FUNimation has released the 10th movie in the long lived Dragon Ball series: Dragon Ball Z - Broly: Second Coming. Taking place in the later part of the series, after the Cell Games and when Gohan is in High School, this movie is a lot fun.

Trunks (not the one from the future, the young kid from the current time line), Goten (Goku's other son), and Videl, (the daughter of Dr. Satan (also known as Hercule) and Gohan's girl friend) are out looking for Dragon Balls. They only need one more, and they track the ball to an island in the sea.

Just as they retrieve the ball though, Broly returns. Broly, last seen in the 8th film, The Legendary Saiyan, is a very powerful Super Saiyan who is seeking to get revenge on Goku for a previous defeat. Almost crazed with rage, he takes on anyone he sees, and his first opponent is Videl. He makes short work of her, but finds it harder to defeat Goten and Trunks.

The two youngsters put up a valiant (and sometimes humorous) fight, but they are just no match for such a dangerous and powerful foe. Will anyone be able to stand against this Saiyan villain?

This movie is really short, like most of the Dragon Ball movies. Clocking in at a tad over 45 minutes, I would have like it to be about twice as long, but I'll take what I can get. Aside from that complaint, I really enjoyed this movie. It contained all the things I enjoy about Dragon Ball Z: there was a good amount of humor, over the top fights, and a seemingly unbeatable villain. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the climax of the movie. I had a smile on my face and thought "I can't wait to see this" right at the end. It's just a great movie.

Audio:

This disc has three sound options: the original stereo Japanese track, an English dub in stereo or in 5.1. I switched between the Japanese and 5.1 tracks and though I preferred the original track, they were both good dubs. The English 5.1 track was very enveloping, with music and sound effects coming from the rear channel. On the down side they replaced some of the music from the Japanese version with thrashing heavy metal music. I didn't care for this too much and thought the original music sounded a lot better. All three of the tracks were very clean and clear, with no hiss, distortion or other audio defects.

There are two English subtitle tracks. The first one has a translation of the Japanese script, and the other has what the English voice actors are saying. I'm glad that FUNimation included both subtitle tracks, it was interesting to see the minor differences between the original Japanese and the spoken English.

Video:

The full screen video looked very good. The lines are sharp, the colors are bright, and digital defects are nonexistent. A fine looking DVD.

Extras:

This disc also includes text profiles on the characters in this movie, but be aware that these reveal some of the movie's plot points.

Final Thoughts:

This movie was a lot of fun. There wasn't a complicated plot, or a lot of characterization, but I really enjoyed watching it. It had all the elements that makes DBZ such a fun show. If you've never seen the show before, or any of the episodes that take place in the later part of the show, you might understand what's going on. It's not a good introduction to the show, but Highly Recommended for Dragon Ball Z fans.