Released in 1996, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power is the 10th Anniversary Film for the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole. As fate would have it, this would also be the last Dragon Ball film released in Japan for almost 20 years before Dragon Ball Z: The Movie-Battle of Gods. This is a film meant to celebrate the humble roots of Dragon Ball, a call back to the adventurous spirit of the franchise before it became the action heavyweight champion of Anime. And while the movie might be one of the best looking in the franchise, there’s no denying this film is less of a call back to the good old days and more a reflection of the troubled state the franchise had found itself in that made it go dormant for two decades.
The first big problem right away is the aesthetic and design. Despite this being a Dragon Ball film, this is less the 1986 classic and much closer to the then current Dragon Ball GT side of things. Just incase a reminder is needed: GT started out in a more Dragon Ball adventure style before shifting back to the Z side of things when that proved unpopular. It shows in almost every moment of The Path to Power from the character designs to everyones unbearable behaviors. Everyone is screaming and shouting every couple of minutes as the smallest thing goes wrong or another explosion threatens to drown their voice. Then there’s Goku himself. His happy go lucky naiveite made him loveable in the early days of Dragon Ball. But in this movie, he’s more reminiscent of his GT counterpart: a grown man reduced to the body of child and proving mentally…well he’s not the smartest bulb in the bunch. Heck, he’s even sporting his GT clothes rather than the classic all blue outfit he wore at the very beginning of the franchise. And there in lies the problem with them film there: This isn’t a Dragon Ball film, it’s a GT film and that’s the biggest sin the franchise could make in celebrating any milestone. If you need further evidence of this: not even the original Dragon Ball theme song, “Maka Fushigi Adventure!” is anywhere to be found. Instead we have the GT theme, “Dan Dan” instead. How do you do a celebration of the original series but try to incorporate something from a show everyone wasn’t really on board with at the time?
The Path to Power does have some nice visuals to it. While they all varied in quality of story and action, the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z films all did get increasingly better animation wise with each film (the odd Bio Broly slip up not withstanding). Path to Power is a 90s Anime film through and through and at least the action benefits from it from time to time. Master Roshi’s epic Kamehameha wave never looked more awesome and Goku tearing his way through the Red Ribbon Army does have its merits. However, good looks can only get you so far in Anime. Path to Power is a slough to get through. It’s almost double the length of your average Dragon Ball movie and it feels even longer than that. The action might look nice but, oddly enough, they tend to drag and end up losing steam early on, lacking any of the fun of Dragon Ball or the intensity of Dragon Ball Z. It all just becomes noise, sometimes worse than Goku’s uncontrollable laughter or Bulma’s constant screaming at every little thing.
The one very important element Path to Power lacks to truly reach its milestone potential is the original creator himself: Akira Toriyama. Toriyama left the franchise after the conclusion of Dragon Ball Z and his lack of involvement in GT leaves little to wonder why it didn’t even last half as long as its predecessors. Without Toriyama’s involvement, Path to Power lacks the heart, spirit and humor that got Dragon Ball off the ground in the first place. Only the man himself could have maybe crafted a new original tale for Goku and company, one that could’ve pitted them against popular debut nemesis Emperor Pilaf once more. Instead, we jump right into the action heavy Red Ribbon Army antagonists for a cheap copy of a Z action movie. Even though Mystical Adventure seemed to adhere closer to Dragon Ball Z than Dragon Ball, at least having Toriyama involved made it feel like Dragon Ball overall. Path to Power instead takes everything that made that show great and doesn’t treat it with respect so much as its checking off boxes to satisfy a quota and think its done its job well.
It's no wonder this movie isn’t really talked about. Most probably want to ignore it as much as Dragon Ball Super wants to ignore Dragon Ball GT. As a landmark anniversary title Dragon Ball: The Path to Power might sport a nice looking coat of paint but it cant hide the lack of soul, fun or magic that made Dragon Ball such a benchmark title that led to one of the longest lasting franchises in all of Anime. It less honors the saga of Goku and more highlights just how much Dragon Ball had lost its way since Toriyama stepped away. The sad truth is, this isn’t a Dragon Ball celebration film meant to celebrate the humble origins of Goku. It’s a half assed Dragon Ball GT film that might’ve been a major step in the beginning of the end for the once great franchise. Eventually, Akira Toriyama himself returned for two more Dragon Ball Z films and subsequently a proper revival/continuation with Dragon Ball Super that helped wipe the stench of GT away. All of those projects are more celebration of the spirit of Dragon Ball than this stinker of a disappointment.
1/10
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