Dragon Ball Z Movie 01: Ora no Gohan wo Kaese!!

The first Dragon Ball Z movie.

Each character follows the same personality they have in the series, holding every grudge, knowledge, technique, etc., they had up to the release date of this movie. It develops the pre-existing characters very well. However, most of the characters that were introduced exclusively for this movie are not developed.

The story revolves around the Dragon Balls, just like everything else related to this series; some evil character appears and tries to grab a hold on the Dragon Balls in order to rule/destroy the world. It's not unique or original, but it at least entertains.

The art remains the same as the one ... employed in the series, with the same buffed up muscles we're all accustomed to see. The fight scenes remain as thrilling as they were in the series, too. Art and animation, overall, was pretty good.

I happened to watch the movie already dubbed in English. I guess the voice acting was just alright, but I prefer the original japanese voice actors, the ones that did the voices in the original 291-episodes series. Opening and ending songs are the same as the series' japanese version ones.

If you're a Dragon Ball fan, you're definitely going to enjoy watching Goku and company get into some new fights, just like I did.

This movie takes place before the start of Dragonball z, and after the events of Dragonball. This movie was alrigth, but like all of the DBZ movie it has some plot holes. Like krillin not being suprised that Goku has a son, While he seems suprised in the first episode of DBZ. Overall it was pretty short and the battle was not that great. In my opinon only watch this if your a fan of DBZ if not than just watch the series.

When I look back on the very first DBZ movie, I always find it ironic how it's actually among the best in the line up. Each of the following movies venture the exact same path, which is to provide the viewer with low brow entertainment through lots of action and comedy. I have no beef with this. The problem is, once you get pass the first batch of movies, you start to sense the lack of innovation and even creativity. They become unbelievably gimmicky and that feel of a cash in is all over the place. Dragon Ball Z is definitely an anime series you ... must be a die hard fan of to consistently enjoy.

Dragon Ball Z: The Dead Zone is a pretty fun title. It feels a lot more like the Dragon Ball series, as it takes the viewer on a near non stop action-filled ride. Almost from the very beginning, the action begins and rarely lets up, and it's actually a real joy to watch. The production values pretty much delivers; the battles do utilize that boring reused cel format, but the energy attacks and minimum choreography provide the fun. Especially during one of the moments when Goku is dodging and blocking various attacks from the combined might of the main villains goons.

There are also some nice background shots of the palace they battle in, and later on in the destroyed ruins of the place. The battles at different points takes place during the evening under an orange sun set that looks really nice. Now normally when it comes down to voice acting, I prefer to watch the dub because that way I can focus better on animation and music without having to look down at subs. This is one of those rare moments I can't tolerate the dub though. The voice acting itself isn't the problem, but there's this one musical scene that takes place with Gohan that is far better in the sub, because it actually contains the song. While in English, the entire scene feels bland. On top of this, I do believe the sieyuu is far better, with the legendary Kamiya Akira voicing lead villain Garlic Jr and Masako Nozawa voicing Goku. They had some really good chemistry going here.

The plot follows Goku as he tracks Gohan to the villain Garlic Jr. Garlic gathers the Dragon Balls to make a wish, and from here fist start flying again. During the later movies, characters will appear only to be taken down in record time. Here, characters like Piccolo and even Krillin are used pretty well.

One of the main problems I've always heard about this movie was the 45 minute length. When looking at the fact this is a franchise flick that rarely has a good plot to work with anyway, and a majority of the time the action scenes aren't breaking any new ground. I just can't see length as a problem. If anything, Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone feels too ordinary even for that time.

Overall, this is a solid movie that actually fits into main continuity, something you won't see often in the later movies. The action scenes do depict character deaths yet it's nothing over the top. The movie feels child friendly for the most part. Fans of the series will more than likely enjoy this. Newbies really shouldn't start here since character development is non existant. For them, I recommend coming into the first season of the main series. If that piques your interest enough to move further, then go ahead and give this a shot.

Highs: Short and to the point, knows what it wants to be

Lows: Average at best, mainly for fans of franchise

When it comes to the Dragonball films in general they usually follow something different. instead of the canon material that the series contains
It instead mixes certain content from the series themselves but only to present a different setting that usually is not always direct from the series.

So therefore, Do not go into watching them expecting anything that great of a premise in the first place since its not meant to do so, except just take them as special added content for its standard viewing alone.

So on to the first Dragon Ball Z Movie When I finished watching the film, I thought it was just average. ... Nothing special,
it mainly follows a group of demons that show up with the main lead villain Garlic Jr who looks to find the dragonballs and gain immortality which probably out of all the villains in the movies ironically Garlic Jr is the only one who manages to succeed in doing this, however this apparently backfires on him in the dumbest way possible towards the end of the film.

As for the characters of course you have Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin and Kami as they battle against Garlic Jr along with his henchman on standby.
Kami being there also shows a tense history between him and garlic jr from their past but also as well as a showdown its also a rescue mission for goku as his son gets kidnapped early on which as I mentioned at the start of this review the movies share similarities of content compared with the series since gohan being kidnap feels like that time when raditz in the series kidnap gohan also.

The Characters I really don't need to give an introduction to as most people would know who they are already so I won't waste much time talking about them. As for the villains, I found them forgettable.

Animation was very good funny enough, especially during the fight sequences as they look very fluid in combat. For a film that was aired back in 1989 during its initial release its surprisingly well done for something that came out over 25 years ago.

Music was also okay but nothing memorable.

The thing I didn't like in the film was the ending which was lame since the villain being immortal seals himself with his own move called the dead zone which for some reason is the title of this film and that to me is a dumb move for a villain with immortality to possess and I was also quite put off by gohan who starts getting high and going off into his own fantasy world being somewhere up in cloud 9 but all in all I feel this was mainly a mindless and not so long film to get through thankfully so despite having really dumb villains I still found this easy just to get through,

All in all, its a very simplistic film meant for action and just passing some time.

So, on a whim, I decided to begin working my way through all the Dragon Ball Z movies, as I've never seen any of them, outside of seeing pieces of Broly a decade ago. The first film in the series, Dead Zone, despite some minor inaccuracies, is essentially a forty minute prequel to the major Dragon Ball Z series. If I had to sum this movie up, it's the perfect union of the original Dragon Ball, beginning to integrate with the more modern Dragon Ball Z. It's fun, it's gorgeous (especially for a film from 1989!), and it's in a package that's essentially an extended ... episode of Dragon Ball Z.


I adore the art design for this film - the deep oranges and reds of Garlic Jr's castle is a fantastic setting for the main conflict of this film, which I honestly feel is better then many of the other settings in the rest of the Dragon Ball Z series. They also, amazingly, nailed the transformation of Garlic Jr - I was wondering how they'd make such a diminutive goblin-looking guy into an actual decent antagonist, and they pulled it off. The effortless nature he takes down Goku and Piccolo prior to their power-up moment is really entertaining to watch, and the sequence where he hunts them down in total darkness was a highlight of the film.

The action is fantastic in this movie - the highlights of which is Goku's 1-on-3 against Garlic Jr's squad, and Goku struggling with the sword duel later on in the fight (On a tangent, I finally know what that scene from the Western OP of DBZ is from now!). It's also nice to see everyone get a little bit of the action, except for Krillian, who really seems relegated sadly to babysitter for a couple of minutes. It wouldn't have worked in the film, but I was a little sad to see Goku and Piccolo only exchange a few blows, but the prospect of a movie-level brawl between the two is exciting. The unique placement in the timeline is one of the most engaging parts of the film, as Piccolo is barely an ally at all - whilst we love him today as ally of the cast, and Gohan's better dad, there is something just so cool and exciting at seeing a antagonistic Piccolo.

I also really appreciated how they blended the more childish and silly humour of Dragon Ball with the more combat focused elements, with all the yelps and freak-outs from Goku and Krillin. Though, I have to say, Gohan's weird apple-based drug-trip went on a little too long, and there was something a little uncomfortable seeing such a young kid like that. While I'm talking about little touches of the film, I enjoyed the scene of Chichi attempting to defend Gohan, since her martial art prowess isn't something we've seen pretty much at all in DBZ or Super.

My biggest complaints with the film mostly deal with the story - it's really nothing special outside of it's setting in the series timeline, and the way in which they deal with Garlic Jr, whilst fitting with events in the series overall, feels really anticlimatic and a real handwave to the threat he poses - but at the same time, Garlic Jr's early power-up really locked them in a corner on how he was going to be dealt with.

Overall, Dead Zone is a great movie that just feels like a really good, extended episode of Dragon Ball Z. You really can't go wrong watching this if you're a Dragon Ball Z fan, though some of the comedy elements featuring Gohan break up the movie a bit and are just odd. But for the most part, it's a great time, and highly recommended!

Dragon Ball Z movie 1: Death Zone is a movie that can be watched before even starting Dragon Ball Z, but it requires finishing the original show if you want to know who the characters are.

The story is about the son of the God of Earth's former rival Garlic Jr who wants revenge for his father's defeat and create a world for demons. To do that, he and his henchmen ambush Piccolo who is God's evil counterpart to indirectly eliminate him since the lives of God and Piccolo are connected. Because of circumstances, the main character's son has been kidnapped too.
It is up to ... Goku, Krillin and Piccolo to stop Garlic Jr and save Gohan.

It is a simple story with a rather unique premise for Dragon Ball. This is the only Dragon Ball movie God is involved and one of rare accessions he is involved in combat. Not to mention, we get more insight about his past and Garlic Jr doesn't feel like an antagonist that came out of nowhere like many other Dragon Ball antagonist.

Visually this movie strikes as unique since in terms of presentation it really feels like a movie and not like an extended episodes. Even the use of colors are unique for Dragon Ball which frequently uses bright colors such as blue and green and fights are in daytime. In this movie, they use more eerie colors like reddish orange for the sky and a more darker color pallett on the fighting stage and antagonists giving a more demonic or scary feel.

Action and humor are Dragon Ball's bread and butter and Death Zone combines them well since it is the transitioning period between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, it can combine them excellently. Gohan is often used for the comic relief scenes but even in combat we see these when Goku fights Garlic Jr's henchmen which displays great use on weapons too which were useful back then.
This movie is also the first time two characters who are enemies put their differences aside and work together. That being Goku and Piccolo showing how much of a threat Garlic Jr is that even the strongest characters up to this point have to work together.

However there is some criticism. While many Dragon Ball Z movies don't fit the main story it doesn't hurt ignoring them or seeing them as what ifs. But if you want to watch Dragon Ball Z with filler and all, you are required to watch this movie since it will play a role in an arc of Dragon Ball Z. Meaning that not being able to explain the inconsistencies between anime series and film can be off putting since the characters meet Gohan in Z the first time but this movie can only work before watching Z in terms of fitting into the main story timeline of the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball.
The last criticism is how the badguy is defeated because he is at fault mainly and another point might be considered a Deus Ex Machina which did get build up in the movie. But it isn't too bad when you watch or have watched Dragon Ball Z since it happens often and is someone's character trait that will get a payoff at some point.

Overall this movie is good. Little short and lacks the transformations of the good guys many fans are hoping from Dragon Ball, and the main antagonist might not be that memorable, it still is an experience you will enjoy.

Story:
The story is pretty light-weight since the whole purpose of this film - and its subsequent movies - are all about giving us more reason to watch Goku punch stuff, but it's still engaging none-the-less. While the premise was interesting enough for me to keep watching, the risk factor was absent from the beginning. Having the main villain wish and receive immortality despite the fact that the villain is never shown in any other DBZ media immediately makes me comfortable knowing he losses in the end. I understand that that's how every single film is, considering it's all non-canon alt. universe stuff, but it still ... matters when you're spending 45+ minutes watching something.

Even so, I was still into it, especially since this was the first DBZ movie I had watched in years. I was hyped to finally start them since I finally reached their respective points in the manga (at least, where they WOULD be) and so it didn't really bother me that the plot was essentially "Give me back my kid!" And nothing more.

The ending was quite anti-climactic for me solely because there isn't some awesome, choreographed fight, but a stand-off with a giant humanoid creature. This is somewhat repeated in a few other DBZ films and it's so boring to watch. I like seeing the DBZ heroes overcome their adversary with sheer force. If I want a cunning victory, have it be cunning with punches, I don't know. Maybe I'm just being a baby about it but perhaps you can sympathize with the excitement of watching two macho guys - one good and one bad - going at it for real. I mean, this happens in the manga all the time and it rocks. Why not do it in a movie?


Art:
The animation is decent and I never found it bothersome. I recall a scene that used a previous shot but otherwise, everything was gucci.


Sound:
I watched the Funimation dub and, as is expected, it was quite enjoyable. I also found the soundtrack to be decent as most of the funimation dubs do away with the original OST (something I detest. Just alter the voices, not the music!)


Character:
Nothing particularly special about any of the characters in this film but I did enjoy that bit where Piccolo immediately wanted to fight Goku after they thought their troubles had vanished. I enjoy the little bits of in-world content that seep into these films that seem to reside outside of the canon universe. It makes sense that Piccolo would wanna jump at any opportunity to duel Goku once more. It's fun.


Enjoyment:
A solid entry but not necessary. I didn't need this film but it's not like I regret watching it.


((If you liked this review, feel free to check out my others! I review most manga and anime I finish!))

Dragon Ball ZEE Movie 01 is a heart-wrenching tale of a young man (Gohan surname) and his growing struggle with alcoholism. It strives into sickening detail of the euphoric feelings and vivid hallucinations Gohan surname gets from his regretful trips into intoxication land and makes me wish that I, myself, had just sculled 179 proof absinthe instead of watching it three times. Lord knows how many times I plopped myself down in front of the television and watched the VHS I once had when I was but a young sad ejaculate, but that's besides the point. Let's go through this review step by step.

There's a ... story to Dead Zone, sure. There is. There's a story to everything. There's a story of how I got up in the morning and scrolled through my list thinking I want to review something but I want it to be relatively niche and not very liked because if it isn't I will face the backlash of a thousand men, cascading down upon my back and splitting me open with their lashes. As would be the literal definition of backlash. But that wouldn't be very good, not really. Neither is the story to Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone. A blue midget comes from space and then kidnaps some dumb kid and uses him to become a god. The stuff of dreams.

The older Dragon Ball Z art has a strange look to it that I kind of struggle to describe, really. It's unrefined. Everyone looks lankier than they do later on and it's a bit slower. I don't think I would jump at calling it bad but it's not good. It's passable.

The sound design is up to par. There's a pretty good piss sound effect in this movie. It brought it up from a 5. He urinates on nobody in particulars bald shiny head because it was shiny enough to look like a toilet rim. They recoil in horror and it changes to urine splashing against a tiled floor. I liked it. It reminded me of me. I love me.

The characters are strange in this movie and the only one you care about is Goku. I can tell. Goku feels kind of odd, like the art, as I previously addressed. He seems more like a violent maniac than he does in the actual show, where he's kind of a nice violentish maniac.

It was an enjoyable enough film. I don't know if I would blatantly recommend it to anybody. It's canon status is arguable so it's not like you even need to acknowledge that it exists if you don't want to. If you should decide that the idea of a 4 foot something blue alien man becoming jacked as hell and then summoning a SATAN HOLE and afterwards remaining irrelevant for the actual show appeals to you you can watch it. It's really nothing special.

When I 1st watched DBZ, I wondered who is Garlic jr. and why everyone in DBZ knows him besides me, who watched DB 1986 before DBZ. His saga didn't make sense to me then, and it doesn't make sense now.

I decided I am gonna include Garlic jr. saga from DBZ as well into this review. To summarize, why this movie and saga aren't making any sense. Warning: Garlic saga does NOT have an impact on the rating of Dead Zone

In the end, I'll give two ratings: One for the movie and the second for the entire saga.

My positives and negatives from the DBZ movie: Dead ... Zone

Garlic jr. is a non-canon character. Even though there was an effort to make Garlic canon, Junior and his saga remained non-canon.

My positives:
1, Art and Sound are in DBZ coat.
2, Gohan little drunk session was humorous
3, There's some story building.

My neutrals:
1, Fights were mediocre, not good, not bad.

My negatives:
1, After 300 years, someone will exact my revenge. Why 300 years? Garlic jr. has existed for more than 300 hundred years, and after Piccolo's father had been sealed away, and the earth was in a weak state, he could have killed Kami easily. Why did he wait 300 years for getting an eternal life when his crew collected dragon balls in a matter of few days? Plot.
2, How did Kuririn get into Garlic castle? Did Piccolo bring him along?
3, Garlic henchman defeat Piccolo with ease, only to be pushovers later.

Now let's get into the Garlic jr. saga:
1, Demon gets stronger 500 times is as stupid as it gets. Why does it even exist? Plot. To make post-Frieza Piccolo struggle, whoever wrote the script decided to make Garlic 500 times stronger ( 1 500 000 power) by a phenomenon. To be somewhat relevant. This is just stupid and lazy. Oh, and this phenomenon only occurs once in 5000 years, sure.
2, Potion or gas that turns everyone evil, what? If such a thing existed why Piccolo's father didn't use it in DB 1986, his job would be way easier?


Now to end, DBZ Movie: Dead Zone earns 5/10. It has some funny, and interesting scenes, but it lacks a good fight. Also, I can't get past Garlic waiting 300 years to collect dragon balls, which his crew collected with ease in a day or two. I recommend you to try it if you didn't already and you have finished DBZ because you'll get to know, where Garlic jr. came from.

And now Garlic jr. saga, including Dead Zone, earns 3/10. It's just bad, and it should have never been occurring after the Frieza saga. Junior saga could have been decent if there weren't any stupid buffs, items. Also, it would suit the plot way better if it was between Raditz and Vegeta saga.

While often overlooked due to it's overreliance on combat and action scenes, the first Dragonball movie is nothing short of perfect. While that doesn't mean it is a masterpiece, it means that the point of this movie is perfect in the context of the Dragonball franchise. The animation is stellar, superior to the regular series, the sound design is at the very peak of the era, and the inclusion of all the major characters having their own moment is a nice touch that adds to the characters role in the DBZ universe.

However, the best aspect of this film is the way it seamlessly slides right ... into the DBZ canon. Garlic Jr is a fantastic introduction as a villain, as a sort of suped up emperor pilaf type character, if Pilaf was less Slump-y in his gag presentation, he would be just like Garlic. While the movie doesn't do all that much in terms of plot, the introduction of Garlic into the DBZ universe is what directly leads up to one of the better, if not best, filler arcs in anime. In many ways, one cannot remove this movie from those episodes, as this serves more like a prequel to that arc.

The most striking element of this is the incredible battle choreography. Better in many ways than all of the fights in the canon, the fights here are quite stunning, and utilize the space of the arena's incredibly well, with twists and turns due to the more cooperative nature of the battles here, unlike the main series. The same can be said for the overall animation quality, which is some of the best animation in the franchise.

The major drawback is the lack of a defined story, but as I've stated, this serves as more of a prequel to the entire Garlic arc in the anime. Since it is filler, you cannot really expect any serious character development from the mains, as that would contradict the canon.

Before everything else:
Best watched between ep 3 and 108 of DBZ, otherwise the arc that starts at ep 108 will make little sense and it will confuse some.

Well this movie is mediocre at most, the enemies are quite weak and their back story is not that well made, the good guys though have all of their memories, techniques, powers the same as when they left DB series.
The art and sound style are like the series, nothing extraordinary.

Overall rating in my list is 5 due to the story being just a prologue to the arc that starts at ep 108 of DBZ.

This first DBZ movie should be watched before you start watching Episode 108 of the DBZ series to understand the return of Garlic Jr.

But is it really worth watching or only for die hard DBZ fans? I think its the latter.

Sound & Art is on the level you'd expect from a DBZ Movie from that era although I would have prefered a slightly different opening. Even with some small changes it reminds too much of the series imo.

The tension in this movie never reaches the same quality as the highlights from the series and the story is rather thin and never really builds excitement. Also ... not much of a fan of the design from Antagonist Garlic Jr. Looks like a namekian Pilaf and his underlings are plain boring to me in design.

Some funny but shallow jokes are thrown in for some humor.

The climax fight in the end is rather untypical but mediocre at best.

I think this movie is in a range around 5/10. Certainly not the highest quality I've seen. I wouldn't necessarily recommend to see it if you watch the normal series.

This was the start of an interesting journey for me-- going back to rewatch the DBZ movies and try to properly analyze them for the first time.

I knew Dead Zone was an older movie-- I think I tend to forget in general just how long ago Dragon Ball first aired-- but for some reason, it didn't occur to me until I was watching it that how well it held up over time might factor into my enjoyment of it. I know the movies aren't exactly canon. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not super well-versed in the timeline of when everything ... first aired. But I figured Dead Zone would have had to take place before Raditz showed up, which would have made Goku and Piccolo teaming up a huge selling point. These days, it's kind of an afterthought that Piccolo was ever a villain. In that sense, Dead Zone definitely felt a little dated. It just didn't have the effect it was supposed to. And I personally, don't have much nostalgia for any of the DBZ movies. It was very familiar, so I'm sure I'd seen it sometime during my childhood... But it didn't have enough of an impact for me to really remember the way it first felt to see that truce.

But in general, it was still perfectly enjoyable. Maybe a little mindlessly enjoyable, but I don't exactly look to the DBZ movies in search of something thought-provoking. I'm here for a handful of scenes of these characters getting to just live their peacetime lives-- before it all goes to hell--, maybe a little crude humor, and a few good fights. And sometimes, that's enough.

DBZ: Dead Zone, the movie. Movie. Movie? In... 40 minutes? Kay. Mercifully short, so... thats good. Yay?

The story's about this blue little thing, who wants dragon balls. He and his minions kidnap Gohan, since they need just the dragon balls. The blue thing makes a wish with a dragon balls, the carrot cake and the Jolly Green wrinkle-brick show up, everybody yells and punches the air like spastic apes, this black hole appears, and the blue thing gets sucked. That's it.

So... yeah. I saw it. I saw it, and I... huh? Then what? Honestly... what?! What! Well, I tell you, what! A complete ... waste of time, thats what! Seriously... I know I wasn't expecting anything at all, considering my utter and passionate disliking for this franchise, but to actually admitting that you're expecting nothing, and then get nothing, to surprise you... that just hurts! I know it's what I deserve, but still... it hurts! Alot! I would really like to be angry about this - considering the score - but... I just cant! It just isn't that... it is nothing! Nothing at all! This movie is... nothing! Nothing to be angry about, and nothing to be interested about! It just... came, and went... and is never, ever, coming back!

When I first saw this movie as a parody, from TFS, I actually saw some blind, hopeful, yet short-lived potential, in it - how foolish of me! I tought, it was actually hilarious... kinda cool, actually - my tummy hurts, from all the laughing! So I found the original, and said... hey, it can't be all that bad - it's only 40 minutes long, thus hardly even a movie! What bad can it really do?! So I saw it, and... ended up skipping most of the entire movie, actually! Hups. But that can be justified, however, when there's not enough story, for even a full-length movie - 40 minutes of... bantering, at it's worst! - and the action is so tired, and bland, that I just skipped it, and welt like didn't miss a thing! Which I didn't! I could have fallen to sleep, and still could easily follow the... story, with ease! I mean, really... even for the DBZ-franchise, the premise is really, really boring, bland, and predictable! Some guy just wants some sweet juicy immortality, and take over the world - in this franchise, who even cares anymore?! Today it's Pilaf, tomorrow Piccolo, and next year, either Frieza, or Cell - pick your favourite now, before the lines are closed from the votes! And the villain himself, was so stupid, that even if he had the balls - no pun intented - to wish himself some sweet immortality, he was ultimately beaten, by his own stupidity! And rather easily, too! That's just... wow. Just... wow. It's not even meccha-Frieza level of disapointing anymore! It's just... I don't know! I've lost my words. Just... no. No!

But, since my score is actually quite high, there must've been something good in this... piece of waste, right? Right! Well, as a matter of fact, there was - gasp! The art is actually a TONS of better, than the series - which isn't much, since the action... what little there is, happens mostly on blurmotion - and the voices, expecially Piccolos, are quite better too! Finally, Chris Sabat had his sexy voice right... and not like his trademark of a frog army! Anything else... no, not really! The premise is dull, as a butterknive... made out of paper, and the story is... wait, what story? There was a story?! Where?! Lemme see! Oh, right, Gohan... Gokus brat, becoming forcefully a apprentice, or something... and something about the world domination... destruction... solar system... apples that have drugs, to make this piece of piss enjoyable... or something, I don't know! Like I said, I skipped most of the movie, since absolutely nothing happened! Nothing! It literaly hurts me to realize, how little I just saw, compared to the vast superior parody! No witty dialogue, no interesting plot, nor story, no funny/clever/interesting/actual villain, and... Yeah, nothig, really. This movie is... nothing. It's just.. there! For the fans! Yay?

This movie - seriously, is too short to be a movie! - with all it's artificial taste of a wet cardboard, mixed with some baby Gohans piss, drank by Krillin, is a prime example, of an anime, I like to call, a Candy without the Sugar- anime. It's nice to look at, but you don't want to put it in your mouth! The story's so paperthin, that there's really none at all - fitting, considering what I feel the franchise as a whole - and feels more like a two random filler episodes, put forcefully together, than actual coherent story... which it isn't! The thrill isn't there, the threat's nonexistent, the world doesn't expand - not that it really needs to - and characters... well, they're there... all the same... as always... most of them, not actually doing anything at all. Just giving a fans a wave, and then... leaving... and staying gone... to let all the pointless bantering happen. Yay?

So, all in all... what did I actually get, from watching this? Slight headache? Possible death sentance, from the fanboys? The TFS's parody? You know what... not too bad a deal! I'll take it! Anything else, than another try for this movie! Yay?

Story: 2
Art: 6
Sound: 5
Characters: 1
Enjoyment: 2
Overall: 3

The movie was just bad. First of all the movie was way too short for the events happening in there like there was so much room for more. Second of all the movie is a typical non-canon anime movie so pretty much nothing special. Like you see some events in DBZ and wonder: But that already happened in the movie so why is Son Goku surprised? Third of all the movie didn't really explain the new character (Garlic Jr.). He just appeared out of nowhere kidnapping Son Gohan and then a little 1 minute backstory about Garlic Jr. Including... literally nothing about him in it. ... So the movie was pretty bad in my eyes.

Not the best dragon ball movie, but certainly a fun romp.

As someone just recently getting in to dragon ball, I was quite shocked when I reached the Garlic Jr saga (incredibly important piece of the story btw) in DBz only to learn that this movie existed.

A lot of the discourse online often ignores this movie or simply writes it off as filler garbage, but I think that’s an incredible disservice. Sure, the story has problems and inevitably is just backstory for a filler arc, the first 10 or so minutes don’t matter really at all, and Krillian, piccolo, and Kami all just kind ... of show up without a lot of reason to fight Garlic Jr. They are real and can be considered legitimate problems with this film.

But through and through this movie is a short and fun 420 romp. You get good action, minor psychadelic visuals (in meaningless first few minutes I mentioned), and a story you really don’t need to think all that hard about.

This movie is NOT going to fundamentally shift how you view dragon ball, but is well worth the short 40 minute run time. It’s especially valuable if you watch it in line with dragon ball z, as it’s one of the only movies with tangible reference in the show.

The first Dragon Ball Z movie wins big for one very, very specific reason: it's 41 minutes long, one of the shortest films to qualify for feature length on Letterboxd. It's barely the length of two TV episodes, and so the thing is a breezy blast. If it were even ten minutes longer, the whole thing would fall apart, but instead it's a fairly enjoyable experience.

I'm not going to explain the plot because it's just some "powered up dude gotta get beat up" excuse. All you have to know is that the entire second half of the movie is a big fight scene and it's ... great. The villains are silly, and there's constant inappropriate jokes and violent gags (Gohan, four years old, gets drunk and goes on a head trip dancing with a dinosaur). This is all you needed.

You certainly won't remember it well, but it's a whole lot better than the typical anime tie-in movie, mostly because it didn't have time to ruin itself. Plus. this is I believe the one and only time we get to see Chi-Chi in a fight scene, even if it's only for a moment.

Also, from what I recall, all of these Dragon Ball movies takes place in some weird side-reality from the rest of the TV series, because almost none of them could actually feasibly fit in the timeline due to various egregious plot holes. Despite that, this movie's villain reappears in the anime later on, so... make of that what you will.

I've talked about Dragonball, all the Dragonball films and some of the Dragonball Z films. As such, it seems appropriate to talk about the first film that moved over to the Dragonball Z label, 1989's Dead Zone. Let's get right to it.

Story:

We open with Piccolo being attacked by a trio of strange looking guys. These are the demons Ginger, Nicky & Sansho. They're out to kill Kami and collect the dragonballs so that their master, Garlic Jr, can wish for immortality. And every fan of the franchise has already identified the problem with their plan. Any way, they kidnap Gohan because his hat has ... a dragonball on it thereby dragging Goku into the fight.

Let's start with the obvious problem. These villains are stupid. Like, inexcusably stupid. To start with, if they managed to kill Piccolo, the dragonballs would stop working. Secondly, why are they targeting Piccolo to kill Kami? Yes, the two are connected but why are they attacking the younger, more powerful one instead of the elderly, much weaker one? Third, why are they kidnapping Gohan? Literally, all they have to do is take his hat and leave. Yeah, Goku could still follow them using the dragon radar but he also has a lot less incentive to do it when his son isn't in danger. Besides, they don't gain anything from taking the kid. There is one other thing during the climax that a lot of fans view as a stupid move, but I see it as more of a desperate act on Jr's part to deal with two powerful opponents so that they can't cripple him since being immortal doesn't make you impervious to permanent injuries.

On the positive side, this is a Dragonball Z film and most people who watch it aren't going to care if the antagonists are morons. They're going to want to see some strong action sequences and maybe some funny moments. Which the film does have. So, franchise fans will likely be pretty satisfied with it.

Characters:

The major protagonists are Goku, Piccolo and Gohan with Krillin providing support. Which is a pretty common lineup for Dragonball Z films that predate Vegeta's redemption. The villains in this are kind of weak. Just because they are clods and they don't have much screen time. Which is also pretty common for the henchmen in Dragonball films.

Art:

The film does look good. And the designs are well done. I do appreciate that Garlic Jr looks like an imp from Chrono Trigger. Though this came out first, so I should be saying that the imps look like Garlic Jr. But I think the important aspect for fans of the franchise is going to be that the action sequences are nicely done. That being said, they definitely could have been better. Every battle in this feels like it could have benefited from a little more time and not time spent shouting to get stronger. Time spent actually throwing punches, kicks and energy blasts.

Sound:

I've already talked about the actors for the main protagonists before. They're still good in their roles. As for the antagonists, they're voiced by Kamiya Akira, Totani Kouji (who also had a minor role as a vampire in Dragonball), Chiba Shigeru (the voice of Pilaf), & Hori Yukitoshi. All of them do decently in their roles. The music is pretty much the same as you get in the series. Right down to Cha La Head Cha La as the theme tune. Which isn't a bad thing, Dragonball Z has good music.

Ho-yay:

There is none.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Do a better job of matching the antagonists motivations to their actions. You can do better than Marvel does with Mr. Sinister.

2. Use a bit more time to develop your scenario. I know, the Dragonball franchise isn't known for its strong plots. But you could still use a little more time to expand on the scenario.

3. More time for the battles.

Final Thoughts:

There are two big flaws with this film. The first is that the villains are just moronic. The second is that everything is a bit rushed from the plotting to the battles. That being said, if you're a fan of the Dragonball franchise and you want something quick to watch, it should do fine for you. I'm giving it a 6/10. It's okay for a battle anime film.

As the first Dragon Ball Z movie, it could have been worse but it did a decent job in what it wanted to accomplish. We get demons for the billions of time as enemies with the main antagonist being another midget who is stronger than he appears.
He is a generic evil badguy with forgettable henchmen. I say forgettable but they are funny and show a good fight against the heroes.

This movie like almost all DBZ movies can't fit to the main timeline and is more like something that happens at the same time as Raditz arrives in the main story. It doesn't require the viewer ... to have any experience in DBZ since they can watch this and get an idea if it is worth investing or not. And it does a good job introducing the important characters like Goku, Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo.
Gohan's hidden potential gets well build up in this movie and the badguy even considers to make him his henchmen because of his hidden powers. At this point Garlic Jr, yeah that is what he is called, seems like a competent villain who got what he wanted, but when you see the ending he pretty much is responsible for his own demise.

Even with that flaw I think this movie is great since it combines both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z' strength well. Funny scenes are hilarious and action scenes are badass.

Highly recommend watching it especially if you want to see DBZ with filler and all.