Reviews

May 6, 2020
Mixed Feelings
I really enjoy that this was a light-hearted entry in the series packed with humor and had an interesting "gotta survive against an unbeatable foe" setup for a while. However, the proportion of the movie that is an endless fight scene is inversely proportional to how much I enjoy these Dragon Ball movies, and this one started well before the halfway point.

No Goku, not even Gohan for most of it, is pretty neat. Goten, Trunks, and Videl accidentally stumble on Broly, and none of them are anywhere near able to defeat him without the use of the Dragon Balls, which they have to finish collecting. That's a good plot! But... it still turns into a power levels battle by the end of it, copping out on its brief promise of a legitimately interesting resolution.

I don't think people remember exactly what parts of Dragon Ball Z people actually look back so fondly to-- it's not the forty episode fight scenes that drag on for ages because the animators didn't want to catch up with the manga, it's the buildups to them. In the Frieza Saga, Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma go to Planet Namek to find the Dragon Balls on that planet, but at the same time, Frieza is there for the same reason, and Vegeta is there as a rogue agent trying to collect them for his own ends. There's two villains simultaneously fighting each other while trying to collect the Dragon Balls, and the heroes are trapped in the middle, way weaker but with the advantage of not being noticed. It's this really tension-filled thriller plot as the heroes zip across the planet trying to save the day without getting murderized, and only when Goku arrives to help does the story turn into the endless fighting it's all remembered for.

That ramble is to say, boo on Toei for not going all the way with this second Broly movie and having our weak heroes defeat the rampaging villain with their wits (and Shen Long's infinite wish granting powers).

Continuity Problems: Actually, besides the fact that the previous Broly movie is timeline-impossible, this one fits pretty well into the vague area where everyone's training for the Budokai Tenkaichi. It has the minor error of Videl seeing just how strong Goten and Trunks are despite being thoroughly surprised by it at the tournament itself, but that's the type of thing that can be handwaved.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice Nice0
Love it Love it0
Funny Funny0
Show all
It’s time to ditch the text file.
Keep track of your anime easily by creating your own list.
Sign Up Login