When it comes to Japanese animation the franchise of Dragon Ball is probably one of the biggest if not already the most massive. The series, Dragon Ball Z, ran on television from 1996-2003 across 291 episodes and was a cultural phenomenon. The series has sense had a total of 15 movies and loads of merchandising. It was no surprise to most fans of japanese cartoons that the film managed to land in the top 5 making 11 million dollars domestically. (Box Office Mojo) The film does quite a lot to please both old fans and new ones. And in comparison to the older film Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan this film is not only surpasses it but create a more compelling narrative. It does this with its more compelling characters and backstories for this universe.
The film starts out by giving us a bit of backstory on not only the enemy but the world that the Dragon Ball Universe inhabits as it gives us the history on a alien race called "Saiyans" or "Saiyajin"for the japanese audience. It talks about a tyrannical ruler named Frieza who becomes the ruler of this planet of saiyans after their father, King Cold, grants them this authority. This entire halve allows people who have never watched Dragon Ball before to have more of a clear idea of what is going on in the film. Allowing the viewer to get a strong sense for what this franchise is all about. It however also changes the lore up for old fans so that way they stay entertained throughout this first halve by giving us new characters such as the main character, Goku, having a mother, or giving us a better idea of how the saiyan race tends to operate.
But what makes the Dragon Ball movie truly more sophisticated than the simple brawls that the series has been known for is its deep dive into its main antagonist, Broly, who is given a rich and complex backstory that will leave many non fans quite impressed as the film attempts to pull on your heart strings. It is probably one of the few times that the writer, Akira Toriyama, has attempted to create such a interesting character. If you look at the original film Broly is much more of this one note brute who only says "Kakarot" over and over, and is simply used as a plot device who the heroes must defeat, but here Broly is a person who has been forced into battle by his father, but we see scenes in the film that Broly doesn't want to fight for his dad, and would rather live a more peaceful life. These are aspects of Broly that really help us understand the character being crafted on screen. The film also gives us some new additions like Cheelai who ends up being a pretty great new addition to the rest of the cast and plays a prominent role in Broly's character development. There is a scene between Broly and her when they are at a cafeteria in which Cheelai takes interest and Broly and shows that she finds herself caring a lot for the brute even being willing to protect him. Now the film is still at the end of the day a Dragon Ball film and because of that there is still a big action fight in the 3rd act and its pretty great, but unlike the action scenes in previous Dragon Ball films this act has more weight to it because you care about the character involved. This gives the action more weight in the big explosive battle.The animation in the final fight also looks incredibly beautiful. When you see the main character and Broly going at each other you can't help but get immersed in the fight and take in all the action. Your eyes wander throughout the screen trying to take in every color change, every deviation of position of the characters, and it becomes both overwhelming but also engaging in a way that allows you to have a clear understanding of what each character is doing, and for that reason alone it is extremely entertaining.
There are some areas of the film were the animation dropped in quality mainly for the more comedic moments during the action halve. It was obvious a decent amount of the budget had to go the main character and antagonist punching each other and because of that everything going on around the fight had to be have its quality diminished which was quite disappointing for me as a fan. And while the fights were cool to look at it and the backstory does help them it is a very extensive fight. The movie is 1 hour and 41 mins and the fight takes up pretty much the entire 41 minutes. And it actually ends up being quite glorious the way they manage it. And I must give the director, Tatsuya Nagamine, a lot of props for managing to pull something like this off because it couldn't have been easy.
In conclusion Dragon Ball Super: Broly works pretty well as a Dragon Ball film, and even manages to break some expectations giving us a more complex antagonist with a rich and endearing backstory to go along with it. The animation isn't always perfect and the action long winded, but is a great and enjoyable time at the theater and one that I feels really works in spades. And rather you are a new fan or a older one both groups will get something from it.
The film starts out by giving us a bit of backstory on not only the enemy but the world that the Dragon Ball Universe inhabits as it gives us the history on a alien race called "Saiyans" or "Saiyajin"for the japanese audience. It talks about a tyrannical ruler named Frieza who becomes the ruler of this planet of saiyans after their father, King Cold, grants them this authority. This entire halve allows people who have never watched Dragon Ball before to have more of a clear idea of what is going on in the film. Allowing the viewer to get a strong sense for what this franchise is all about. It however also changes the lore up for old fans so that way they stay entertained throughout this first halve by giving us new characters such as the main character, Goku, having a mother, or giving us a better idea of how the saiyan race tends to operate.
But what makes the Dragon Ball movie truly more sophisticated than the simple brawls that the series has been known for is its deep dive into its main antagonist, Broly, who is given a rich and complex backstory that will leave many non fans quite impressed as the film attempts to pull on your heart strings. It is probably one of the few times that the writer, Akira Toriyama, has attempted to create such a interesting character. If you look at the original film Broly is much more of this one note brute who only says "Kakarot" over and over, and is simply used as a plot device who the heroes must defeat, but here Broly is a person who has been forced into battle by his father, but we see scenes in the film that Broly doesn't want to fight for his dad, and would rather live a more peaceful life. These are aspects of Broly that really help us understand the character being crafted on screen. The film also gives us some new additions like Cheelai who ends up being a pretty great new addition to the rest of the cast and plays a prominent role in Broly's character development. There is a scene between Broly and her when they are at a cafeteria in which Cheelai takes interest and Broly and shows that she finds herself caring a lot for the brute even being willing to protect him. Now the film is still at the end of the day a Dragon Ball film and because of that there is still a big action fight in the 3rd act and its pretty great, but unlike the action scenes in previous Dragon Ball films this act has more weight to it because you care about the character involved. This gives the action more weight in the big explosive battle.The animation in the final fight also looks incredibly beautiful. When you see the main character and Broly going at each other you can't help but get immersed in the fight and take in all the action. Your eyes wander throughout the screen trying to take in every color change, every deviation of position of the characters, and it becomes both overwhelming but also engaging in a way that allows you to have a clear understanding of what each character is doing, and for that reason alone it is extremely entertaining.
There are some areas of the film were the animation dropped in quality mainly for the more comedic moments during the action halve. It was obvious a decent amount of the budget had to go the main character and antagonist punching each other and because of that everything going on around the fight had to be have its quality diminished which was quite disappointing for me as a fan. And while the fights were cool to look at it and the backstory does help them it is a very extensive fight. The movie is 1 hour and 41 mins and the fight takes up pretty much the entire 41 minutes. And it actually ends up being quite glorious the way they manage it. And I must give the director, Tatsuya Nagamine, a lot of props for managing to pull something like this off because it couldn't have been easy.
In conclusion Dragon Ball Super: Broly works pretty well as a Dragon Ball film, and even manages to break some expectations giving us a more complex antagonist with a rich and endearing backstory to go along with it. The animation isn't always perfect and the action long winded, but is a great and enjoyable time at the theater and one that I feels really works in spades. And rather you are a new fan or a older one both groups will get something from it.