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The
Movies:
Funimation
continues their release of the Dragon Ball Z theatrical movies on
Blu-ray with
a triple feature featuring all three of the Broly movies:
Broly:
The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly:
Second Coming, and Bio Broly. I've
never been a big fan of the Dragon Ball movies, and while these are
fun, sort
of, they lack the charm and excitement of the TV series.
This disc starts off with an okay feature,
but it goes downhill from there.
Broly: The Legendary Super
Saiyan:
While
Son Goku and Chi-chi are going through the interview process to get
Gohan
admitted to an elite private school, Goku is contacted by King Kai. The Kai has discovered that most of the
Southern Galaxy has been destroyed, and it was done by one person: a Saiyan.
Goku immediately teleports to the King's castle and sets out to
locate
the energy source of this new threat.
Meanwhile
the rest of the Z-Fighters and their spouses are having a picnic in the
forest. With games and Karaoke, everyone
is having fun until a spaceship lands. Paragus,
one of the few Saiyans still alive, emerges with an army and pleads
with Prince
Vegetta to rule a new planet Paragus has settled. They
need him to rule since the Legendary
Super Saiyan is on his way, and the only one who could possibly defeat
him is
the hereditary prince.
Vegetta
and the gang go off to this new planet in Paragus' ship, and when Goku
senses a
strong Siayan presence on the same planet he teleports himself there. Everyone is together, but there's no sign of
the legendary fighter, and Vegetta's getting impatient.
However not everything is as it seems. Paragus
has something up his sleeve,
something that may spell doom for not only Goku and his friends but for
the
Earth as well.
This
film started out in a very entertaining manner.
Son Goku's interview with the prep school board was funny, as
was
Chi-chi's prepping. Things started to
drag a little when they got to the new planet Vegetta, but they picked
up when
Broly finally revealed himself. The main
gripe I have with this film is that they totally changed Vegetta's
character. They have him cringing and
wanting to run from a battle since he doesn't think he can win. When has that ever stopped him?
This was the guy who laughed at Frieza while
he was literally dying. His abject
cowardice was strange and off-putting.
Aside
from that the movie was fun. Yeah, there
were some amazing coincidences, like having Piccolo miraculously turn
up, but
the main battle was fun to watch even if the end was a little bit of a
let
down.
Broly: Second Coming:
This
takes place in the later part of the series, after the Cell Games and
when
Gohan is in high school. 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, and the one following it, is really short, like most of the
Dragon Ball
movies. Clocking in at a tad over 45 minutes, there's not much time for
developing characters or anything more than an extended fight. The movie did contain a good amount of
humor, over the top fights, and a seemingly unbeatable villain, which
is Dragon
Ball Z's stock in trade, but it wasn't able to reach the heights of the
TV
series. Making Broly come back wasn't
very creative, and the way he returned was pretty stupid.
The way he was defeated was also pulling a
rabbit out of a hat, though it did bring a smile to my face.
Bio
Broly:
This
final Broly movie is the weakest of the bunch, but still worth watching
as long
as you're not expecting too much. Mister
Satan's main adversary when he was much younger, Jaguar, has spent
years
planning a way to get even with the famous fighter.
After much expense he's managed to create
bio-warriors, artificial men who have tremendous fighting ability. He sends a challenge to Mister Satan, who
after hearing that none of his opponents has gold spiky hair, agrees to
the
challenge. 18, who is trying to collect
on a debt Satan owes her goes along to make sure he doesn't try to run
away,
and Trunks and Goten hide away in the trunk so they won't miss any of
the action.
When
they arrive at Jaguar's lair, Mister Satan sees a demonstration of what
the
bio-warriors can do and realizes that there is no way he can beat them. For a fee however, 18 agrees to be Satan's
'disciple' and agrees the fight all of the bio-warriors at once. When Jaguar protests that it would be unfair,
Trunks and Goten join in too. The trio
makes quick work of the artificial fighters.
Unfortunately Jaguar still has an ace up his sleeve: he bought some of Broly's genetic material
that was left over after the earlier movie and has managed to clone the
Saiyan. Once he's been let loose, with
improvements genetically added to his makeup, it seems like there's no
chance
for 18, Goten or Trucks, and if they fall, so does the Earth.
This
is another really short film, running only about 45 minutes. It's pretty much a quick set up and then
an
extended fight. If I had to pick one
word to describe the film, it would be "bland."
Yeah, Broly's back (again!) and this time with goo all over him,
but
there just wasn't that much excitement after the humorous opening.
The Blu-ray Disc:
Video:
Like the earlier Dragon Ball Z movies released on Blu-ray, both
of these films were presented with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and come with
about
the same picture quality. Which means
that the AVC encoded image looks about average.
The lines are soft though the colors look nice, but the prints
to both
films are in less than pristine shape. There
are a myriad of spots, dirt and micro-scratches (including a reel
change mark) that
harm the presentation. Large patches of
color also seem to shimmer slightly, and there was a lot of mosquito
noise in
the picture. While it wasn't a horrible
transfer, this isn't an exciting Blu-ray release.
Audio:
This disc has
three sound
options: the original stereo Japanese track, and two English Dolby
TrueHD 5.1
dubs; one with the Japanese music and the other with the more familiar
(to
region one viewers) US music. I switched
between the Japanese and True HD 5.1 tracks as I watched, and though I
preferred the original track the dub was more exciting to listen
to. The
English 5.1 track was very enveloping, with music and sound effects
coming from
the rear channels that made the movies just more fun.
It was nice to hear the original music, which
works much better than the US music. All
three of the tracks were clean and clear though they did sound a bit
flat with
both the high and low end clipped a little.
There was no hiss, distortion or other audio defects.
Extras:
Nothing, just a series of trailers.
Final Thoughts:
The DBZ films aren't as exciting as fun as the series
itself, though they make nice diversions.
This disc started off fine, but went down hill as the series
continued. Luckily they aren't too long,
so you're not really investing a lot of time in any of these. (Yeah, that's damning with weak praise.) On the down side if you're not familiar with
the characters, stories, and background of the show you'll be totally
lost. For fans of the show however,
these are worth watching. With little replay value however, this would make a good
rental.
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Buy: