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Intoduction
There is no question that Dragon Ball Z is one of the most well known animes out there. From its humble beginnings on toonami along with its great action, it was cemented in the minds of many young anime fans. And I was not one of those children. While I did see DBZ playing every so often on cartoon network it never managed to hook me. My cousins managed to get me into it and watched kai while it was airing and it was exactly what I expected from the ancestor of the shonen battle genre, it had good fights, but nothing else really. Eventually, I started watching the DBZ movies and they still gave me more of the same. I was initially planning to skip this one, until a youtuber I follow recommended this movie. After I watched this movie I can say with a bit of doubt this is the best DBZ film I have seen (and for reference I have seen both Cooler movies, super android 13, the first two Broly movies, wrath of the dragon, and the one with Janenba).
The Story
The premise is simple, while Goku is training at King Kai's place King Kai senses that the god of destruction, Beerus, has reawakened and come to do what is his title says, destroy, and as a sub-plot it is Bulma's birthday and some familiar faces from Dragon Ball are attempting to steal the dragon balls. Also, Beerus eventually ends up at Bulma's party.
Now this story sounds simple enough, but based on how they describe Beerus it makes his actions not seem evil, but as a simple cycle of the universe. They say destruction has to happen so more planets and species can be born after the ones have been destroyed. This really makes the conflict of this movie stand out compared to the other ones. Goku isn't fighting space Hitler (Frieza) or a doctor with a revenge scheme (Gero and the androids), he is the literal embodiment of a natural force in the universe and life itself. I know this comparison is a bit hyperbolic, Goku is like Ahab in Moby Dick fighting against Moby Dick, an allegory for the force of nature itself, and as such it is portrayed realistically, Goku does not win, even with the god power up (yes it is named that) that appeared in this movie.
Breaking formula like this and applying realism to an already unrealistic world was a great change of pace and a breath of life for this old franchise. Its not perfect there is a stupid and kind of creepy side plot about Trunks falling in love with Pilaf's female minion (who is a kid for eventsI don't know about in Dragon Ball) and the nature of destruction and death is only touched upon briefly, but taking this knowledge into the final fight adds to the struggle. The story is also rather slow with Bulma's party. I didn't mind that, but I know some other will.
Characters
You still have your same cast of characters. Most of the characters who aren't saiyans are still useless and most of the characters are there just for background. Goku is still kind of one dimensional blood knight.
I do however want to give special mention to Vegeta because his character was put in a different situation than the others. When Beerus first appeared Vegeta realizes his overwhelming power (because of a flashback) and he is put in a state of fear and paranoia to keep Beerus happy and not angry so he does not destroy the planet. Seeing Vegeta like this is incredibly rare (only acting like this in the first Broly movie) and portrays how Vegeta has gotten more of a heart after reluctantly turning good. We also got a funny scene of Vegeta dancing to entertain Beerus in which everyone said https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_9mRXo-fYE&feature=youtu.be&t=8m26s and Vegeta getting downright pissed when Berrus hit Bulma.
Now on to the two new characters. Beerus is interesting compared to the other DBZ villains and other villains in general. I really don't know how to properly describe him, but I will try. He doesn't inherently show off his power like the other villains and isn't blatantly antagonistic (unless someone pisses him off and I am looking at you Majin Buu). His power is so great when he says he will destroy you it seems like an inevitability and not a threat. Despite that he enjoys himself while he is on Earth and acts like a pretty nice guy. Hell the reason he doesn't destroy the Earth was because he enjoyed his time there (okay technically he delays destroying Earth, but that isn't for a long time). I will also give mention to Whis, Beerus's assistant/tutor, who is calm and collected providing a good contrast for Beerus.
Animation
The art and animation is higher than the DBZ series and the movies which makes the fights in this movie much cooler. Plus, the effects on the god power up was pretty cool.
Sound
The music is pretty good setting the tone and using a wider variety of instruments for each piece (and by that I mean each piece uses different instruments not that there are a lot of instruments in each piece). Nothing spectacular though.
Conclusion
Overall this is a good movie from franchise that needed a bit of life. It is a definite recommendation for Dragon Ball fans and for those who like shonen battle anime, but a solid knowledge in DBZ and Dragon Ball would be nice to fully appreciate this movie (since I haven't seen Dragon Ball, but I bet if you did have knowledge of Dragon Ball you would have liked the touches I missed).
