It’s been six months since Dragon Ball Super: Broly crushed the box office. Now is as good a time as any to look back and reflect on the films that came before it. So, after weeding through the less than stellar door stops in my DBZ DVD collection, I’ve found a list of seven that are worthy of repeat viewings. Disclaimer: Only Dragon Ball Z films in this list, so no Dragon Ball, GT or the latest Broly movie since it’s from Super. If a movie you liked didn’t make my list, then feel free to scold me in the comments. Let the countdown begin.
7. Bojack: Unbound Bringing up the rear of my short list of the best DBZ films is Bojack. There is an intergalactic tournament that takes place where fighters from the four corners of the universe all compete for the chance to face Earth’s greatest champion, not Goku, that’s right you guessed it…Mr. Satan. The man who single handedly defeated Cell, or that’s the lie that he told the people of Earth after the TV cameras were damaged from the Cell Games. Anyway, I like how they bring all the Z Fighters including Future Trunks to compete in the tournament. Also, when Goku sacrificed himself to save the Earth against Cell when he used instant transmission and blew up King Kai’s planet, the villainess space pirate Bojack and henchmen emerged from their once sealed prison. I thought this to be a nice plot point, and how Goku’s actions had their repercussions Since Goku is dead, it’s up to his boy Gohan to face Bojack. The other Z-Fighters get involved, but don’t match up with the bad guys here. Not even Vegeta who will never be the one who saves the planet. I know, it’s unfair, but at least he’s a better parent than Goku who is mostly away from his family training where Vegeta at least stays at Capsule Corps. in the gravity chamber near his family to train. At any rate it’s Gohan who would become the hero here, much like he thrashed Cell in the series. It’s nice to see Gohan do what his father is accustomed to doing in basically every DBZ movie before this one, saving the Earth from destruction. Although Gohan as a SS2 doesn’t last long in the film, and Bojack despite having a cool, deep voice is a bit underwhelming as a villain, this film hits a lot of the right notes.
6. Wrath of the Dragon This would be the last Dragon Ball Z film for 17 years before Battle of Gods, but thankfully it would be one of the best. Wrath of the Dragon centers around a legendary hero from the south galaxy who had been trapped in a music box for centuries. Until Goku and the others summon the eternal dragon Shenron and wish to open the unopenable box. Once out, the man is angered despite having been set free, because now, the evil creature that was contained with him in the music box is released as well. Tapion plays a tune on his flute which keeps the beast confined inside the flute itself. This immediately reminded me of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time which brought back happy memories. This film is a little less heavy on the action compared to most films, however, it shines as far as story and character interaction. Don’t get me wrong, the action here is still solid and the phantom creature marching through city streets gives me another happy memory of watching Godzilla movies when I was young. Unfortunately, the film is kind of ruined when Goku goes SS3 and defeats the monster instead of Tapion or even a young Trunks with the hero’s sword do it instead. It just happens suddenly and makes me think that if only Goku transformed earlier and defeated the creature. Nevertheless, Wrath of the Dragon shines with a great story and character moments.
5. Fusion Reborn Easily the most off the wall pick on my list of best DBZ films, Fusion Reborn doesn’t take itself too seriously. As Goku fights in another Other World tournament, one of King Yemma’s underlings at the check in station has a mishap, gets covered in spiritual slime, and becomes Janemba, a rather husky baby like the fat Majin Buu in the series. He causes a dimensional distortion between living world and the Other World, including Hell. This causes familiar foes like Frieza to emerge on Earth. Although he gets destroyed comically fast by Gohan as the Great Saiyaman, this only fuels the Emperor of Evil’s hatred for the Saiyan race even more. So much weird stuff happens as a result of the dimensional breakdown, like an Adolf Hitler look alike comes rolling in with his army in tanks. He unfortunately runs into Gotten and Trunks who transform into Gotenks as they have their fun with the little tyrant. Speaking of transformations, Janemba takes the form of a horned, pink and purple baddie with a sword, truly bad ass once you’ve seen it. Goku’s yell when he goes Super Saiyan 3 is the most epic and long winded I’ve ever heard from Sean Schemmel. The thing I disliked most about the movie was when Goku and Vegeta fused to form Gogeta, it didn’t last nearly long enough, like less than five minutes. However, the whole pace of the movie was a bit off balance, but fun to watch, nonetheless.
4. Resurrection F Finally, the one film where Frieza is front and center as the main villain. For years, he has suffered the cruel fate of hanging in a cocoon and being serenaded by cute fuzzy teddy bears and fairy’s in earth’s hell. After being wished back to life with the Dragon Balls by the commander of his forces, Frieza seeks revenge on Trunks who put him there, and his greatest rival Goku. When Commander Sorbet tells Frieza that after years of tireless searching that Trunks cannot be located. This is of course as many fans know because Trunks returned to the future at the conclusion of the Cell saga. After being informed that Goku had reached even higher levels of power since their last battle, Frieza made the decision to train so that he would stand a chance. After training for four months, the tyrant goes to Earth, bringing an army and achieving an awesome new form that he calls Golden Frieza. As much as I really like the new form and the film’s action overall, I do have a couple of grips. First, when Goku nearly died from a measly blast from Sorbet’s ray gun just because the Saiyan let his guard down is just maddening. And second, Frieza never felt like that much of a threat, especially when Whis revealed that he could do a ‘temporal do-over’ and go back in time three minutes before Frieza blows up the Earth. As broken as time travel is at this point in movies, I still enjoyed the fact that most every Z-Fighter was in the movie and played their part, and of course my all-time favorite Dragon Ball villain Frieza. Need I say more.
3. Bardock: The Father of Goku If you like origin stories, then who better to base it on then the father of our main hero in the Dragon Ball universe. Bardock is a rough and tumble Saiyan warrior who is serving under the rule of Frieza, who has King Vegeta of their home world by the balls. And I’m talking about the Dragon Balls, but the Saiyan’s King’s actual balls, as he and his entire warrior race must subject themselves to serve the evil tyrant Frieza or die. When Bardock takes a blow to the head while he and his motely crew try to take over a planet, he begins to have strange, but lifelike visions of planet Vegeta’s destruction, his son Kakarot. Visions of him getting older, fighting in familiar battles seen in Dragon Ball and DBZ, getting stronger, much like Bardock is after going through countless battles on other worlds without rest. Frieza gets word of a legend from Saiyan mythology called the Super Saiyan and plans to destroy planet Vegeta before one Saiyan such as Bardock can rise to that level of fabled might and rid the universe of Frieza. Being a Bardock fan, I loved how he is Goku’s dad, yet much different personality wise. Bardock, seeing future visions of his son in the form of the best scenes from the series cannon was fantastic and made me get the feels of nostalgia. This movie is technically a one hour special, but since the early days of DBZ filmdom and their very short run times, I think we can skip technicalities here. Beside the visions, Bardock’s story, who he is which is a bad ass with a heart of a champion and a cool Rambo like headband that was stained from the blood of his fallen comrades was a nice touch. Sure, some of the fight scenes may not be memorable, but the legend of the tough guy Saiyan with clairvoyance will always be worth re-watching.
2. The History of Trunks If you are a fan of the androids from Dragon Ball Z then please, for the love of God do not watch the Super Android 13 movie, it’s bad, like reeeaalllly bad. Instead, see the movie that Goku wasn’t even in, and it still kicked major butt. In the History of Trunks, the androids from Trunks’s future have wiped out every Z-Fighter except for a teenage Trunks and his mentor and good friend Gohan. The two have many hit and runs with Androids 17 & 18, and the fights are some of the best in all the movies. The androids coordinated assault as well as their teenage like attitude when doing things like who can run over the most humans with a car is quite wicked, in a good way. Gohan even as a Super Saiyan can’t defeat the androids, although as he gets stronger, 17 & 18 are forced to get serious, and eventually kill the Saiyan for good. Upon seeing his master and best friend’s fallen corpse, Trunks transforms into a Super Saiyan and confronts the androids, hoping to make them pay for all the people that they have hurt. This movie may very well be the darkest of all, mainly because most of the earth’s special forces are in Otherworld as a result of the android’s malice. This movie has excellent action scenes, awesome villains, and a great story. This movie is another short TV special like the Bardock special, yet it’s so good, you’ll want to watch it again soon after just to see Trunks’s epic and emotional journey, and he goes to the past in his mother Bulma’s time machine to set things right for that time period. Even though doing so would not change his timeline, it gives him a newfound vigor as well as closure. My favorite part is Trunk’s first time Super Saiyan transformation in the rain, that yell and scene were simply epic.
1. Battle of Gods As the first Dragon Ball Z movie to be released in 17 years, the producers, actors and everyone else involved needed this movie to hit all the right marks, and boy did it. Battle of Gods takes place six months after Goku defeated Kid Buu with the super spirit bomb. It’s Bulma’s birthday party, and everyone is invited. Piccolo, Krillin with #18 and daughter Marin, Gohan, Videl, and even three little kids that were caught trying to steal all seven Dragon Balls. The Pilaf gang; Shou, Mai, and the little blue terror himself Emperor Pilaf…are kids after making a previous wish on the Dragon Balls to be younger. Funny how karma works huh. Nevertheless, everyone is eating, playing and enjoying the party when two strange visitors appears asking about something called a Super Saiyan God. When none seems to know anything about this legend, they decide to join in on the birthday festivities. Vegeta is the only one at the party who is deathly nervous, as only he knows that one of these unearthly figures is a God of Destruction named Beerus. The same Beerus that a young Prince Vegeta saw driving his father the King of the Saiyan’s face into the ground with his foot. Vegeta didn’t understand then why his father would let himself be subjected to this purple, cat like being, but now, he understands perfectly. If Beerus got angry, he would destroy earth without a second thought, so Vegeta had to stay on the God’s good side. Beerus is so powerful that he crushed Goku in just two blows after Goku naturally challenged Beerus after he came to ask the Saiyan who was training on King Kai’s world at the time about the Super Saiyan God. Even Goku as a SS3 couldn’t touch the mighty Destroyer God, but there is a way that Goku can win, become a God too. That’s where Shenron comes in, and I think you fans know where I am going with this. Goku fights Beerus again, this time as a Super Saiyan God. However, before that happened, all the Z-Fighters, even the Good Buu all fought Beerus as he soon lost his godly temper, because Buu refused to share his pudding pops with him. Then all hell broke loose. I like how Vegeta got so enraged when Beerus slapped Bulma who was giving him sass, that he surpassed Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 power. “That’s my Bulma” Vegeta screamed. Another great and unexpectedly great Vegeta moment here is when he sang the now infamous bingo song to entertain Beerus and quell his anger. In a movie with some pretty funny moments, this was definitely one of the funniest. And when all the Saiyan’s (both half and full blooded) did the ritual to summon the Super Saiyan power onto Goku, how Videl’s belly glowed with the power of the unborn quarter Saiyan baby Pan was a cool moment. And of course, the big fight between Beerus the Destroyer and Super Saiyan God Goku was awesome. I especially like the part where Goku yells “I won’t let you destroy my world”, as he proceeds to charge Beerus. This movie is my favorite Dragon Ball Z movie, because it really did everything right and then some. The action, comedy and visuals were all top notch and still are. And this is the only DBZ movie where Goku doesn’t win in the end. And not only that, but he is generally pissed that he couldn’t reach this new godly level of power alone. It was nice to see that a Saiyan’s pride runs deep, even in one that is pure of heart and raised on earth like Goku. Battle of Gods also become the basis for what is now Dragon Ball Super, which makes up for much of what was wrong with Dragon Ball GT. And that my friends, is my list of the best DBZ films. If your favorite didn’t make the list, then get those fingers working, and please, leave me a comment down below. Until next time, I have gathered all seven oranges, time to make my wish that they transform into Flaming Hot Cheetos.
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