Part 1
Movie 1-Dead Zone
(Return My Gohan!!)
Gohan has been kidnapped.
The evil Garlic Jr is amassing the seven Dragon Balls in a bid to wish
for immortality. He will then be able to
take his revenge on Kami, who was chosen as Guardian of the Earth in place of
his father. But his minions just stole
the wrong kid. Now Goku, Earth strongest
fighter, is ready to take them on. With
his best friend, Krillin, and his arch nemesis, Piccolo, at his side, Goku is
ready for anything. But can even he
stand against an immortal tyrant and his dreaded Dead Zone technique.
When I first heard there were Dragon Ball Z movies, I lit
up like a tree. Normally when “The
Movie” is slapped onto a well known title, that means a larger than life
experience that the TV Show can’t offer, i.e. my favorite animation guilty
pleasure Transformers: The Movie. So how
is the first of the many Dragon Ball Z films?
It’s…ok. Dead Zone is definitely
one of the better films in this series.
The action is pretty solid, the story gets right to the point, and the
humor isn’t bad either. Those of you who
have heard tales of Gohan’s little drug trip will be pretty pleased with his
apple tasting bit. Also, this film is
one of the few, if only, to fit nicely into the official Dragon Ball cannon,
taking place before the events of the Dragon Ball Z series…minus a retcon or
two once Radditz arrives in the first saga.
At 45 minutes though, the short and to the point story telling style may
make these movies seem like little more than extended episodes. As a first attempt though, Dead Zone is
decent enough, especially if youre a fan of a time before Super Saiyans and
Spirit Bombs (Who am I kidding, those are the only reasons you ever watched the
show right?).
7/10
Movie 2-The
World’s Strongest (The Strongest Guy in the World)
Thanks to the power of the Dragon Balls, the evil Dr.
Wheelo has been thawed out of his mountain prison. Time has taken it’s toll though and only his
brain has survived. With his assistant,
Dr. Kochin, Wheelo seeks to implant his body in the World’s Strongest
warrior. To this end, he kidnaps Master
Rochi, Bulma and Piccolo in an attempt to lure in Goku. Upon arriving with Gohan and Krillin, Goku is
challenged by a trio of bio warriors.
And worse yet, Wheelo also controls Piccolo as well. Can Goku save his friends and keep his body
from becoming a freaky science experiment?
For a while, THIS was my favorite Dragon Ball Z
movie. The setup up, again, is simple: a
one note villain and his henchmen are looking to take over the world and
somehow the Dragon Balls are involved.
But what makes The World’s Strongest work for me is that this is some of
the best action in DBZ EVER!!! Goku’s
Kaio Ken has never felt so epic. His
showdown with Piccolo is old school Dragon Ball rivalry reborn (even if Piccolo
is mind controlled). Plus they even gave
Master Rochi a fight of his own and he does fairly well. If I had to be a bit critical, it definitely
has to fall to the stretch that Goku and the others end up fighting a brain in
a giant mecha suit and have actual trouble defeating him. Oh and Gohan gets another musical number to
himself: this time it’s about his love for (let’s face it, his step dad)
Piccolo…you’ll either love it or hate it.
Other than that, this movie is easily in my Top 5 of this list (and no
there is no T5W being dedicated to the movies.
Now the sagas…well…) and is a must see for any fan of Dragon Ball
Z. Of the original three films released
with The Ocean Dub behind it (aka the dub before Funimation took over
completely) The World’s Strongest is the one I’d pop in the VCR to enjoy over
and over and over again.
8.5/10
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