Movie Review Dragon Ball Super BROLY

By Justin Hopkins :

I made a horrible mistake.

I was completely excited to kick my year off the right way and rush out to the theater to see Dragon Ball Super BROLY in theaters… Unfortunately, I was unable to do go. The limited release, theater being a good trip away from me, kind of robbed me of the chance to go. Forcing me to set my sights on the Blu Ray release. As it turns out, should have really made it work and saw it in theaters, because this was so beyond my expectations with a stellar storytelling and amazing animation made for the big screen. Without further ado, lets skip over my sadness and jump right into the review.

Starting off with the Story, as we know, at least hopefully reading this you do, Broly was attempted in Japan in 1993 and 2003 for North America, with some mixed reviews. People liked it, but the problems kind of out weighed the good. This one, took him back to the drawling bored and started anew. Starting the movie off with Planet Vegeta getting a new ruler in Frieza, and King Vegeta believing his son would one day liberate them, only to be immediately threatened by the presence of a low ranker’s baby sharing the royal chamber. One with a significantly higher power level then the Prince; little baby Broly. Feeling threatened and a little worried that so much power would end in catastrophe. Had him sent off to a nightmarish planet, to more or less, die. Leaving his Father Paragus to chase after and the two gets stranded on the desolate planet. Following a quick time jump to the destruction of Planet Vegeta, with awesome cameos from Bardock, Gine, Raditz, and Nappa. All of which were great to see. We jump to future day. Making this quick, we pick up with Vegeta and Goku training, but for very different reasons. Goku set to go out and seek fights with those he encountered during the Tournament of Power, and Vegeta wanting nothing more then to be ready for Frieza. When they learn that none other then Frieza has sent some of his men collecting the dragon balls. While two of his forces, Cheelai and Lemo are trying to recruit new members for the Frieza Force. Finding Paragus and Broly in the process. Frieza very excited by this find, takes them immediately to Earth, and the fight begins, with Broly’s sight set squarely on Prince Vegeta. which is one of the best things this movie did, story wise.

In the previous one, they failed by forcing Broly to rival Goku for the dumbest of reasons. When he should have gone against Vegeta. The King is the one Paragus has the grudge against after all. Would make all the sense in the world to start there. While still having Goku get involved more organically. Vegeta getting a fair amount of offense in, including showing off a Super Saiyan God form. Then Goku gets involved and their fight was even more incredible then the latter. Showing off a whole slew of powers and techniques from Goku and I loved Broly’s fighting style. They knew what they had to work with. He was very much untrained. Just what he learned from Paragus who was not a very powerful fighter. Would just keep coming like a runaway freight train. He was a guy who was going to just beat on you and unleash his energy wildly. Punches and kicks, grab and fling them around like rag dolls, and he did it perfectly. Meanwhile Vegeta and Goku had to dig down deep in their bag of tricks to take down one of the biggest threats they ever encountered.

Moving from story to what is my absolute favorite part of this movie, and that is the animation. Oh my god, the animation was spectacular. By far the greatest animation anything I have ever seen in my life. Vegeta’s transformation to God, Goku’s power up to Blue, and Broly’s final transformation was beautifully rendered. There were moments during the fight scenes that left me just in awe. Couldn’t believe how beautiful they were. Between the Ki blast and the ever changing environments. If you watch this movie for nothing else, do it to experience the animation alone.

The mark of a great new character is when they want you leaving more. Want to see what happens next, and this movie gave us a few of them. Starting with Broly himself. They made him a rather complex character, who is sweet and caring. In such a short time, he makes you care so much about him. He had a sad upbringing and doesn’t want to be a fighter, but is being manipulated by his Father and Frieza. By the end of the movie you want to know what will come of him, now that he has a positive influence on Cheelai in his life. Another character that walked away with a lot of interest. Starting out a bit selfish, but shows great heart when it came to Broly. Risking her life even more, by double crossing Frieza at the end, and running off to live her life with Broly, along with Lemo. Looking forward to seeing their next chapter in either the next movie or intro to the regular show if it comes back.

Closing this out, with a little bit of insanity, and it’s alright to think i’m crazy, but kind of own Kale a bit of thanks. Her character arc kind of showed them how to approach a return to Broly. Showing all they had to do was add a little heart to the character and they would have something great on their hands and this was great. It had a few flaws but they are extremely nit picky and not even worth mentioning, because this movie was that great. If you haven’t bought it let, go out, order online, or rent it from a library and watch on the biggest screen you can, and enjoy this excellent entry into the Dragon Ball library.

Thank you for reading

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