The plot get rolling when a strange little man named Hoy contacts Gohan and Videl, in their Saiyaman disguises, and shows them a music box that just won't open.  Even Gohan's strength isn't enough to open it.  Hoy tells them that a great hero is trapping inside the box and, being the nice people that they are, the Z Fighters gather up the seven Dragon Balls and wish the box opened.

Inside is Tapion a great and legendary warrior but soon after he emerges, the evil monster Hirudegarn appears, at least his bottom half, and starts trashing the Earth.  It turns out that there is a connection between Tapion and Hirudegarn, and it's up to the Z Fighters to stop this monster before he destroys all life on Earth.  That's not so easy to do.  Even in Super Saiyan III mode, Gohan gets trashed, and the rest of the Fighters don't have much luck.  It's up to Goku to figure out the monster's weakness and exploit it before all life on the planet is extinguished.

Like all of the Dragon Ball Z movies, this one takes place outside of the continuity of the on-going story.  In this movie both Goku and Vegetta are alive, and Gohan and Videl are costumed crime fighters.  While this may cause some people to scratch their heads wondering where this story fits, it's easier to just sit back and ignore the continuity issues.

As with the other DBZ movies, this one is short, running only 55 minutes.  They manage to cram a lot into that time however.  Most DBZ movies focus on one or two characters and are basically a giant fight scene.  Not so with this one.  There is a fair amount of background and even character development such as when Tapion and Trunks become close friends.  They also rotate the focus of the film across all of the major characters.  Everyone gets a moment in the spotlight, and that was nice.  I suspect that the creators knew this was going to be the last movie and went all out to say goodbye to the various characters.  They worked this many cameos well, and the movie didn't feel rushed or crowded.

There's also a good amount of humor in the movie, something that the series always had room for but many of the movies lacked.  One of the funniest moments is the sequence where Hirudegarn destroys a house and then Vegetta appears.  He states that he was taking his first day off in months,  doesn't appreciate having his house ruined, and then transforms into Super Saiyan mode to kick some butt.

This is definitely one of the more enjoyable DBZ films.  Consisting of something more than just a large battle, this film manages to avoid most of the pitfalls that the other films fall into.  A great way to end the run.

This DVD has three audio options: the original mono Japanese track, an English stereo dub, or an English 5.1 soundtrack.  I preferred the original soundtrack over the English dub, though the English actors did a good job.  The English track has music added to the background, and though it fits in well with the show, I liked the more Spartan sounding original track.  The sound is very good for a show of this age, there isn't any noticeable hum or distortion, and the range is fine.

Video:

This show looks good for the most part.  The colors are bright and the lines are tight.  There is some mosquito noise, but it's not too bad.  There's also a bit of aliasing.  There was a minor amount of print damage, just an occasional white speck, but this was fairly rare.   Overall a nice looking disc.

Extras:

The only extras on this disc are some character profiles and a few trailers.

Final Thoughts:

I have always considered the Dragon Ball Z movies to be far less enjoyable than the regular series.  They usually consist of a long fight scene with little else.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the movies have to remove just about all of the aspects that make the show so charming.  This last film finally does it right.  They have a dollop of humor, some nice character interactions, and even a bit of continuity.  For DBZ fans this gets a strong recommendation.