos galore and some of the best fight sequences in the franchise up to this point. I debated whether to give this 3.5 or 4 stars because, ultimately this is just a nonsensical, throwaway 50 minute farse. But thats ultimately what makes me love it so much. With films like ‘Broly: The legendary Super Saiyan’ or ‘Bojack Unbound’ I felt like they were fine enough stories, but a little dry at times and kind of…less in touch with the more humourous side of DBZ (which I quite like) this is wall to wall bonkers weirdness, with just a dash of stoic fighting to break up the flow…and honestly? I really kind of loved it for that.

Could I recommend it? I’d say if you’ve seen DBZ and like the lighter, more funny aspects of the series, then absolutely! This is one you really wont wanna miss. If you’ve watched the movies and found them a bit dry…then again; THIS will very likely be the film for you! But I cant reccomend this to newcomers to the show, and if you dont much care for the funnier elements of the Dragonball series, you almost certainly will think this is the worst thing ever made…I had a blast with it though!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-fusion-reborn/

Well; I dont know what I expected from a movie called ‘Bio Broly’ that was billed ‘the concluding part of the ‘Broly’ trilogy’ given what went down in ‘Broly: Second Coming’…But this was…actually pretty on the money. I wont go as far as to say its a ‘return to form’ or even really ‘good’. But its doing something weird, and it isnt relying heavily on the original cast…So I guess its kind of step in the right direction?

The plot here is that we pick up shortly after the tournament of power…again…and probably about 6-12 months after ‘Broly: Second Coming’ as Goten and Trunks are hanging around with Krillin, Android 18 and their daughter. 18 has gone to visit Mr. Satan to collect the Zeni she claimed for throwing their fight in the tournament of power, but he’s being sheepish in handing it over.

Shortly thereafter, a mysterious stranger turns up with a challenge for Mr. Satan. At first Hercule is dismissive, but then he finds out theres a cash prize and that his opponent is an old underling of his who went rogue…So to take some easy money (and to get away from 18) he accepts the challenge. But 18 doesnt give up so easily and demands to go with them until Satan pays up…and somehow Goten and Trunks sneak aboard for the journey to.

The gang arrive at a castle where its revealed Hercules old sparring partner has been bio-genetically creating incredibly strong fighters, with the aim being to put them up against Satan one on one leading to a terrifying final opponant. Satan IMMEDIATELY backs out, and 18 decides to bribe Satan again, offering to fight these bio-monsters on hisd behalf for another 20 million Zeni. Satan agrees.

Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks head down to the basement of the castle and find the Bio lab…and they notice that in one of the tanks, there appears to be a Saiyan growing in a tube..but it isnt just any Saiyan…Yes Brolys back. His blood was rescued from the site where he was killed and using some genetic splicing they’ve managed to create a ‘Bio-Broly’ not quite as strong as the original, but infused with DNA of the strongest fighters in the world.

Trunks and Goten know they cant let Bio-Broly fully form, so they blow his tank up. and the results of them interrupting his ‘cooking’ is that Broly turns into a giant melty man who is seemingly totally impervious and has laser eyes…Cue fight to the death.

This ones marginally better than ‘Broly: Second coming’ in my opinion, and thats purely down to the interactions between Goten and Trunks, and Mr. Satan and…well…anyone who comes into contact with Mr. Satan.

I LOVE Mr. Satan as a character, hes so out of place in the DBZ universe and in the same breath is EXACTLY what the series needs in my opinion to help break up just…endless aura farming and fight scenes. So just him being him for most of the runtime was enough to help prop this thing up.

But as an actual movie? Its better formed than ‘Second Coming’ but its still a blunt mess. The plot is literally just ‘the gang fight a melty monster’ THe Bio Broly design is uninspiring, he doesnt have any real character or personality. he’s just a lumbering ‘Zombie like’ unkillable machine…until they figure out the one thing that CAN kill him, at which point he dies off pretty much instantly. The pacing on this is jarring, its really 2 stories for most of the runtime, and when they come together towards the back end of the second act its lumpy and doesnt feel all that satisfying.

Theres some nice humour here, but again; we’re getting weighed down with random ‘saves’ from the OG cast who again, arnt in this movie AT ALL; until the 5 seconds they suddently turn up for seeminly no other reason than the studios simply CAN NOT make a Dragonball movie without Goku…which is a shame…

Otherwise? this is pretty by the numbers, lighter, more humerous and fun than the last Broly movie…Still not particularly noteworthy or great, the animations nice, but derivative, the art direction is actually quite poor considering what came before it. Its just a kind of meh entry. Ironically; one I likely WILL revisit, purely because its got great ‘background movie’ energy. But not one I could actively recommend, unless your a ‘Mr Satan’ or ‘Goten and Trunks’ fan.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-bio-broly/

It feels almost like a bad idea from the off. It was undenyable that ‘Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan’ was a character that really resonated with DBZ fans, and while I wasnt particularly smitten with his first outing, even I conceeded that; if ‘Cooler’ could get two movies after being fired into the SUN!. It wouldnt be TOO farfetched that Broly could return in some way shape or form.

Unfortunately; And I have NO idea why they chose to, the plot for Broly’s BIG return is pretty baffling and, even if im being generous doesnt really fit the standard set in the first movie.

So the plot here is that, a short time after the events of the first ‘Broly’ movie, Broly somehow survived being utterly obliterated and escaped in a saiyan pod…and wouldnt you know it, of all the planets he could crash land on, he landed on earth, crashing into a frozen lake, which quickly refroze around him.

Since then, while heavily injured, Broly has been aura farming the surrounding area, draining the land of its energy so that he can recover enough strength to return. But now several years have passed, Goku is dead still, Vegeta cant be bothered to fight and Videl is essentially just…hanging around babysitting Goten and Trunks because…what else is she going to do?

Goten and Trunks have decided, for a lark, to hunt down the dragonballs to wish for fun and adventure. and while hunting for the 4th ball (because…of COURSE its the 4th ball) they stumble on a withered village overgrown with diamond cut crystals. Videl is shocked that such a poor and withered looking area could have such riches, and thats when they stumble on the locals who inform her that a beast has been attacking the village for years and a sacrifice is needed to appease it.

Goten and Trunks step in and agree to take out the monster…and they THINK they catch it…but its just a random dinosaur, and after an altercation in which Goten screams PAINFULLY loudly for a VERY long time, the Saiyan cry awakens Broly.

Cue, probably one of the more embarrssing moments in DBZ history, as ‘The Legendary Super Saiyan’ whos power is apparently unending and unmatched universally, gets messed around by two kids who are both half Saiyans until Gohan turns up, recognises Broly and a final battle commences for the safety of earth.

Tepid is probably the best summary I can give for this one, its half hearted in almost everything it tries to do. I like Goten and Trunks, I think they’re funny and Im quite sad to see they dont really get developed on all that much across ‘Super’ and ‘Daima’ but an opportunity to see the gang in action post ‘tournament of power’ (albeit in a non canon sense) was welcome. But they dont really do all that much, the adventure itself is kind of underwhelming, not helped either by the fact that the core cast (Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo) are simultaineously TOTALLY absent from this…APART from VERY fleeting cameos that happen at key moments that could have been good developmental moments for Goten, Trunks and Gohan.

Literally, the film will put Goten, Trunks and Gohan in a situation where they might ACTUALLY assert themselves as ‘big’ hero material…only to then have them immediately undercut by a piccolo cameo…that isnt EVEN a piccolo cameo…its a fake out.

It feels like the film wasnt comfortable existing as just a Goten and Trunks vehical, and from what i’ve read online, this is a recurring problem, where the studio just will NOT let the series grow past Goku. and thats a real shame because, this universe is incredibly rich and diverse, and i’d love to see the other cast members actually get a chance to grow and develop.

Instead? this feels like weak filler for the most part, it likely would be a 3-4 episode arc of the series, and not a particularly memorable one. Cheeky humour is pretty much the only thing this has going for it, and Broly; who had a detailed and complex backstory that genuinely gave a sense of menace, uncertainty and unease. Here? is just a ‘Frankensteins Monster’ of a character, who can barely get the name ‘Kakarot’ out in one piece between screams and groans. Its a MASSIVE downscaling of the character that takes him from tragic villain to just…a slab of meat in mittens.

The fight scenes are formulaeic, Im not the biggest fan of Videl as a character, the whole thing is just screaming ‘cash grab’ which…given this came out a year after the ‘Dragonball Z’ anime concluded, isnt surprising…

The animation is about on par with the TV series, but given where we’ve just come from, this is a series that feels tired. It isnt really giving anything new, and even with half the OG cast missing, it still somehow feels like its retreading old ground.

The animation and art direction is ‘to standard’, and I do enjoy the antics on screen (for the most part) but ultimately; this one just wasnt really for me. I’d say if you like Goten and Trunks as characters, you’ll probably get a kick out of this, but if your coming here expecting an epic follow up with Broly. you will be bitterly…BITTERLY. dissapointed.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-broly-second-coming/

A bit of a sideways entry in my ongoing ‘Dragonball Z movie’ marathon. ‘The History of Trunks’ is a TV special made shortly after ‘Dragonball Z’ concluded that shows the ‘alternate’ timeline thatlead into the ‘Android Saga’. Essentially the reality that Future Trunks came back in time to warn Goku and the gang about in the anime series.

In this reality, Noone came back to give Goku the antidote for his heart virus, he dies and the androids are released 12 months later, the ‘Z’ fighters try to tackle them, but all of them barring Gohan and Trunks are defeated. Forcing Master Roshi and the surviving members of the gang to go deep into hiding and Bulma to go ‘underground’ to try and develop a way to defeat the androids.

For 13 years the androids tear across the planet doing what they want and destroying large swathes of the population, while Gohan tries to catch up with them for intermittent bouts to try and put an end to them. At which point a now teenage Trunks decides he needs to act to try and save the future, and turns to Gohan for mentorship.

I actually really quite liked the idea of this one, though I felt the execution of it was a little bit messy. the alternate ‘Androids destroy everything’ timeline is a particularly bleak narrative in the ‘Dragonball Z’ anime, and there are genuinely captivatingly awful moments here that make you realise just how much of a threat the original Androids really were.

However; where I think this special kind of botches is a bit is nowhere NEAR enough time is put into setting the androids up as a credible threat in this reality up front. In fact, rather frustratingly; they rush through Gokus death, the androids being activated and all the ‘Z’fighters dying largely using recycled footage from the anime in the opening 2-5 minutes of the special. with almost the entirity of the rest of the special being set 13 years after everyone died and Trunks trying to train with Gohan.

The issue for me is, because they rush all of that critical character building narrative, and worse still they do it with recycled footage, it makes the stakes feel woefully low. The Sadist in me wanted to see the ‘Z’ fighters have a good go of taking on the androids, to feel the weight of their deaths a bit more, to see that, these Androids were VERY much different from their anime counterparts and that the risks were significantly higher…but they gloss it over so that we can see 17 and 18 destroy an amusement park or try on clothes. it makes the sudden darker shifts in the 3rd act when Gohan and Trunks try an ‘all or nothing’ attack on the androids feel actually quite out of place when compared the relatively calm sparring the rest of the special has. Which is a shame as some of the most emotional moments in the entire franchise happen in this special, but they’re undercut seemingly to save money.

Id say the pacings a bit rushed, the tones a bit uneven, but the story itself is solidly told, gives a good idea of what ‘Future Trunks’ had on his mind ahead of his trip into the past, and closes the loop on the Android arc. Though part of me does wonder if the alternate reality Trunks described in the anime was better left to the imagination.

Visually, its about in line with the anime, a handful of VERY striking shots in the finale help just tip this over the edge into something a bit more than just the level of the series at this time. But otherwise it is kind of by the numbers.

If you’ve watched all of ‘Dragonball Z’ this is a pretty nice epilogue piece to sandwhich inbetween the ‘Cell Games’ arc and the start of the ‘Buu’ arc. But is it essential? No. No I wouldnt say it was. Its one of the better Dragonball Z movies/Specials. But I cannot stress enough how dissapointing it is that they didnt just chuck a bit more cash at this one, make it an hour total and give us a firmer opening act, rather than the clip show treatment.

I’ll almost certainly include this in future rewatches of ‘Z’ because It does give the series. a bit more weight, but I dont think I could say hand on heart this was one you absolutely needed to see.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-the-history-of-trunks/

Notable as being the last Dragonball Z movie before the time skip post ‘Cell Games’ ‘Bojack Unbound’ is a bit of a strange movie in all honesty. Painfully close to being a Dragonball movie thats almost unhappy to be one.

The plot picks up a year or so after the events of the Cell Games, and a new world martial arts tournament is set to take place, but this time with a twist! as the semi finalists planned for the tournament are being imported from a galaxy far far away! naturally the ‘Z’ fighters all sign up, apart from Goku, who’s dead still…and weirdly Vegeta who decided it wasnt worth his time.

We fly through the tournament with relative ease until we’re down to four finalists including Gohan, Trunks and Krillin. But when the reach the semi finals, rather than some medium powered aliens meeting them. We have Bojack. an alien/demon who is allegedly about as powerful as Perfect Cell (give or take) who was previously known for his attempts to destroy the galaxy. He was defeated and sealed away in a star by the Kais, but with Goku destroying King Kais planet, the seal has been broken and Bojack is now ‘Unbound’ (see what they did there?)

With that, the gang must work together to take out Bojack and his crew before they destroy the earth and carry on their galaxy destroying plans…Oh! and Mr. Satans in this one, as he’s supposed to be the challenger they face in the finals…he’s comic relief for the most part.

The more I think about this one, the less enthused I am by it. The plot feels almost like a throwback to the early DBZ movies like ‘Dead Zone’ and ‘Tree of Might’. Its weird seeing an alternate take on the ‘world martial arts tournament’ given that around this same time, the exact same plotline would happen in the official anime as part of the Buu saga.

The weirdest part of all of this is the absence of Goku and Vegeta…and the sudden ‘stop/start’ involvement in the narrative. Goku is dead. he cant leave the afterlife, its an established canonical fact. And as such he spends most of the film just kind of…describing what the audience is seeing, and eventually they just full on break the rules of the series so that he can have a quick ‘saviour’ moment.

Vegeta is shown for the most part nowhere near the tournament, but then he randomly shows up, gets his ass kicked and then leaves again. Piccolo dips from the tournament all together and only shows up to aura farm, get beaten up, and then leave again.

And probably my biggest gripe, the tournament of power stuff is done and dusted within about 15 minutes of the runtime. I’ll be honest, id have just quite happily watched a ‘tournament of power’ movie with Bojack as the final villain. But they hand it off so quickly, as if IT’S getting int he way of a good story. when the reality is they burnt through there one good thing to get to an extended fight scene with almost no variety.

It feels like a conflicting narrative between the studio, the writer and the editor. With the writer wanting it to be a more ‘Gohan’ and lore driven story, the studio demanding Goku, Vegeta and Piccalo get SOME action in for the trailers, and the editor wanting to keep things on a steady course in line with how the series usually flows.

It results in a, not unpleasent, but very messy ‘thrown together’ feeling movie. This is a DBZ film that feels like its kids playing with action figures.

Bojack is hardly the most original villain in the series, And because of the pacing being the way it is, we never really feel bedded into the who these people are and why they’re doing what they’re doing. the pacings all over the place and tonally its massively inconsistent.

The Mr. Satan segments are fun enough, but its basically just a repeat of the Cell games ‘schtick’ sometimes lifting whole gags adhoc and just doinf them again. He doesnt really get to do all that much and his redesign isnt really my cup of tea.

While I can say the art direction and visuals here are nice, with the back half and SS2 Gohan looking particularly incredible, this is very much ‘Nice video, shame about the song’ a strong creative piece with almost nothing new to say or do.

Not one I can really actively recommend. I’d say its ‘inoffensive’ if your already watching the movies, you’ll probably get on fine with this. But if you’re looking to just watch ‘The Best’ this aint it.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-bojack-unbound/