Dead Zone is the first movie based on the characters in Dragon Ball Z.  Originally released by Pioneer in an uncut form but with a different voice cast, this version replaces the original music and has a different script for the English dub, but is essentially the same as the Pioneer version.

While Goku is out fishing one day, which for Goku involves swimming in a lake until he finds a 200 pound fish and catches it with his bare hands, three people attack the Saiyan's home.  They take out the Ox King and his daughter Chi Chi without breaking a sweat, and kidnap Gohan.  They also kill Piccolo without much trouble.  These are some serious fighters.

It turns out that Garlic Jr. Has hired these guys to help him collection the Dragon Balls.  They captured Gohan for the ball on his hat.  Along with the other six Dragon Balls they already have, Garlic Jr. Is able to summon the Great Dragon and wishes that he was immortal.  The dragon grants his wish just before Goku arrives.  Even with out Garlic's immortality, Goku has his hands full with the three henchmen.  But when Kami arrives to stop Garlic Jr's evil plans, and Piccolo, who wasn't as dead as everyone though, turns up looking for revenge, the battle doesn't look very one sided at all.

This movie takes place before the Dragon Ball Z series started, but outside of the regular DBZ continuity.  Goku still has his power pole on his back, Gohan is still an innocent kid, and Piccolo and Goku are still enemies.

At only 41-minutes in length, there isn't really much time for a deep plot or much characterization.  They take care of the plot in the first ten minutes, and the rest of the movie is one long slug fest.  Not that it's a bad thing, since so much of DBZ is devoted to fighting, but these fights don't have the same effect.  In the series there is often a lot of build up before the battles, and that was missing in this movie.

When all is said and done, this is a fun, but light movie.  It doesn't have any effect on the regular DBZ story, and the fight is fairly forgetful.  There really isn't a significant difference between this disc and the old Pioneer release, so I don't think this warrants an upgrade.

This 41-minute long movie comes on a single sided DVD in keepcase.

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 the music from the Japanese version.  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 looks excellent.  The lines are sharp, the colors are bright and solid, and digital defects are nonexistent.  The image is clean and clear.  A fine looking DVD.

Extras:

This disc included a commentary Chris Cason, ADR director, and Chuck Huber who played Garlic Jr.  I'm not a big fan of commentary tracks on anime shows, and this commentary is a good example of why.  They don't have a lot to say about the movie or the show.  They talk a little bit about how they got their starts, but a lot of the show is talking about action on the screen or Chuck telling Chris to be quiet when his character was talking.  There wasn't much that I learned, though the two commentators sounded like they had a good time.

There are also trailers to four FUNimation shows.

Final Thoughts:

Though it is very short, this movie is still a lot of fun.  There's a great moment when Piccolo shows up, and the three henchmen realize that they are in deep trouble.  Aside from that, the film isn't as epic in scale as many of the regular battles in DBZ, and is basically a big fight scene.

There really isn't a huge difference between this disc and the old Pioneer release.  Both are uncut, and though there are different voice actors and translations, I don't think the changes are signifiant enough to warrant a double dip.  Diehard fans who haven't purchased the film yet will surely enjoy it, but casual viewers are best left renting it.