Firstly, I would like to thank the random Japanese guy who recorded this in the theater and uploaded it to Kissanime with subtitles. You're doing the lord's work! If Toriyama wanted our money, he wouldn't have made the events of Dragonball Minus canon.
This movie has some awesome action and animation, but the writing is just...ugh. The best part is that it was written by Toriyama himself and this movie is now officially canon. I had some minor gripes and issues with Resurrection F that I brought up in my review of that film, but this was just awful!
Background:
"If you listen to the fans, you'll be sitting up there with them." - NFL coach Buddy Ryan
This movie was made solely because Broly fanboys wouldn't SHUT THE FUCK UP! They just kept demanding over and over that Broly be added into DB Super because he's just SOOO cool. Despite the fact that his character gets boring really fast, has no depth, and he has the single stupidest character motivation of any villain ever. He hates Goku because he cried a lot as a baby and it disturbed Broly's nap time. I'm dead serious.
DB Super eventually relented and created a female Saiyan character named Kale, who would have all the same powers as Broly while still having a personality. It was supposed to be a win/win scenario that would appease both the Broly fans and Broly haters. I personally thought Kale was fine, but the plan didn't work. The Broly fanboys considered Kale to be a blasphemy against their lord and savior Broly, who is the greatest character ever written! They absolutely demanded that Broly in his original form be added into Super. I ultimately blame Toriyama for making this movie, but I also blame the Broly fandom. You guys are responsible for this mess!
Plot: (Spoilers if you care!!!)
We flashback to Planet Vegeta 40 years ago and see a retelling of the events from DBZ Movie 8. Broly is born with a super high power level and King Vegeta is upset because Broly's potential is higher than his son Prince Vegeta. Instead of stabbing Broly like in the 8th movie, the king sends Broly into exile on a deserted planet in the middle of nowhere. Broly's father Paragus goes into space to rescue his young son, but the ship crashes and they end up stranded together. We then go to 35 years before the series starts and we see the events of a doujin that Toriyama wrote called Dragonball Minus. Goku's father Bardock existed, but the awesome TV special that everyone loved never happened. Also Goku was actually around 7 years old when he was sent to Earth, not a newborn like in the original manga or anime. Toriyama just retconned 33 years of Dragonball continuity for absolutely no reason. Bardock never had psychic powers, but he was the only Saiyan smart enough to realize Freeza's genocidal ambitions towards the Saiyans. Bardock sent Goku away towards Earth and then promptly died along with the rest of the Saiyans. Oh and Vegeta's little brother Tarble is now officially canon. Thanks Toriyama! Super explicitly went out of its way to not mention Tarble and say that he wasn't canon, but now he exists and it creates a plothole for Super. Now we must wonder why they invited fucking Roshi and not him to join the Tournament of Power. He's the last Saiyan who can use the Great Ape transformation and that obviously would have been a MUCH bigger help than Roshi, Krillin, or Tien. I now officially prefer the Ocean Dub where Bardock was "a brilliant scientist".
We flashforward back to the present and Broly's father has been sending out a distress signal for 40 years. This signal was never noticed during the time when Freeza's Empire was massive, but now the new Freeza Empire that has existed for the 5 months since the Tournament of Power manage to see it. We are introduced to some comical good guys that work for Freeza and...this is dumb. I have a hard enough time accepting that lots of good people would fight for Zeon in the Gundam franchise, but Freeza?!! He's one of the most over the top, evil bastards in anime! He makes Gihren Zabi look subtle! The good guy Freeza soldiers meet Paragus and Broly and discover that Broly is absurdly strong, despite the fact he's never trained and has never fought anyone besides his weakling father. Freeza is overjoyed that another Saiyan exists that is stronger than him. Toriyama...did you forget which character you were writing?! Freeza believes he can manipulate Broly into killing Goku and Vegeta because King Vegeta was the one who exiled him. It actually works and they head for Earth.
Goku and Vegeta have an argument and Goku believes that Freeza has reformed his ways and doesn't need to be killed. Goku, you're a fucking idiot! This is dumb even for you! The bad guys arrive and Broly starts fighting Vegeta. Throughout Super, Vegeta actually has some character growth and becomes less of a massive dick. It's one of the only positive things I can say about Super. Here he throws that away and tries to kill this random Saiyan he's never met. Broly fights back and soon Goku and Vegeta are on their back feet. Freeza kills Paragus to enrage Broly and we get the climactic fight of the movie. Toriyama rips off the fusion dance gag from DBZ movie 12 and they form Gogeta to make quick work of Broly. Oh and Freeza gets injured by Broly, but Freeza's "good guy" henchmen bring him back to health. Seriously, do they not comprehend how many hundreds of billions of people Freeza has killed? Anyways, Gogeta allows Freeza to live for...reasons and Freeza and Broly both retreat. We end the movie with Freeza's henchmen continuing to befriend Broly and Freeza hoping that the rematch will go better.
Art:
Here is the entire reason this movie gets a 5 from me. The fight has some very creative shots and camera angles we haven't really seen in DB. The animation is fluid, the CGI is actually used well, and the whole fight is gorgeous. I have no real complaints here. This was Toei doing the absolute best they can do.
Overall:
We expect DBZ movies to have awesome action and stupid plots. It's ok if the stories and villains are dumb because it isn't canon. It's like an "elseworld" in Western comics. The problem with this movie is that it IS canon. It creates plotholes, derails characters, and retcons longstanding continuity for no reason! If Toyiyama gave a flying fuck about his millions of fans around the world, he would check with an editor and we wouldn't end up in a mess like this. He doesn't. Even Vince McMahon doesn't have the sheer level of disdain for his own fans and his own product that Toriyama seems to. The Star Wars fans think THEY have a right to complain? Look guys! George Lucas is an idiot when it comes to science. He thinks a parsec is a unit of time and that light speed is fast enough to traverse the whole galaxy in minutes. You want to know why Lucas never thought of using a relativistic kill vehicle in the original trilogy? It isn't because the ships have special force fields preventing this. It's because Lucas is NOT a hard science fiction writer! Anyways, back to Dragonball. Fuck this movie. I would advise DB fans to wait until this gets uploaded to Youtube, watch the Broly fight for eye candy, and pretend the rest never happened.
