If memory serves, this is the first ‘Dragonball Z’ OVA to directly reference the events of the manga/TV series. playing out almost as a ‘What If?’ ‘Coolers Revenge’ picks up in an alternate timeline where Goku defeated Freeza AND Vegeta seemingly, before returning to earth. Namek was still destroyed, New Namek never existed, Goku never learned instant transmission and everything from the moment Goku launched the spirit Bomb at Freeza onwards seemingly never happened.

In this timeline, its revealed that Freeza had a brother ‘Cooler’, and, on hearing of Freezas demise, Cooler decides to head to earth to kill the Saiyan that disgraced his families namesake. Meanwhile, back on earth, Goku and the gang are getting ready for a camping trip to blow off some steam after the whole ‘Namekian Genocide’ business…at which point Cooler and his cronies arrive, wreck up the place, and force Goku to once again fight for the lives of the people of earth!

Much like the special before it, ‘Coolers Revenge’ feels like the creators have kind of found a system and format for how these <60 minute specials should play out. On the one hand, the formula they’ve put together means that these stories very rarely end up awful now…On the downside, its INCREDIBLY repetative, and the fact that these specials ARE sub 60 minutes means we dont really get the nuance, backstory or character development needed to really truely appreciate whats at stake or why we should really care.

I cant fault the visuals, this looks like a beefed up, more refined take on the TV series animations. I cant fault Cooler as a character, though. I dont really know what seperates him from Turles, Lord Slug or any of the other ‘baddies’ from these films up to this point. He’s not quite as interesting or charismatic as Freeza and the lack of runtime means we dont really get to see his personality develop much past ‘You killed my brother, prepare to die.’ which is a real shame.

Coolers cronies arnt as enigmatic as the Ginue force, Krillin and Gohan largely go AWOL for a big chunk of this, Piccolo basically appears out of nowhere halfway into the story. This doesnt feel like a special or even particularly cinematic event. It feels like a 2 part ‘filler’ story within the TV series. Thats not inherently a bad thing, but it did make me wonder really why they bothered to make this a ‘special’ in the way that they did.

In short, ‘Coolers Revenge’ isnt a particularly groundbreaking Dragonball film. Its too short to allow the characters to develop and breath, or for the story to get the nuance it needs to be fully fleshed out. But its too long and deals too heavily in ‘non canon’ events for it to really fit in to the TV series or carry any weight behind it.

I know Cooler has a sequel special right after this one, so I guess if that ones any good, then this one will kind of become essential to understanding that one. On its own though? its kind of unremarkable. Im not unhappy i’ve seen it, given Coolers connection to the mainline TV series, i’d say it IS worth watching just as a bit of an oddity, and at <50 minutes, its hardly a mammoth watch. Im kind of glad I saw it at least once. But It’ll probably be a while before I watch it again.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-coolers-revenge/