For many teens who grew up during the 90s, Dragonball Z was the turning point in Japanese Animation. Everyone around the world knew what Dragonball is all about and we will never be the same again.
So two years ago when a new full length Dragonball Z movie (Battle of the Gods) was showed on the big screen after more than twenty years, fans rejoice to see the continuing adventures of Son Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta and the rest of the Dragonball characters. Personally after watching that movie, I had mixed feelings about it which I will explain later in this review.
(Basically Battle of the Gods is like the Fellowship of the Ring and Revival of F is the Two Towers.)
Synopsis: Years after Goku and Trunks killed off Freiza, his remnants went to Earth and used the Dragonballs to revive him. With revenge on his mind, he went to train and four months later, Freiza returned stronger than before and lead his armies to invade Earth. Can Goku and Vegeta who are training with Berrus and Whis return in time to defeat Freeza and save the Earth?
A little known fact-Akira Toriyama had originally wanted Freiza to be the final villain for the Dragonball manga and his original story will have Freiza coming to Earth and started killing off Goku's friends and Goku will battle Freiza to the death. Unfortunately due to the popularity of the series, the idea was scrapped in favor for the Androids and Cell Saga.
So now Akira's original idea is sort of adapted into the big screen but many changes had to be make due to most of the Dragonball characters are stronger than before. One reason I didn't like the previous movie was the pacing and the lack of a real villain. I didn't like Trunks' little crush with Mai and how Vegeta behave like a total idiot for most of the time. Berrus is a very laid back god who care nothing except fighting and eating. (Basically he is another Goku)
When Freiza is introduced for this movie, I was happy that he is the main villain. Sure, Cell and Buu could do more damages together but their personalities are not interesting. Freiza played the textbook version of a true evil villain who won't blink an eye when killing off his enemies or even his men. (Which he did it so many times in this movie)
Another good thing this movie learned from the previous one was the amount of unnecessary cameos and sub plots. This time, the cast is a smaller one but you feel the intensity between the good guys as they faced impossible odds. One interesting thing is that the movie introduce Jaco the Galactic Patrolman-Akira Toriyama's latest work in recent years and yes, his story in the manga took place years before the original Dragonball series. He was a pretty fun character who spoke logically but know when not to take unnecessary risks especially the scenes with Freiza's armies which is one of the best scenes in the movies.
The animation of course is on par with the previous movie and being a 94 minutes movie, the transformation of Goku, Gohan, Vegata and Freiza didn't take forever like in the original TV series. The action sequences were great with everyone including Krillin, Ten Shin Han and even Master Roshi kicking ass. There were even some humors to ease off the tension which was perfect. Goku's battle with Freiza was the main highlight and it didn't disappointed me since it is a rematch from the original series. If you have seen the trailer then you know that Goku and Freiza got a new form which I won't spoil it if you don't want to know how they look like.
I will want to give this movie a full five stars but if I have one grip, it was the ending.
Highlight to read spoilers
Vegeta took over Goku to battle Freiza after he got shot in the chest. Vegeta became Super Saiyan God and overwhelm Freiza. However, Freiza was a sore loser and destroy the Earth, killing everyone except the characters (minus Vegeta) in the fight which Whis used a protection bubble to save them. Whis then mentioned he has the power to go back three minutes in time and Goku used that chance to finish off Freiza immediately.
Overall, it is a pretty enjoyable movie and I am suspecting the way things ended, we will probably get one more movie to complete the trilogy and seeing how we are getting a new TV series-Dragonball Super this July, fans around the world are more than ready to have new Dragonball contents for the next few years!
Final Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars if you are a Dragonball fan!
P.S: There is a very funny Easter egg when Krillin first make his appearance in the movie which I giggle when it happened. Shouen Jump fans will know what it is.
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