1986 through 1990 were great years in the world of Dragon Ball-related movies and specials, with several entries becoming all-time classics, and the others hidden gems. But no King rules forever, Tony Jay once said in a video game about ice zombies. And we'll find that, while not immediate, the reign of Dragon Ball cinema couldn't last forever.
Super Saiyan Son Goku
Dragon Ball Z Movie 4
Rating: Good (2 out of 3)
This is a movie I seem to enjoy a lot more than other people. It's not a perfect movie, in fact it has a number of flaws, mostly in regards to jumping the gun with the whole "Super Saiyan" concept (though the "False" Super Saiyan is rad looking) and the main plot being almost wholly stolen from the Piccolo Daimao Saga, with some Piccolo Jr. tricks thrown in for good measure. That said, the movie has it's strengths, too. Firstly, it is gorgeous. Maybe the last of the truly breathtakingly well animated Dragon Ball movies until 1995. The action takes up more of this movie than any of the previous ones, with the final battle with Slug taking up the last 20 minutes of the 50 minute run time, and it's packed full of entirely unique locations and inspired choreography. It's essentially the Dragon Ball equivalent of a porn movie, where the story is thin, stolen from somewhere else, and really just a means to set up two people banging. Only the people banging in this case are Son Goku and Lord Slug. And by banging, I mean, punching each other to death. I'm sorry for your new nightmares. Also, the music is really good.
The Incredible Mightiest vs Mightiest
Dragon Ball Z Movie 5
Rating: Good (2 out of 3)
This movie isn't too far off from what I've said about the last one. Though maybe the plot is a little less derivative, the locations aren't as interesting. The final battle is more emotionally investing, but the animation and choreography is less inspired. Indeed, of the movies reviewed thus far, excluding the actually canon Bardock special, this is the one that feel most like it could have just been a plot in the TV series. It follows many of the beats DBZ plots do, including contriving some way to get Goku out of the plot long enough for everyone else to have a use. In some ways, that might make one enjoy this movie more -- it feels very familiar. In others, it might be too familiar. But the strength of the movie is it's villain. Despite being the brother of Dragon Ball's most recent at the time, and still most famous Big Bad, Coola separates himself and becomes a wholly unique character who elevates the known story by his inclusion, rather than riding its coat tails. This is less to do with the script (though Takao Koyama's voice is strong in this screenplay) and mostly to do with Ryusei Nakao performance. He and Nozawa work brilliantly off of each other, as usual, and keep this movie from being a cash in on Freeza's popularity. Also, the music is really good.
Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors
Dragon Ball Z Movie 6
Rating: Great (3 out of 3)
This movie should be awful. It was a stretch to introduce Coola at all, as he could so easily have been a cheap knock off of Freeza. Then after Freeza returned with mechanical upgrades, you bring back Coola with a similar gimmick? And you set it on Namek, Freeza's old literal stomping ground? It should be awful but holy crap is it not. Like Movie 5, Nakao's performance is transcendent here. But it's not just him -- as the first entry in the Dragon Ball franchise where Goku and Vegeta are forced to team up against an unstoppable foe (yeah, this is the first time anyone wrote that scenario!), we witness the brilliant chemistry of Masako Nozawa and Ryo Horikawa in full effect. With their backs against the wall, it's only through team work can this legendary rivalry overcome Coola and his ten-billion clones. Throw in some solid B-Plot work for Piccolo, and you have a cool story that makes Movie 5 even better in retrospect. If the movie has a weak point, it's the animation. "On model" seems to be more of a suggestion than a requirement at times, here. But the highly original and frenetic choreography more than makes up for this shortcoming. Also, the music is really good.
Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans
Dragon Ball Z Movie 7
Rating: Poor (1 out of 3)
This movie is hot, steaming garbage. The animation has all the same problems of the last movie, but worse, and the choreography is slow and boring. The story is similarly thin and dull, with it being full of a bunch of extra Artificial Humans with as much personality between them as a pile of fresh dog shit. It looks like garbage, it's written like garbage - It's garbage. The whole thing is even set in a boring, samey arctic. While all the other movies at this point had tried to have some nice environments, this movie says "fuck it, snow", like it's a goddamn Lawrence Kasdan movie. When the most memorable part of your kung fu fantasy epic movie spin off is someone getting punched in the dick, you've got problems. Page 1 rewrite problems. But uh, the music is really good.
Defiance in the Face of Despair!!
The Remaining Super Warriors - Gohan and Trunks
Dragon Ball Z TV Special 2
Rating: Great (3 out of 3)
What other rating could I give it? Like the previous TV special, this story is dark, and takes the focus completely away from Son Goku. Though it's based on a chapter in the manga, this movie goes far beyond Toriyama's original pages to expand the story, and fill it with the same mature themes running through the Bardock special -- despair in the face of an unstoppable enemy, and finding hope in the future (or in this case, the past). Trunks plays the central role in this movie, and like the Artificial Humans and Cell Sagas, he's the sorely needed human element in this show about monsters and kung fu superpowers. His heart and determination carry the story, while Son Gohan takes on a role that naturally mixes elements of his own relationships with Goku and Piccolo. But unlike his father, Gohan isn't the hero who can always make things right, and we're left in a world where Trunks is the last one defending it. But we're given hope as the credits roll, and we witness again, with new eyes, Trunks' attack on Freeza and King Cold. Also, the music is really good.
Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight
Dragon Ball Z Movie 8
Rating: Poor (1 out of 3)
Let me start by saying that, as Yamamuro's first DBZ movie as Animation Director, this movie is immediately different looking from everything else hitherto. While not bad - at all, the movie's gorgeously animated - it is different, and to my eyes, not really for the better. But that's something with the second half of DBZ altogether, not just this movie. Though I think Yamamuro's take on DBZ looks better in the Majin Boo segment, when there's no Maeda episodes and movies to compare those designs. Beyond that mild tangent, the movie is way too long for how little of substance happens. Broly is an interminably dull villain. While some maintain he has some redeeming qualities here and doesn't jump the shark until his sequels, I think he jumps the shark as soon as he bulks up and starts speaking exclusively in toothy-grinned grunts. But the movie is still a far sight better than Movie 7 as it is, at least, pretty. Not that well choreographed, but pretty. Also, the music is really good.
Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy
Dragon Ball Z Movie 9
Rating: Good (2 out of 3)
I flip back and forth on if I like this movie better than Movie 6 or not. In my Top 7 about Movies and Specials, this one made the list at 7, while Movie 6 was omitted. Yet Movie 6 got a higher rating. What gives? Well, Bojack and his crew. They're fucking cool... but they're pretty undeveloped. And unlike, say, Movie 2 where Dr. Uiro isn't exactly villain-of-the-year, the rest of the elements of this movie aren't utterly transcendent enough to overcome the vanilla baddies. (That said, I'd take them over Broly or more Artificial Humans any goddamn day.) Everything else in this movie is pretty great, though. The fights, the animation, the use of the full cast for the first time since Movie 3, the well placed pathos with Gohan, Trunks, and Vegeta, taking their arcs beyond where they were at the end of the Cell Games rather than just retreading that ground. It's really really good. Almost great. I guess I still like it better than Movie 6, but while all the wheels are turning in that movie, one very important one is stock still in this one. Also, the music is really good.
The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans Part 1 & Part 2
Dragon Ball Z OVA
Rating: Poor (1 out of 3)
Based on the Playdia game (which was a Japanese-exclusive gaming console for little kids and people who loved interactive porn ((look it up))), which was based on a NES RPG, this one-and-only Dragon Ball Z OVA in a decade filled with OVAs is the only Dragon Ball property, apart from the traffic and fire safety videos and Televikko game, that feels strictly made for little kids. And that's not all bad. As entertainment for little kids goes, it isn't exactly the most educational, but it is an hour long, which is a great power nap length for parents. The animation is okay, the story is from a 90s video game and feels like it, and it's the first time Shunsuke Kikuchi didn't do the music for a piece of Dragon Ball animation. So no, the music is not good. At all.
The Dangerous Duo! Super-Warriors Can't Rest
Dragon Ball Z Movie 10
Rating: Poor (1 out of 3)
Nietzsche once said that "God is dead". He didn't mean that an infinite, all-knowing super being could, and indeed had, die. What he meant was that no such being would allow this movie to exist. "How come the screencap you chose to represent it looks the same as the Movie 8 screencap?" Because Yamamuro and da Boyz just copypasted the dang thing in this movie. Sorta like Koyama did with the script. Because fuck it. Why try at anything, ever? God is dead, after all. The animation is really good, in spite of itself, and there's some cute scenes with Goten, Trunks, and Videl at the start, but jesus they can't carry a movie. Or maybe they could, if they had a villain who wasn't the personification of drying yellow paint. The music is really great but fuck this movie.
Super-Warrior Defeat!! I'm the One Who'll Win
Dragon Ball Z Movie 11
Rating: Poor (1 out of 3)
Also known as "Surprisingly, Not as Bad as Movie 10". And it should shock all that a third Broly movie, where now Broly isn't even alive but instead a poop monster with Broly's DNA, is a better sequel than his previous adventure. But it's simple. Koyama learned the boys couldn't lead a story, so this time he pairs them up with the character who pulled the aging story out of the shitter during the Cell Games and helped make a Boo Saga a near complete turnaround -- Mr. Satan. The whole movie is a Mr. Satan movie, and it works best when it's working on him. The boys work well as comic foils, though not nearly as well as #18, who joins the story as a thug shaking down Mr. Satan for more money after throwing the Tenka-ichi Budokai for him. Getting to see Kuririn and #18 help the Super Saiyan Squirts take on the poop monster is another strength of this flick. So if I've done nothing but praise it so far, why didn't I rate it higher? It's a fucking movie about Broly poop. This movie is goddamn lucky Movie 7 and Movie 10 exist, or I wouldn't wipe my own ass with it. Fuck Broly. I'm glad he's dead.
WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING
Whatever, at least the music is really good.
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