Not to point out the obvious, but I think that it goes without say that anything dragon ball Z (T.V series) related, will not be taken into consideration when writing this review, as this is only a small branch taken out of the dragon ball franchise. This means that the timeline, and characters in the movie should be already understood by the viewer, assuming that they are up to date.
Characters: All main characters from the cell arc (previous season of the show) are apparent, all of them fill out their purpose appropriately in the movie, and all of their power levels are around the same as of the T.V show. NA/10
oh yeah, and Mr Satan is in this one too :) yay
Story: This is your basic dragon ball Z movie plot. It carries out for 50 minutes, does EXACTLY what it intends to do. Worlds martial arts tournament, bad guys at the tournament, tournament put on hold, 9/10 of the characters are defeated by the bad guys, and 1 character beats the bad guys. Simple, nothing wrong with this, wont really be taking into account. As a genuine plot? a 5/10. But because there's no room for an ACTUAL plot, the rating is NA/10.
Art: The art is, good. Really good. The worlds martial arts tournament, is COMPLETELY revamped into the so-called "Intergalactic World Tournament", and looks COOL for once. Everything about the setting in the movie, is indifferent to every other movie in the series, despite the old and recurring plot and ideas used in every one of them. Toei animation's clear intent was to make something dark. Something gritty, something refreshing for the viewers, and they definitely pulled it off. There's blood coming out of each character, choking, screaming, and while this is all happening, you can feel the sheer agony of each character who are going through these things, all throughout the look in their faces. When the battle TRULY begins, the environments placed in each fight, are dark, poorly lit, gross, weird, creepy, black.
Sound: The OST is pretty damn good. When the first half of the show is underway, its fun, is wacky, its suitable to the current situation at hand. Characters are having fun, gohan and krillin are fighting in the tournament, and Master Roshi is back at it, indulging in his daily little perverted acts. Essentially its all fun and games, but when the real battle between gohan, Bojack and his crew begins, the OST becomes... disturbing... You can literally feel the gravity of the situation. It's the first time any long itme dbz fan will ever be able to think with a worried look on their face, "shit, everyones actually going to be f*cking murdered..." without some goofy ass music playing in the background (T.V show)
Sound pt 2: The voice acting of goku and gohan in this movie are incredible. When gohan is being strangled by bojack, he screams. But this time, with goku in other world, and everyone else essentially dead, no one can help him. When paired up with the brilliant OST of this movie, this sh*t is almost goddamn disturbing... When watching this scene for the 7th f*cking time, I couldn't help but get goosebumps.
The next scene where Goku comes down from other world to save gohan, is also very well acted out. Goku gets mad. He actually gets mad at something....
well done Sean Schemmel, great job.
Extra: For once, when the characters in the movie are shown to laugh, it actually...seems...genuine.
Enjoyment: Im biased, but I do not care, this shit makes me FEEEL good bruh. The way the characters talk to each other just.. make me feel happy. The first half of the show, sets the ending up real nice, so I never need to ask, "wtf is going on???!?!?". The main things that make this movie great for ME, is the great voice acting paired with the even greater OST towards the end of the film. 10/10
This movie isn't a masterpiece, it literally cant be (as a standalone movie). But for all dragon ball z fans who have an itch for edginess, this movie can be enjoyed to the max.
