Part 7
Movie 14-Battle of
Gods (God and God)
After a slumber that’s lasted an eternity, Beerus, God of
Destruction, has awoken. Upon hearing
that his long time nusciance, Frieza, has been slain by a Saiyan, Beerus seeks
the one who finished him. Traveling to
Earth with his aid Weiss, Beerus encounters the Z Fighters and their families
during Bulma’s birthday. When the trouble
begins, Beerus proves worthy of his name as none of the Z-Fighters, even Goku
or Vegeta, are a match for him. Goku’s
going to have to take it to a whole new level, beyond Super Saiyan, if he wants
to save the world this time. To battle a
God...Goku will have to become a God himself.
Battle of Gods was kind of a big deal for the Anime
community. It had been 18 years since
the last Dragon Ball Z movie (Wrath of the Dragon). Could Dragon Ball Z still measure up with a
slew of imitators, imposters and successors all around it? Well…for the most part no. Battle of Gods was as far removed from the
older Z-Films as you could get. It seemed
more focused on humor than action and at times, it was downright cringe
worthy. Seeing Vegeta have to dial up the
clown factor to appease Lord Beerus was so sad, it was like they were trying to
turn him into a more adult version of Goten and Trunks (though he was redeemed
during his freak out when Beerus struck Bulma.
Huh, I guess he does care). And
why the hell is Emperor Pilaf here with his cronies? They served their purpose a long time ago and
don’t really matter in this age of Dragon Ball.
This slows the movie down to the point where, for a moment, I didn’t
want to finish it, even with the prospect of a new level of Super Saiyan to be
discovers (SUPER SAIYAN GOD!!!). But
once the action got going, things got a lot better. Beerus and Weiss, for all of their laid back
laziness, are both pretty fascinating and fun additions to the Dragon Ball
universe. The fact that Beerus is able
to go toe to toe with Goku as Super Saiyan 3 and defeat him is nothing to scoff
at. He does feel like a credible threat
that none of the Z-Fighters can defeat.
I would have liked this film better if they’d dumped most of the comedy and
skipped right to the action. I would
have even been more ok with everyone getting defeated right away if we’d
started things sooner. Either way,
Battle of Gods isn’t the triumphant return of Z I was looking for, even with
familiar faces I grew up back once again.
I can only hope things get better from this point cause there’s good
ground work for more. Just…less humor,
more fists flying, please?
Oh and yes I know Beerus is supposed to be modeled after
an Egyptian Cat diety…but those ears make him look like a bunny to me and that
will never change.
6/10
Movie
15-Resurrection F (Resurrection of F)
For the last few years, Goku and his friends have dealt
with powerful enemies: The Androids, Cell, Majinn Buu, Lord Beerus. Peace seems like it can last a lot longer
now. But others have been waiting for
this cadre of enemies to be cleared out as well. With the power void of evil temporarily
empty, long time servants of the tyrant Frieza use the Dragon Balls and their
own technology to resurrect the evil overlord.
Frieza is not about to let the same mistakes happen again. Taking time to train, he returns to Earth
stronger than ever before and he is dying to settle the score with the
Saiyans. Will personal training from
Lord Beerus himself be enough for Goku and Vegeta to slay their oldest and
deadliest enemy once again?
Now THIS is what Battle of Gods wanted to be.
You know how you never truly know how much you’ve missed
something until it shows up again? Well
that’s how I felt when Frieza returned.
That arrogance, the smugness, the drop of a dime decision to kill any
expendable soldier. Since I came into
Dragon Ball Z around the second season, Frieza was the first villain of Z for
me. He was a threat, he was fierce. And even if he never truly comes off as such
in this movie, it’s still great to see him again. Now what do I mean by “never truly comes off
as a threat”? Well, even with his new
level of strength, the way Frieza battles Goku is a lot like an afternoon spar
for the Saiyan hero. Heck, the two are
trading jabs like friendly old rivals, though Frieza still fully intends to
kill them all. I cant explain it, but I
was fine with this, even more than the full blown comedy routine that was the
first half of Battle of Gods. In a way
though, this was the essence of the older Z films: a simple or familiar
villain, conquer the world ambitions, long fight with the heroes. Resurrection F doesn’t try to do anything
really different, probably making the nostalgia factor a bit high for me. What made this more fun is, even if the scene
did go on a bit long, we got a Z-Team that could handle their own. Goten and Trunks were (Thankfully) left out
of this one so we could get a solid Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien and freaking
Master Roshi reunion. Even Vegeta
finally gets his Frieza beatdown he’s been waiting for his whole life. As for that weird Jaco character, I’m
guessing he’s from Dragon Ball Super but his presence didn’t really matter to
me, he was pretty forgettable. I even
liked Beerus and Weiss a lot better here than in Battle of Gods, and they were
my favorite part of that one. All in
all, this is a good bookmark for the Z Film Franchise. This definitely isn’t the last we’ll see of
this universe or these characters. Good
(Dead Zone, Resurrection F), Bad (Lord Slug, Battle of Gods), or totally
horrific (Brolly Second Coming, Bio Brolly), it’s always an exciting time when
our first heroes of Anime return for a visit.
8/10
And that at last concludes this little Pre-Easter special
on the Anime Corner. What more is there
to say than what I said above right there?
Dragon Ball Z is still a key pinnacle in the lives of many an Anime fan
and always will be, especially for this writer here. I hope that it stays that way and that a
whole new generation will find the joy in a special Japanese intro song that
goes something like, “CHA LA HEAD CHA LA!!!!”
Anime Corner’s back to its normal routine next week with
new Bamboo Blade on Monday; a new T5W Wednesday and FIF on Friday. Oh, maybe not fully normal. I forgot, a special day is next week. What occasion might this be? Well…it’s a surprise of course but I think
the choice of title I’ll be looking at will more than suit the special
event. See you around everyone.
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