 4 of 7 - Somewhat boring, though humorous at times. |
Synopsis: The story begins with Piccolo training in the wilderness, muttering about defeating Goku in the next Budoukai. He is ambushed by three mysterious warriors, members of the Makyo race. The three of them gang up on Piccolo, and in typical DBZ movie fashion, beat the crap out of him. They smash him into a mountain, and you see one lone shadowy figure, talking about how Piccolo's death means that Kami is gone as well, and soon the world will be his! The next scene switches to Gohan, studying some books, and setting a standard that would haunt him for the rest of his life. His studying is interrupted by a visit from Gyuu Mao, laden with presents (All books O_o). While delivering the packaged textbooks, Gyuu Mao falls victim to one of the three demons (he survives). The short, irritating creature demands the Dragon ball on Gohan's hat, and he and his two comerades proceed to beat up Chichi and kidnap Gohan. Goku, sensing that something is wrong, rushes back to his injured wife and father-in-law, and then begins his mission to find whoever did this. Meanwhile our villain, Garlic Jr, succeeds where all other DB/DBZ villains had failed: he is granted immortality. Reveling in his newfound eternal life, Garlic Jr. decides not to kill Gohan outright but instead to train him. From there comes one of the funniest scenes in DBZ, involving a demon, Gohan, some alcoholic apples, and millions of dancing purple dinosaurs and multicoloured fuzz-balls. After the majority of the joke is over, Goku arrives to challenge Garlic Jr. and his henchmen. He begins a fight with the three demons; Ginger, Nikki, and Sansho by name. During the fight, Kami comes in to face Garlic Jr. himself, showing that neither he nor Piccolo had actually died. It is revealed that 300 years ago, Kami had a rival to the throne: a demon named Garlic. Kami made it, garlic didn't. So, being the well-to-do demon that he was, Garlic called up the demon hordes and was then consequently locked up for eternity. Now seeking revenge, Garlic Jr. wants the throne that his father coveted. Garlic Jr. and Kami fight, while Goku fights the demons inside the castle. He is assisted by Kuririn and Piccolo; Kuririn gets Gohan out to safety (or at least tries to), while Piccolo and Goku make short work of the henchmen. Kami loses his fight against the now-immortal Garlic Jr., and the Namek/Saiya-jin team pick up the battle. At this point, one of the most dramatic transformations takes place: 3-foot Garlic Jr. becomes 12-foot Garlic Jr. The fight resumes in pure late DB-style, ending with Garlic Jr. creating a portal to a "Dead Zone," and accidentally sucking himself in when Gohan gets angry and starts blasting things. Our Thoughts: While not one of the best of the DBZ movies, Return my Gohan! does have some comedic value, and the animation/background artwork, particularly with Garlic Jr's castle, is incredible. The movie suffers from a lack of, well, life in the plot, and was really saved only by the humor and visuals. The Alcoholic Apples scene really must be seen to be believed. |
 4.5 of 7 - Excellent animation, but poor plot. |
Synopsis: Oolong steals Bulma's Dragon Radar to locate the Dragonballs. (Oolong wants to make a wish for a girl's underwear.) He and Gohan are in the northern glaciers to find the Dragonballs, but Dr. Wheelo's assistant, Dr Kochin, wishes for Dr. Wheelo to be free from his icy tomb. Gohan and Oolong go near the lab to investigate, but are attacked by bio-men (sort of like the Saiba-men). Piccolo rescues them, but is defeated by three androids. Meanwhile, Gohan and Oolong escape. A few days later, Dr. Kochin appears with bio-men in the Kame House and kidnap Bulma. She is used to lure Master Roshi to Dr. Wheelo's lab in the glaciers. In the lab, we meet Dr. Wheelo. It turns out that he is a giant brain functioning inside a giant machine. 50 years ago, Dr. Wheelo and his lab were destroyed and buried in ice. Now that they are released with the help of the Dragonballs, Dr. Wheelo wants to find the strongest man on Earth and take over his body. (He believes that Master Roshi is the strongest because Master Roshi won the martial arts tourament at the time he got "iced".) Next, Master Roshi is put in a secluded room to fight the three androids that defeated Piccolo. Master Roshi is defeated with ease. Meanwhile, Goku is on his way to rescue Bulma and Master Roshi. Dr. Wheelo's computer picks up Goku's signal. Bulma sees it and exclaims that Goku is the strongest man, not Master Roshi. Dr. Wheelo fights this interesting and sends his three androids to fight Goku to see if he's really as strong as Bulma says he is. Goku fights them and is soon joined by Gohan and Krillin. They kill the androids and find Dr. Wheelo. Here, they meet with Piccolo, who is brainwashed by some golden straps placed around his head. Goku and Piccolo battle while Gohan tells them to stop fighting and gets kicked by Piccolo a few times. Because Dr. Wheelo brainwashed his idol (Piccolo), Gohan gets very angry (and you know what happens when he gets angry) and releaces a shockwave that almost broke that glass that holds Dr. Wheelo's brain. This shockwave releases Piccolo from Dr. Wheelo's control. Meanwhile, Krillin tries to rescue Bulma but ends up running from Dr. Kochin's machine-gun arm. Master Roshi escapes Dr. Wheelo's prison and aids Krillin. Bulma is freed. With the tie of the battle turning, Dr. Wheelo gets angry. It turns out that the machine Dr. Wheelo is placed in is really a robot built into the lab. Dr. Wheel unleashes his body (thus destroying the lab) and begins to attack our heroes. The robot seems unable to be defeated, but Goku creates the spirit bomb while Piccolo and Gohan try to hold him off. Goku successfully blasts Dr. Whello with the spirit bomb and kills him. Afterwards, the good guys stand together and joke that Master Roshi is really the world's dirtiest man and Piccolo walks away. Our Thoughts: Coming soon! |
3.5 of 7 - "Dry" animation, boring plot. |
Synopsis: A small probe from Outer Space lands and causes a forest fire. Gohan and Kuririn manage to put out the fire and save a small purple dragon, but the forest is destroyed. Saddened, they gather the dragon balls, and Gohan wishes the Forest back to its earlier state. The next morning, the probe activates and starts scouting out the earth. It reports back to a strange group of Space Pirates, led by a mysterious leader. They decide that the planet is suitable for growing "Shinseiju (Tree of Might)," and plant the seed. The Shinseiju literally demolishes several square miles in its growth, and starts sucking the life out of everything. The tree is made to bear fruit for the gods (Think the Immortality peaches in the old Chinese Myths). Goku, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yamcha all rush to the base of the tree (Gohan was told by his mother to stay home), where they face off against the Pirates. Gohan sneaks away from his mother to fight, and runs into a Saiya-jin, the leader of the pirates, who looks exactly like his dad. Taurus grabs Gohan, and recognizing that he's part Saiya-jin, creates a fake moon. Oozaru Gohan comes after Goku first, and a small fight begins between them. This fight lasts until Gohan sees Higher Dragon, in which Gohan's short attention span is diverted. Enraged, Taurus blows the Dragon away, and then attacks Gohan. Goku cuts off the Gohan's tail, and sets him aside where he's safe. Having defeated the rest of the Z warriors, Taurus' henchmen surround our hero. Goku takes them all on and kills the lot with ease. Taurus resumes the fight, and they find that their power levels are nearly equal. Taurus grabs some of the fruit from the Tree, and takes a healthy bite. He then trashes Goku, leaving him for dead. Goku attempts to make a Genki-dama, and the other heroes band together against Taurus to stall for time. The villain defeats them all with ease, and concentrates back on Goku just in time to see him lob the ball of energy. Taurus deflects the Genki-dama, and is totally unaffected. The earth had been drained so much that it was impossible to gather any real energy. Goku begins draining energy from the Tree of might itself, until he builds one last Genki-dama. He then confronts Taurus for the last time, and hits him with the attack. Both Taurus and the tree are destroyed, and all of the energy taken by the tree is restored to the earth. Our Thoughts: Not the best DBZ movie, nor is it the worst, Tree of Might has a few good points in it, but overall the lack of character originality, and the strange plot holes--like why the Heck Taurus looks like Gokou--detract from the movie. |
2 of 7 - Pure cheese, the worst of the movies. |
Synopsis: The fourth DBZ Movie starts out with a scene of Piccolo meditating by a waterfall--something that he does often. His quiet time is interrupted by Gohan and Higher Dragon. Gohan has taught his little pet dragon to dance to his whistling, and he wants to show it to Mr. Piccolo! Before the Namek can stop him, Gohan begins his little song-and dance routine. Before the sickening display becomes enough to harm us, though, Piccolo screams out in pain (I would, too, but this is apparently because Namek's can't stand human whistling), and Gohan is forced to stop. Then, after that little "cute scene," the actual "plot" begins. In the movie, a giant planetoid looks like it's going to hit the earth, yet explodes just before it makes impact. The inhabitants of the planet, a group of space-pirates, land on the Earth in their little ship to terraform it and use it as a new home base. They are a bunch of horned, sun-sensitive oddities led by Lord Slug--a strangely familiar green alien. Slug learns of the Dragonballs by reading Bulma's mind; he immediately collects them and makes his wish: restore his youth. After becoming young again, the fight begins. Gohan and Piccolo face off against Slug's three main henchman: Dorodabo, a fat gargoyle (Blown to bits by Piccolo early), Angira, a Zarbon look-alike, and Medametcha, an extremely strange frog with the ability to create energy-sucking clones of himself. After a little bit of fighting, Goku steps in and kills Medametcha and Angira rather easily. Then it's Goku vs. Slug in one of the most predictable DBZ movie battles ever. Slug Trashes Gokou. Goku goes "Super Saiya-jin" (Well, not really...his hair remains black) Goku trashes Slug. Slug proves to all that he's a Namek. Slug grows to super size and trashes Goku. Piccolo joins in and gets hurt. Ho-hum. Then more wierdness enters the story, as Piccolo tells Gohan to whistle--causing Slug to fall to his knees in pain. Goku flies through Slug's stomach, and then creates a small Genki-dama and defeats the Evil namek. The Earth returns to normal, birds sing, and Master Roshi wakes up from his nap and comments about the beautiful weather. Our Thoughts: There is a running debate over which DBZ movie is worse: 4, or 11. Basically everything was done wrong in this movie. The characters were flat, the plot sucked, the villains were wasted (Just look at Zeeun in the beginning), and the humor was about as funny as eating stale yogurt. The "Super Saiya-jin" transformation need not be mentioned. In fact, the only good points of the movie were Piccolo's reaction to Gohan's whistling (hehe), and the look on Slug's face right before he killed one of his henchmen for calling him old (Classic). So, get this movie only if you really want to see EVERYTHING, or if you're in a weird movie. Either way, we'll forgive you. |
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Synopsis: Koola, Freeza's older brother, learns that his brother was killed by a Saiyan. Hence, Koola flies to Earth to kill Gokou. He boasts that he will kill Gokou not for the revenge of Freeza, but for the termination of all Saiyans. Gokou gets blasted in the back and is severly injured. Krillin hides with Gokou in a cave as Koola's minions look for Gokou. Gohan rides off on his dragon's back to Karin Tower to get senzu beans. On his way back, Gohan gets discovered and is attacked. Piccolo appears and defends Gohan again. Coola's minions are killed (but Gohan is beaten in the fight), but Koola appears and beats Piccolo. Gokou heals after eating the senzu bean Gohan brought back. He and Koola fight. Koola transforms into a more powerful body and beats Gokou. Gokou gets angry and reaches Super Saiyan form. Koola launches a fireball at Gokou, but Gokou deflects fireballs back at Koola and Koola is blown into the sun. Our Thoughts: Coming soon! |
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Synopsis: Our story begins on New Namek, where a giant, planet-sized machine begins to devour the world. The Z warriors catch wind of the plot, and fly off to the crippled planet. By this time, all the inhabitants of Namek have been captured by advanced battle droids, and are being led off to a prison camp where they are to be executed. However, our heros arrive just in time, and save the Nameks from certain death. As the droids prepare for battle, the leader of the machine army, Metal Koola, reveals himself. He explains that after Koola was blasted into the sun, the space-faring Big Ghetti Star came across his remains and assimilated Koola's brain. The only way to sustain the tremendous sphere is to sap large amounts of energy from the cores of planets and its inhabitants. Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan begin battle with the robots, but their armor proves to be exceedingly tough to puncture. While his friends are occupied with the droid army, Goku begins to battle Metal Koola. It isn't long until Goku gains the upper hand, and knocks off one of Metal Koola's arms. Unfortunately, Koola regenerates his limb, and informs our hero that the Big Ghetti Star instantaneously corrects weaknesses and repairs damage. Now with better tactics, Metal Koola begins to win the fight. Yet out of nowhere, Vegeta comes to the rescue, and joins Goku in his foray. Meanwhile, Kuririn and Gohan have been captured by the droids, and flown to the prison camp. Only Piccolo remains, and with a huge burst of energy, he evaporates the remaining droids. With the army destroyed, Piccolo flies to the heart of the Big Ghetti Star. Vegeta and Goku attack Metal Koola at full strength, and turn his body into such a fine powder that no regeneration is possibly. Thinking that they have won, they are shocked to see hundreds of Metal Koola's sliding down a nearby ridge, and running straight towards them. The next thing they know, they are hanging in the main chamber of the Big Ghetti Star by thousands of tiny electrodes. Koola begins to steal their energy, but finds that the Ki of a Super Saiya-jin is too much to handle. With overloading batteries, the Big Ghetti Star begins to self-destruct. Goku and Vegeta, in a final showdown with the massive core of the world-eater, destroy Koola's remains. The good guys barely manage an escape, and the Big Ghetti Star explodes in a fireball. Namek is left scarred, but no blood is shed this day. Our Thoughts: This is, by far, my favorite Dragonball movie. The animation and music are far above the standard, and the battle droids are just plain cool-looking. The plot is fairly simple, but it is different from the usual "all-powerful being arrives, Z warriors must kill it." Instead, we are treated with a tale about a giant, ever-evolving spore colony. My one complaint would have to be the length of the movie: it was just too darn short. Many of the fight scenes seemed compressed for time, and the 45 minutes just didn't do it justice. This is one of the better anime films available, and even casual DBZ fans should own a copy. |
6 of 7 - Some great panning shots, interesting characters. |
Synopsis: The trouble starts when two odd looking androids (#15 and #14) make their way through the streets toward a hotel where Goku, Gohan, Kuririn, Master Roshi, Oolong, Chichi, and Trunks are staying. They wreak havoc as they blow up buildings and cars and send people screaming in terror. Eventually they locate Goku and destroy his temporary residence. The Z warriors rescue everyone in the skyscraper before it fully collapses. Trunks reminds Goku that they will only hurt civilians if they continue to fight in the city. As a result, Goku flies, chased by the two androids, to some uninhabited ice plains. There they battle, and we see that yet another robot has been released from Dr. Gero's laboratory. This robot, #13, tells Goku that the and the others were created by Dr. Gero's computer, and though Dr. Gero is dead, his computer magnified his hatred for Goku many times over, and created #13, #14, and #15 as a result. As they fight, it is clear that the androids are gaining the upper hand (Goku fights #13, while Mirai Trunks takes #14 and #15). Vegeta comes to help out Goku, because he wants to save the victory over Goku to himself. There is now one Saiya-jin per android (Vegeta takes #15). Soon, all the Saiya-jin go SSJ. Vegeta and Trunks make short work of their foes. Gohan tries to help his father, but is shot at, and saved by Piccolo, who helps Goku take on #13. #13 absorbs the batteries and processing units of the two fallen androids after realizes they have been disposed of. With the power of the other two androids within him, android #13 is transformed into Super 13. This blue monstrosity makes short work of all the Z warriors but Goku. He continues to pummel Goku until Goku falls under water, at which point he turns his attention to Gohan. Gohan sees that Goku is gathering energy for a Genki-dama, and one by one, the Z warriors sacrifice themselves yet again, though they are near unconcious. Eventually, Goku turns SSJ while gathering energy, and absorbs the Genki-dama's energy. His aura is so powerful that Super 13's skin begins to melt away. Goku embeds his fist into Super 13's abdomen, and destroys his remains. Our Thoughts: As far as DBZ movies go, this one is close to the top. It's quite action packed, and blends elements of humor well with the action, so that one can get a little comic relief every now and then. The fight scenes are up to the usual DBZ par, and are very fun to watch. The ending is actually a little anti-climatic; we were hoping for Goku to have another fight at full power with Super #13 after the Genki-dama was absorbed. Even so, however, this movie is definitely worth buying. You won't be dissapointed. |
5.5 of 7 - Longest DBZ movie, compelling story. |
Synopsis: Gokou and Chi-Chi are at an interview to get Gohan into a good school. Kaiou teleports Gokou a message to teleport to his planet at once. Meanwhile, Gokou's friends are at a picnic. A spaceship lands and Paragus comes out to seek Vegeta. Paragus tells Vegeta that his is a Saiyan and is working to create Planet New Vegeta. He tells that he wants Vegeta to rule this new planet, but there is a Legendary Super Saiyan that remains a threat. Vegeta falls for the lie and goes to "New Vegeta". Trunks, Gohan, Klilyn, Master Roshi, and Oolong follow as well. At Kaiou's planet, Kaiou also tells Gokou about the Legendary Super Saiyan, and Gokou teleports to "New Vegeta" as well. As days pass by, our heroes learn that Paragus's son, Brolly, is the Legendary Super Saiyan. Paragus wanted revenge on Vegeta because Vegeta's father sentenced him and his son, Brolly (an infant at the time), to death and their bodies were dumped as trash. When Planet Vegeta exploded, Brolly's strength saved them. Brolly was executed because Vegeta's father feared the baby's great power and did not want a threat in the future. As for Brolly, he is a maniac. Paragus put special bracelets and necklaces on him to control his son. Brolly also has a grudge against Gokou; he was born on the same day as Gokou and naturally hated him. Brolly turns into his Super Saiyan form and breaks free of Paragus's control over him. Brolly trashes everyone. Piccolo also arrived to battle, but was trashed as well. Meanwhile, Paragus tried to escape the planet because he knew Brolly is a maniac and will kill everyone he sees. Brolly spots Paragus inside a space-pod and crushes the pod; thus killing his father. No one is able to defeat Brolly and are all out of strength. Gokou tells his comrades to give him their strength. Everyone except Vegeta face their hands to Gokou and do this. This power is still not enough to defeat Brolly. Finally, Vegeta donates his energy as well. With this new strength, Gokou kills Brolly in one punch. The planet explodes, but not before Gokou teleports all his friends to a spaceship heading back to Earth. Our Thoughts: Coming soon! |
5.5 of 7 - Spectacular battle scenes. |
Synopsis: Movie 9 begins with a tournament, organized as a birthday present for Dollar Money, the son of Gyusan Money, the richest man in the world. The combatants are to fight simultaneously, until there are only four contestants left. At this point, the remaining four were to fight four "aliens" (Idiots dressed up in costumes), and whoever finished first was to fight Mr. Satan for the grand prize. The first half of the movie is mainly comedy, with Gohan, Mirai no Trunks, and Kuririn fighting their way through the tournament, becoming three of the four finalists (The fourth was a huge sumo wrestler named Daisuke). All the while Gokou is watching his son from heaven, and Mr. Satan is engaged in his usual antics in trying to get away from "Those people!" The second half begins when, in the final rounds, the four "Aliens" have most obviously been replaced with REAL aliens- led by one named Bojack. Bojack had apparently tried to fight the gods some time ago, and was imprisoned in a star. Kaiou's death during the Cell game freed him, and he was trying to get special revenge on the North Kaiou by taking his student's planet first. Trunks defeats his opponent, but loses to Bojack, while Kuririn and Daisuke both lose to theirs- at the cost of Daisuke's life. Gohan doesn't finish his fight before all of the villains convene and introduce themselves, thus spawning one of the finest one-sided movie fight scenes yet, which lasts until everyone is trashed and Gohan is being crushed to death by Bojack. Gokou, breaking the afterlife rules, teleports out of heaven in an effort to save Gohan (He whacks Bojack in the jaw in what was actually a rather funny scene). Gohan then goes SSJ2 and kills two out of the three henchmen (The third expired at BojackÕs hands for showing fear), and Gohan then kills Bojack. The movie ends with everybody recovering in the hospital, a typical happy movie ending. Our Thoughts: Despite its shortcomings, which I will get into later, Movie 9 was one of the best of the DBZ movies. The fight scenes were well-done, the one-shot characters were creative, the music was incredible, particularly near the end, and it had a good mix of humor and action- not to mention the fact that it actually fit into the DBZ timeline. The only problems were that it was excessively short, that the enemy characters were not developed nearly enough (I hate wasted characters), and that it ended too abruptly. Gohan defeated Bojack with one punch. With those few exceptions, the movie was about as good as any DBZ movie could get, and was actually on par with the series a lot. Being one of the few that Toriyama had a big hand in, I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to find a good DBZ movie. |
4.5 of 7 - Reused plot, corny ending. |
Synopsis: Goten, Trunks, and Videl are gathering the dragonballs. Goten wants to wish for tons of junk food and cakes. Trunks wants to wish that he could ride on rides whenever he wants. Videl just wants to see Shenlong for the first time. At the same time, something- Brolly, survivor of the battle in Movie 9,- crashes to Earth... Goten, Trunks, and Videl encounter a village that is terrorized by a monster. They agree that if they vanquish the beast they would get Kitou-shi (the village omen teller)'s dragonball. Goten and Trunks have fun killing the monster and receive the dragonballs. Videl is surprised at the young boys' power. The village and our heroes have a feast eating the monster. Meanwhile, Brolly is recovering from the battle against Gokou. Upon thinking about Gokou, he gets angry and reaches Super Saiyan form. He breaks free from the water crystals that developed on him and awakens for revenge. Videl encounters Brolly and gets beat up. Brolly sees Goten and thinks that he is Gokou and a long battle starts. Goten and Trunks find the last dragonball in battle and Goten gathers it as Trunks distracts Brolly. Goten has all the dragonballs, but doesn't know how to summon Shenlong to save them from Brolly. Gohan senses Brolly and quickly races to join the battle. Gohan tricks Brolly into getting devoured by lava, and Klilyn (dressed up as Piccolo for fun) rescues Gohan from the approaching lava. But, Brolly survives the lava and beats everyone up. At the end, Brolly has a fireball match against Gohan and Goten. (Here, the dragonballs in Goten's bag fall out and connect in a row.) Goten says that he wishes his father was here to help. Gokou appears out of nowhere and aids his sons in the fireball match. Trunks throws another fireball at Brolly. Brolly is distracted and deflects away Trunks's fireball, only to let Gokou, Gohan, and Goten's fireballs blow him into the sun. Peace is restored. The dragonballs disperse. Klilyn askes why everyone forgot about him. Our Thoughts: Coming soon! |
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Synopsis: Android 18 is at Sataan's house demanding for the money Satan promised to give her for letting him win a Tenkaichi Boukaidou contest. Then, one of Sataan's disciple's minion arrives and blackmails Satan. He states that if Satan doesn't go with him to fight (test) some bio-warriors, he will tell the press that Satan wet his bed up to the 6th grade. Android 18 tags along to follow Sataan and Goten and Trunks hide in the trunk of the car to secretly follow. Goten, Trunks, and Android 18 easily trash the bio-warriors. The battle room opens to reveal a bio-warrior creation laboratory. Goten and Trunks explore and fight a shocking experiment- the creation of a clone of Brolly! (Kitou-shi of Movie 10 had taken samples of Brolly's blood and sold them to the lab for money. Brolly's DNA was studied and now Brolly was cloned.) Goten and Trunks attempt to do fireballs to destroy the developing creation, but Brolly awakens too early. Much fighting occurs. Chemicals pour over the Brolly clone so that the clone now looks like he's melting. Trunks tricks Brolly into melting into the chemicals. Much of the lab is destroyed, and most of the employees of the lab are killed in the spilling chemicals. At the end, Goten, Trunks, Android 18, Klilyn, Sataan, and a few scientists escape from the lab. Our heroes observe that water hardens the chemicals that are pouring over the city-island. Goten, Trunks, and Klilyn fly up and go fireballs on the sea. The sea water splashes over the island and the city is saved. The Brolly clone, now bigger that ever because the chemicals combined with his chemical body, appears out of the sea. After giving everyone a scare, the clone hardens. Goten and Trunks destroy the stiff clone. There is peace again, but Sataan is trying to swim home rather than having to pay Android 18 for rescuing him. Our Thoughts: Coming soon! |
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Synopsis: The trouble starts when a careless teenage...heaven dweller, we'll call him, neglects to change the tanks of the "soul laundry machine", which cleans souls that are going to hell. When the tanks explode, the heaven dwelling kid becomes possessed and turns into Janenba, a huge blob-like creature. Janemba changes the laws of the afterworld and creates much havoc, including bringing such characters back to life as Furiza and his minions and all of the other dead. Pikehan and Goku try to free the Demon lord (who has been imprisoned in a bubble of sorts) and distract Janemba, it becomes evident that this tubby bastard's magic is almost invincible. While Pikehan shouts insults at the Demon lord's prison, Goku strikes back against the Jell-o menace. It looks as though Goku has won, when Janenba transforms into a smaller fighter, whom Goku cannot defeat. When Vegeta shows up, he too realizes that he cannot beat Janenba, so Goku convinces Vegeta to fuse with him (after much petulance and whining). Unfortunately, Vegeta screws up the fusion dance, which is amusing in and of itself, and they turn into fat Gogeta for 30 minutes. During this moment of weakness, Gogeta gets the living snot beaten out of him. Meanwhile, Gohan, Videl, Goten, and Trunks are taking care of the masses of undead that now walk the Earth (Including Hitler and his army of tanks!). They prove to be no match for our seasoned warriors. When the Fat Gogeta transformation wears off, Pikehan buys Goku and Vegeta the time to fuse correctly. In this new form of Gogeta, Janemba is easily defeated and the rules of the afterworld return to normal and the generic happy ending ensues. Our Thoughts: This movie is probably the most amusing from DBZ. But as with most of the movies, it really is too short to develop a good plot. The fight scenes are some of the best in the series (Janemba's sword is damn cool). The scenes with Trunks and Goten fighting the undead are quite humorous, especially when Hitler attempts to conquer the world again. |
5.5 of 7 - Wonderful animation, decent overall. |
Synopsis: As the movie begins, we are presented with a flashback. In it, a young boy with elf like ears and a sword (think Link with an orange Mohawk) is fighting a gigantic monster. Despite his masterful sword handling skills however, the boy is defeated. Time jumps forward to a point somewhere around the 25th Budoukai. As Gohan and Videl sit in class, Gohan receives a message on his wristwatch informing him that his assistance is needed in order to save an old man who is contemplating suicide. After saving the old man, Gohan learns that the old man only attempted to jump off a building in order to get his attention. The old man produces a golden music box, which he tells them contains a legendary warrior who has been trapped for ages. After several attempts to open the box using Goku's shear strength and Bulma's technological expertise, the warriors collect the Dragonballs and summon Shenlon to release Tapion, the warrior who is trapped inside the box. The box shatters at Tapion is released, and Trunks and Goten marvel over the legendary warrior. After inquiring as to his surroundings, Tapion informs them that he must be returned to the box at once, or the Earth will surely be destroyed. Tapion walks off as the Z Warriors contemplate the events that just took place. The following day Hildegarn, a large monster, is reeking havoc on the city. Gohan tries unsuccessfully to defeat the monster with several very large Ki blasts. However, the monster does not subside until Tapion arrives, and plays a tune on his flute, which causes the monster to disappear in a puff of smoke. The following day, Bulma attempts to build a device that will contain the monster and Tapion as well as the music box did. Unfortunately, as Tapion sleeps inside the device that night, the monster escapes from within him, and reeks havoc on the city once again. After a long and drawn out battle with Hildegarn, Goku decides to use a technique that he has never used before. He goes SSj 3, powers up, leaps into the air, extends his fist, and shouts "Ryu Ken". Hildegarn explodes in a flash of light. After the battle, Tapion presents Trunks with his sword, saying he won't need it anymore, and flies off. Neither the monster, nor Tapion are ever heard from again. Our Thoughts: Movie 13 is probably one of the better movies in the DBZ series. Only the second in the series to use computer-generated graphics, the visuals are striking. The camera's pans and zooms are superb, and even the non-computer-generated animation is commendable. The sound track, while not the best, is one of the better, featuring a wide range of high quality original and true-to-the-original music. As always, the voice acting is outstanding, far surpassing the meager limits of FUNimaton's dubs. The story is intriguing, and even attempts to explain a few things that transpire during the series (most notably, how Trunks acquired his sword). The movie runs a bit longer than most other Dragonball Z movies, albeit not nearly as long as movie 8, and achieves a nearly perfect length in doing so. Overall this movie is quite enjoyable, and is a must-have addition to any Dragonball Z otaku collection. |