Welcome to part three of the Dragon Ball Z Movie Retrospective, where today we're looking at the final four entries of the original releases. These movies were released during the Buu Saga, and while that saga has its memorable moments, it's regarded as the weakest by DBZ fans. I believe the same applies to the films of that time as well. This set of DBZ movies are ones I've watched the least or have more negative opinions on. And aside from movie 13, it's hard to place these movies within the show's timeline like I do with the others because the Buu Saga is so busy that there's no breathing room to do so. But given how long it's been since I've watched some of these, maybe I'll find some good in them that I missed before. Let's get started.
SYNOPSIS: Broly, one of the greatest evils in existence, is back to wreak havoc on humanity.
MY THOUGHTS: Right from the beginning, this movie has problems. The first scene shows Broly following his defeat from Goku in a Saiyan pod arriving on Earth, with a nearby body of water filling the crater from his landing and then flash frozen for seven years. This is despite the fact that in his first movie, Broly exploded from Goku's finishing blow in the moments before New Vegeta was destroyed by a comet. It's a plot hole as big as the crater he left and makes "Somehow Palpatine returned" look like brilliant writing.
People's problems with the original Broly can be pinned squarely on "Second Coming". It's complete Flanderization as all but one of his lines is him screaming "KAKAROT!"; I guess that can be attributed to whatever brain damage he got from the end of his last film. There's also apparently the fact that hearing Goten's fake crying during his, Trunks and Videl's quest for the Dragon Balls is what awakens Broly from his frozen slumber, triggering his memory of baby Goku with Goten's similar hair not helping things. Because apparently Goku's crying is all that made Broly who he is.
"Second Coming" is just bad all around. It's painfully boring until Broly unfreezes, then it gets annoying as Goten and Trunks do their best to fight him, and by the time Gohan shows up and things start to get serious, my investment got pretty low. There's also a bit of laziness as they just reuse Broly's full Legendary transformation from the previous film here. And going off that, the end credits has clips of the first Broly movie play as they roll, almost like they're teasing us with "Hey, remember how good this one was?" knowing there would be disappointment in "Second Coming."
Even what good parts that are present are questionable. For one thing, Krillin shows up dressed as Piccolo to save Gohan from a close call. On one hand, it's a nice subversion of the trope the movies had going of Piccolo arriving to the scene to save Gohan from danger. On the other, why was Krillin dressed like Piccolo?
The most iconic moment to come from the film though is a family Kamehameha with Goku, Gohan, and Goten working together in beam struggle that ultimately defeats Broly once and for all. But how it comes about is weird. Goku, who is still dead at this point, apparently arrives due to a wish from Goten on the Dragon Balls, despite the fact that Shenron didn't appear to grant a wish and Goten only made it in his mind. You could just say this was another "divine intervention" moment like when Goku gave Gohan a quick hand in "Bojack Unbound", but the Balls disperse as if a wish was made. Again, seeing father and sons work together is cool, but it doesn't make much sense when you get down to it. And that's "Second Coming" in a nutshell.
Maybe if they created a new villain instead of making it a Broly sequel or if some more thought was put into the story, the movie could have worked. As it stands, "Broly - Second Coming" is the first of the DBZ movies that I just don't like.
On a side note, I wanted to take the time to say that I like Gohan's blue gi as shown in the poster above. Gohan usually wears something similar to Goku or Piccolo to honor his mentors, but his blue gi was something uniquely him and I feel it was meant to set him apart from Goku when the plan was for him to take over as the main character. I really wish this outfit stuck around longer than it did.
SYNOPSIS: Corruption and technology combine to resurrect one of the greatest evils the universe has ever known. Broly is back and more deadly than ever. The sinister Super Saiyan appears to be unstoppable until Trunks discovers a secret that could stop the symbiotic scourge.
MY THOUGHTS: "Bio-Broly" is widely considered to be the worst Dragon Ball Z movie. Surprisingly, I found it better than "Second Coming". There's actually more substance by comparison. "Bio-Broly" plays the mad scientist angle again; granted they redo some of the Bio-Warrior stuff from "World's Strongest", but they do it differently that I don't hold it against them. This also leads to the final outcome being determined by ingenuity rather than raw power. The inclusion of Android 18 and Mr. Satan not only brings some good comedy as she's seeking her payment for throwing the World's Martial Arts Tournament against him in the main series, but we actually delve a little deeper into Mr. Satan's past. And this is another movie where the animation is the best element. It's truly a step up from "Second Coming", with better fight scenes and some really good imagery.
So Broly is in this, but it's technically a clone. And once he's broken from his containment pod, he quickly degenerates into what looks like a combination of a giant walking turd and Swamp Thing if he had highlights; admittedly, his beating heart showing through his chest cavity is a cool feature. While most likely not the intent, I think it's representative of Broly's use through these movies; they keep bringing him back and it gets worse for him each time that he's unrecognizable from when we first met him. This is another story that could have been told without using Broly, but it's clear they were banking on his popularity. On the plus side, he's not screaming "KAKAROT!" at all this time.
Something I picked up in "Bio-Broly" is that there's a way they could have made "Second Coming" slightly better. The character of Maloja from the previous film appears here and is the one who found a blood sample of Broly's to use to clone him, despite the fact he had no interaction with Broly whatsoever. And now I have to ask, why not? "Second Coming" could have had Maloja finding Broly and taking care of him, creating a friendship similar to Frankenstein's monster and the blind man in "Bride of Frankenstein", only for things to go wrong when Broly loses it upon seeing Goten. "Bio-Broly" could have seen Maloja wanting to have his friend back while also getting revenge on those who destroyed him.
While I'm not saying "Bio-Broly" is actually good, it does have some unique elements that place it higher for me than its predecessor. Thus ends the Broly trilogy, and despite the tease at the end of this film and the premise of the next one, I'm really surprised they didn't try to incorporate him there in some way.
(Before we move on to said film though, I just have to say it felt really weird seeing Trunks use the Kamehameha.)
SYNOPSIS: An industrial disaster in Other World unleashed the monstrous Janemba, a beast who grows stronger with each passing minute. While Goku and Vegeta fight for Other World's survival, Goten and Trunks confronts a ghoulish army of the undead back on Earth. A dangerous plan of attack is devised and only an unprecedented act of teamwork can save the universe.
MY THOUGHTS: "Fusion Reborn" has a lot going for it that makes it popular among Dragon Ball fans. The first appearance of Gogeta (whom I prefer over Goku and Vegeta's other fusion of Vegito), Janemba is a cool looking demonic villain with a visually appealing powerset, Gohan destroys Frieza with one punch, and Goten and Trunks fight freaking Hitler, just to name a few things. While it's made up of good moments, I honestly don't care for "Fusion Reborn" as a film. I think I can pinpoint it down to three problems I had.
1. So Janemba is a villain who starts as this overweight childlike monster who may or may not know his actions are causing chaos, transforms into a slimmer, terrifying, and more powerful form and fights a fusion of Goku and Vegeta. Yeah, they just copied Majin Buu. Granted this movie came out before Vegito's debut in the series and the movies have retread villains before, but not while the original villain was still an ongoing threat.
2. Before Gogeta arrives, Goku and Vegeta have a botched fusion known as Veku, who's overweight and farts a lot. Comedy aside, this wouldn't be a problem if Veku's fight with Janemba didn't last longer than the one with Gogeta. I'm just saying a longer fight between Gogeta and Janemba could have been on par with all the other great fights with the villain up to that point.
3. The animation gets cheap at certain parts. Obviously the driving force of the film is set in Other World and this is where the money went to, with the accident that created Janemba also distorting reality and delivering surreal backdrops for the fights. The undead escaping from Hell to Earth seems like something that was added to extend the run time and isn't brought up in Other World, and it's making me think the Super Android 17 Saga, despite being the weakest GT saga, executed the idea better. Some of the animation looks fine but you can tell the budget got low when some of the backgrounds lack detail while characters and objects have these thick black outlines like they were pasted in with some scenes being repeated. Compare that to the all the great animation from the rest of these movies, and it's just sad.
I may be treating it harshly, but "Fusion Reborn" just isn't for me.
SYNOPSIS: Dark magic has unleashed an ancient monster, Hirudegarn, that consumes both flesh and soul. As the beast rampages on Earth, its power threatens to increase to unthinkable levels. Such wickedness can only be defeated by Tapion, a man who has already given so much and who will now offer his own life to save the universe.
MY THOUGHTS: I'm happy to say we're ending the retrospective on a high note. Taking place after Kid Buu's defeat, "Wrath of the Dragon" delivers an original and fleshed out story coupled with amazing animation that makes for one of the best DBZ movies. And thanks to undertaking this retrospective, it's now higher on my rankings of the original movies.
The two central characters of the film are Tapion and the main antagonist in Hirudegarn. Tapion has a compelling backstory, having given up a normal life in order to keep Hirudegarn at bay. His broody exterior melts as he forms a brotherly relationship with Trunks. It must have been some cosmic connection given Trunks' future counterpart also came from a place ravaged by evil and fights with a sword. The final moments of the film show Tapion passing on his sword to Trunks before he departs; as the initial clips during the final credits show Future Trunks using his sword in his debut appearance against Mecha-Frieza, it implies it's the same sword as Tapion's. A knee-jerk reaction would be that this doesn't make sense, but it's very likely some version of "Wrath of the Dragon" happened in Future Trunks' timeline given Super showed he also prevented his Majin Buu's revival.
Hirudegarn is just a beast and it's what makes him terrifying. We've seen the Z-Fighters fight villains who grow to giant size, but Hirudegarn is a straight up kaiju in the vein of Godzilla. It's really entertaining to see our heroes in such a fight while trying to keep the city safe from further destruction. Hirudegarn has two forms, the first one with a skull face being my preference over the bug like one he evolves into.
I will admit two problems I had with the film. The first one, albeit a minor one, is Vegeta's brief inclusion in the climax despite not appearing anywhere else in the film compared to the other characters in the fight. But the bigger problem is the ending with Goku delivering the final blow to Hirudegarn with the new Dragon Fist ability (his only original technique I might add). Considering this has been Tapion's story, enemy, and responsibility, he should have been the one to get the win. The Dragon Fist could still be used to weaken him, but then Tapion could have came in with his sword for the final strike. It's like the film's Japanese title was really hammering in that only Goku would save the day in the franchise from here on (at least until Super Hero). But I digress.
Issues from the climax aside, "Wrath of the Dragon" is a diamond in the rough of Buu saga movies and a fine final outing from the original line of Dragon Ball Z films.
This retrospective was a nice nostalgia trip and I had fun for the most part while rewatching these movies, gaining some new appreciation I hadn't before. Obviously, some films had more effort put into them than others, with the earlier films being the strongest batch in my opinion. But when you have stories being told outside the main continuity, they all can't be a winner. Regardless, the original Dragon Ball Z movies are just as memorable in one way or another for fans of the franchise.
And with some new clarity, here's my official rankings:
1. Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
2. Cooler's Revenge
3. Bojack Unbound
4. Tree of Might
5. World's Strongest
6. Dead Zone
7. Wrath of the Dragon
8. Return of Cooler
9. Lord Slug
10. Super Android 13
11. Fusion Reborn
12. Bio-Broly
13. Broly - Second Coming
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