Dragon Ball: The Movie-Curse of the Blood Rubies

In a once beautiful land, the once kind King Gurumes has become a tyrant, overwhelmed by the allure of the cursed Blood Rubies being mined by his forces.  But in his desperation to rid himself of an endless hunger brought on by the curse, Gurumes sends his best minions to retrieve the seven magic Dragon Balls.  It’s only a matter of time before their paths cross with Goku, Bulma and their friends already in the midst of their own Dragon Ball hunt.  And now the fate of a kingdom rests in Goku and Bulma’s hands.

Anyone here remember the earliest days of Dragon Ball?  Well before the days when the existence of multiple universes was at stake and Super Saiyans were all the rage, there was a little feral kid in the mountains getting out into the world by tracking down the most important treasure in history.  For the month of September, we’ll be looking back at those fond beginnings for Goku and the Proto Z-Fighters by checking out the four major theatrical releases for the first Dragon Ball series…such an innocent time.

Curse of the Blood Rubies acts as an alternate origin film for the Dragon Ball saga, more or less playing out the first arc of the TV Series except more compact and much faster paced cause of the 50min runtime.  Despite that, the film actually is pretty good as its own stand alone Shonen Anime feature.  It’s short and sweet and gets to the point quickly, even if there are a couple of unnecessary diversions.  Like a lot of long running Shonen Anime films, Curse of the Blood Rubies finds a needs to shove every character into the movie just for the sake of having them there.  Yamcha and Puar, and to a degree Oolong, don’t really have a particularly important role to play in the movie.  I guess Yamcha adds a bit to the action quota but otherwise this could have just been an interesting Goku and Bulma adventure on a grand scale.

Gurumes might be one of the more one note baddies in the franchise.  Personally, I think his two henchman, the hulking Bongo and the gorgeous Pasta (yep Akira Toriyama and his names), are far more threatening and evil.  Sure Gurumes is lost to a dark curse but he feels more the victim than two Mercs looking to cash in on his pain and that of the people of his land.  Still, they are bad guys in need of an ass kicking and, to quote the original English Opening of the show, “Goku is gonna show you.”  He may not be a Super Saiyan but old school Goku, who has nothing but his tail, his Power Pole and a small Kamehameha can still kick all the ass.  Nothing is as grand though compared to Master Roshi’s scene stealing Kamehameha blast, taking down Submarines well before they were needed to kill Frieza or Cell.  I’ve also gotta give credit to the humor.  Sure it is pretty jeuvenille, particularly when it comes to Roshi’s perversions but everyone plays off each other well, resulting in some good chuckles for this more lighthearted time in the franchise. 

While the main villain leaves a lot to be desired (kind of a Shonen villain trope really), Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies is a fun and quick introduction to Dragon Balls humble beginnings.  It gives you everything you need to know about this era of Goku’s adventures and still deliver a great action spectacle that is often forgotten in the days of planet sized Spirit Bomb attacks.  Every saga has a beginning and Curse of the Blood Rubies is a good beginning to one of the best Anime sagas of all time.

7.5/10

Next week it’s Goku vs…Dracula?  Whatever the heck that means, hey at least everyones favorite bald Monk best friend is coming into the fold.  Dragon Ball: The Movie-Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle is on deck Next Monday as a month of Dragon Ball movies is only getting started over at the Gundam Anime Corner.