I missed out on seeing the first two "Dragon Ball Z" movies in theaters due to financial woes; still haven't seen them now that I mention it. When "Broly" hit, things were better on the fiscal front, but the release was limited and wasn't showing at my local theater. Thus, I had to wait for it to arrive on DVD to be able to watch it. Finally, comes "Super Hero" the latest entry in the "Dragon Ball Super" franchise. With a stronger fiscal position, a wider release, and an appropriate work schedule, I resolved to see this one in theaters.
I'm glad I did, as I enjoyed the film a lot. It manages to bring a healthy dose of lighthearted humor, character growth, and big action to the table. There are times where Dragon Ball has gone too far into "gag" humor territory and it ended up being detrimental, but the humor here is more character and dialogue driven. It's more effective and allows the humor to exist without undercutting the imposing threat.
I know that one of the big concerns was the new animation style. This one went almost fully CG and the initial response wasn't positive. There are a few jarring bits here and there, but honestly, you don't even notice it after a while. The opening credits sequence where we're following Magenta's car as he goes to approach Dr. Hedo, as well as the appearances of Goku and Vegeta, are really the only bits where the animation takes you out of the movie.
Speaking of Magenta and Dr. Hedo, they act as the antagonists of the film. Magenta, being the son of an adversary that Goku faced in his youth, has rebuilt an empire in secret and is intent on enacting a plan to get revenge and take over the world. As such, he recruits Dr. Hedo, who is also the descendant of a prior Goku enemy.
The two actually form a unique dynamic. Magenta carries himself like a crime boss and his negotiation with Hedo is an early highlight for the film. Both parties plan on exploiting the other for their own purposes, both know that the other is trying to use them, and an alliance of sorts still manages to be formed anyway.
Of course, "villain" doesn't exactly apply to Dr. Hedo. He's not good, but he does have a genuine love for superheroes and when Magenta tasks him with building super-bots capable of taking on our heroes, he naturally creates them with hero personas. This may seem paradoxical, but Hedo (and thus, the androids, called "Gammas") are under the impression that Goku and the gang are enemies of Earth.
There was some amusing propaganda at play, and Magenta does use Goku's extra-terrestrial origins to his advantage. It was a little surprising to see Hedo react with shock at the idea of aliens. Wasn't Vegeta and Nappa's "invasion" public knowledge? I guess he's just out of the loop.
In any event, the Gammas themselves are quite memorable. I would have liked to see more of them in all honesty. While they are the "enemy" for the first portion of the film, you can tell that they are heroes. They're aghast at the idea of harming a child and don't hesitate to come to the Z-fighters' aid when the "final boss" of the film is released.
This film really allowed the secondary characters to shine. Not only does Piccolo take center stage (and do a great job of it) but characters who had been sidelined for years actually get to jump into the fray. Even Krillin contributes in meaningful ways. I'm a big fan of Goku and Vegeta but having them step into the background for a bit actually worked wonders.
As is expected of "Dragon Ball" the final fight is something to behold. In a lot of ways, I think it was better than the Broly fight. Not in terms of animation, in that regard, Broly wins, but this upped the ante by having multiple fighters working in unison. It also avoided the burnout that the Broly showdown caused by injecting bits of humor and character progression to keep things from getting one note.
The film is chock full of call backs. They're a lot more subtle than some of the ones we saw in the main anime, which was welcome. If you're a longtime fan, there are all kinds of nods and allusions to earlier material. Oddly enough, no mention of Gohan's stint as the great Saiyaman. You'd think that when Gamma 1 alluded to himself as a genuine superhero that Gohan would have at least invoked that as a way to clear things up.
Even so, both Gohan and Piccolo do a good job of attempting to diplomatically deal with the Gammas as the fight progresses.
The soundtrack is OK. The main theme fits the "hero" thing, and it works in the scenes where it is used but compared to some of the tracks we heard in both "Broly" and the main anime, it can feel a little lackluster.
The movie did leave me wanting more. You could see that as a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. As I said, would have liked to see more of the Gammas, or more of the two antagonists scheming against each other. Having Tien, Yamcha, and 17 also show up for the final fight would have been cool, but I guess that's more actors and more animation. Bulma did say that she got everyone on Earth, does that mean that they're in space? Is that the next movie? I guess the implication is that she only had so much time or couldn't track down everybody, but I kind of like my idea better.
All in all, though, I really had a lot of fun with this. I recommend it. Oh, and stay through the credits, there is a stinger that is worth watching as well.
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