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/

‘Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan’ is the 8th film in the DBZ movie franchise, the first of a trilogy of ‘Broly’ movies from this era, and one of the most universally loved movies in the DBZ series. Though; having seen it now, im not entirely sure why…Dont get me wrong! I liked it…but LOVED it? thought it was the best movie in the entire original run???…I wouldnt go that far.

The film opens with Goku and Chichi waiting on an interview to try and get Gohan into a prestigeous school, when Goku recieves a communication from King Kai asking him to head to his location asap. While this is going on the rest of the gang are enjoying Cherry blossom season by having a picnic (and a few drinks) in the park, when a mysterious spaceship lands, hundreds of soldiers emerge along with a Saiyan, who immediately make a B-line for Vegeta and inform him that they’ve been looking for him for decades, and that he is to return to ‘New Vegeta’ the future Saiyan homeworld to rule the new land as king, but ALSO to help them track down and destroy ‘The Legendary Super Saiyan’ a Saiyan folk lore character of unbridled power and destruction, who…is now apparently REAL and needs to be destroyed to ensure the peace of New Vegeta.

Vegeta agrees, Trunks decides to follow him, and a handful of the rest of the gang end up being accidentally abducted for extra ‘Shenanigans’.

On landing however, they find quite a different story taking place, no sign of the Saiyan can be found, and on exploring ‘New Vegeta’ the gang find the planets enhabitants largely enslaved. When Goku arrives Him and Vegeta are introduced to ‘Broly’ a timid and quiet soul who our new mystery Saiyan ‘gifts’ to Vegeta in order to help him find this murderous Legendary Saiyan…However it may transpire that Broly isnt all he’s cracked up to be at a glance…and that the gang may have a fight for there very lives…and a mission to save a planet at risk of being totally destroyed.

Broly is an interesting beast in terms of ‘Dragonball’ lore, because its the first time in these movies that we get some actual Saiyan lore sprinkled into these films. Broly is a somewhat interesting villain, though not a particularly complex one, and thats ultimately the biggest thing that hamstrings the production. The Villain cant be that deep or complex, and once its established who IS the villain(s) of this piece, the film kind of starts to fall apart a bit, as it devolves into just endless fight montages, and not particularly creative ones.

The film clocks in at 72 minutes, and seemingly has the opposite problem to the last 2 films, they ran too short and needed 10-20 minutes to flesh out the context..this runs about 10-15 minutes too long and could have benefitted from the back end being tightened up a bit. This being the first of 3 films, I appreciate they need to set the ground foundations for this lore and these characters. But there were moments here that felt like they hammered their points a little TOO much.

That being said, the story itself is a pretty fun one for DBZ, this definitely felt like it benefitted from being a movie over being an arc in the anime, the pacings a little slower than the last two movies, but that slower pace does benefit it more than detract from it. Broly as a character design is fun, the endings a little underwhelming, but it compensates with some genuinely humerous moments and some really nice ‘iconic’ art direction and line delivery moments. and a killer score.

All in all? this is another one that I could recommend to someone who hasnt watched any of the DBZ movies. its maybe not as good as ‘Super 13’ or ‘Return of Cooler’ but it has enough going on to keep you hooked, and I came away from it glad I finally checked it out. AND! as an added bonus, now all this lores been established, it should make the next Broly movie even tighter and more solid! so I have that to look forward to!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-broly-the-legendary-super-saiyan/

The hits just keep on coming as we’re now fully into the ‘DBZ Movies are good now!’ era of the franchise. Our 7th entry in the series plays as an alternate reality ‘What If?’ type scenario…and its ‘What if, in the original ‘Android Saga’ timeline, Androids 17 and 18 had been destroyed by Goku, who took the medicine Trunks gave him ahead of time. Rather than him taking it later, nearly dying and the androids bringing the ‘Cell Saga’ into fruition?’

Well; the answer is they never activated Android 16, they both got massacred and their destruction triggered a secret underground robot computer of Dr. Gero to activate 3 more androids, Androids 13,14 and 15. They’re mission, unsurprisingly…is to kill Goku.

Well, Gokus out shopping with Chi chi and the majority of the rest of the gang are hanging out for a beauty contest (because of course they are…) When androids 14 and 15 start blowing up parts of the city, leading to a fight with Goku that takes the team out to the glacial field where they meet Android 13 and the revelation of the even deadlier ‘Super Android 13’ leading the whole team to pitch together to take this new deadly threat down!

Much like ‘Return of Cooler’ I feel like they’ve kind of nailed the formula here, this could have easily been a 15-25 episode arc of the series, but its just condensed down to a much more digestable format. Honestly my thoughts on this one are pretty much identical to ‘Return of Cooler’ its decently enough paced, has some nice lighter moments contrasting some genuinely graphic and darker tones. The art direction is rock solid, the dialogue is a bit more humourous and intentionally littered with Jokes.

The Androids arnt exactly the most original ideas in the world (they feel almost like a soft launch of the concepts that would go on to fuel the Cell saga arc) but Super Android 13 is an interesting transformation and character design…and…Well the less said about Android 15 the better frankly *Nervous collar tug*

Much like ‘Return of Cooler’ I think the only issues I have with this one is its a little too condensed for its own good, and with another 10-15 minutes just to flesh out the androids backstory a bit more and to maybe give Super 13 a bit more to do, this could have been pretty close to perfect. As it stands the fact it feels almost like a twist on the existing lore and the speediness with which it skips through the plotting leaves it just a little bit rushed in my opinion.

STILL! with that being said, this is another one that I can wholeheartedly recommend checking out if you’ve only seen the DBZ anime, I had a really fun time with it, and Im really hoping this momentum keeps up!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-super-android-13/

Well; it may have taken 5 films to get to this point, but we’ve finally hit probably the most solid DBZ movie that i’ve seen up to this point.

A direct sequel to ‘Coolers Revenge’ the film picks up a short time after the events of that movie and Dendae calling Goku and the team to head to new Namek, as a mysterious metallic object has latched itself to the surface, and appears to be absorbing the life force of the planet, and kidnapping the Namekians…On arriving it’s revealed that Cooler SOMEHOW survived being fired into the sun, and has merged with the alien metal object to become an even more unstoppable killing machine, hungry for vengence against Goku and the team.

And this is the first DBZ movie i’ve seen so far thats managed to really properly capture the tone and vibe that Ive been looking for in a DBZ movie. Everything up to this point has kind of felt like its been solely grounded in ‘Dragonball’ aesthetics and vibes with just a sprinkle of DBZ lore up to the beginning of the ‘Saiyan Saga’. Which is FINE….But its not what I come to DBZ for. With the reintroduction of Vegeta, the franchise FINALLY feels like the DBZ I know and love!

The plot is hardly the most original thing in the world, but its weird, dark and interesting enough to more than hold my interest, the art direction is creative, detailed and had some genuinely gorgeous moments included. The scripts strong, well paced and structured with some really nice dialogue choices and some genuinely funny moments at times.

The voice cast really give it there all. The score sounds perfect and the payoff is satisfying. Honestly? My only real criticism is, clocking in at 42 minutes this feels a little *too* fast. The story of this movie would have EASILY been 30-45 episodes of the anime, and while I think stretching it out THAT long would almost certainly have been overkill, I think an extra 20 minutes on this one to flesh out Cooler, more properly reitroduce Vegeta and get into the finer details of our mysterious space object would have really helped to give this thing the breathing room it needed to be absolutely top tier.

As it stands? this is the first DBZ movie I can fully and enthusiastically recommend, ESPECIALLY if you’ve only watched the anime before… I had a really good time with it, and if you struggled with the early DBZ movies, maybe starting with ‘Coolers Revenge’ and picking up from there onwards might be the best way to go.

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

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/

The forth OVA ‘special’ from ‘Dragonball Z’ and I feel they’ve pretty much landed on a bit of a formula for these at this point.

The plot this time around revolves around ‘Lord Slug’ a mysterious power hungry being with a demon army who arrive on earth accidentally, learn about the dragonballs, with Slug using their power to grant him eternal youth, restored to his younger, stronger self, Goku and the team must work together to defeat slug once and for all.

Lets be honest here, this is essentially just a 50 minute reimagining of the ‘King Piccolo’ arc from ‘Dragonball’ just tiedied up a bit and with some new ‘Z’ characters thrown into the mix. In that sense, it feels incredibly derivative, and kind of throwaway (as most of the OVAs ive seen so far feel)

However, I will say the short does have some fun enough little moments, Lord Slug may be derivative, but he’s at least got a sense of menace about him, and (mild spoilers) but seeing an early ‘proto’ design for Gokus Super Saiyan form was fun!

Visually, the HD scan of this special is crisp and highly detailed, I thought the performances were solid, if not a little goofy (thats not a bad thing honestly!) I cant say I hated it, it just didnt really bring anything new to the table. a fine enough way to kill about 50 minutes. Absolutely non essential, not one i’d actively recommend. But if you’ve watched through all of ‘Z’ and just wanna spend some more time with the gang, this’ll almost certainly scratch the itch.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dragon-ball-z-lord-slug/