Dragon Ball Super Broly Review

Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back once again with another review! When it was announced that Dragon Ball's 20th movie was going to be a 4th Broly movie that reworked the character into the modern Dragon Ball continuity, I thought the franchise had just given up on anything original or creative and was just relying on hype and cheap fanservice (some in the DB fandom would argue that happened years ago, but that's neither here nor there). 

But as more trailers came out, like a sucker, I bought into the hype and last night I went out to watch the film. How does it hold up? Let's find out as we dive into Dragon Ball Super: Broly!

On a distant Planet, two members of the Frieza Force discover two stranded Saiyans: Paragus and Broly. After rescuing them and bringing them to Frieza himself, the space tyrant, who is on the hunt for Earth's Dragon Balls, takes the two Saiyans to the Planet to not only get the Dragon Balls, but to see a demonstration of Broly's power as he battles Goku and Vegeta. 

I want to get my biggest minor gripe I had with the film out of the way right now: the CG. Yes, it's a significant step up from the CG in Resurrection F, but in a film as beautifully animated as this one is, you didn't need it, no more how little of it is in there. There's also one other small issue I had but I can't really get into it without spoilers. 

But again, the CG is only a small misstep when the entire movie is just astonishing when it comes to the visuals department. While the entire animation team deserves credit for their work, I want to really highlight the new character designs of Naohiro Shintani, because of his sleeker designs that Goku and the gang come off as more expressive than ever before, the biggest example of this is in Frieza, who goes through quite an array of emotions throughout the whole movie.

And when it's time for fighting, which there's a lot of considering the franchise we're talking about, it is nothing short of a spectacle. The way the characters move in action, the transformations, the beams, the different angles used for the fight scenes, and the fantastic use of color really makes this movie feel like the modernization of Dragon Ball in terms of animation and character designs. Nowhere is this better shown than in the Gogeta Broly fight which honestly I'd do a horrible job trying to explain it myself. It needs to be seen to believe.

So, the movie's an A+ when it comes to visuals, but how is it as a story? For what it's worth, pretty decent actually. The big selling point of the story is about the origins of Goku, Broly, and Vegeta, and how the final days of Planet Vegeta and the Saiyan race lead to this battle of fate between the three Saiyans. For me, the big hang up of this story was the usage of Dragon Ball Minus, the "story" that retells the origin of Bardock and how he sent Goku to Earth. While I'm not a fan of Minus and its retconning of one of the best stories told in the entire franchise A.K.A Bardock: The father of Goku. But the way this movie told the events of Minus was done in such an earnest way, that I ended up really enjoying it. I actually cared about this version of Bardock and his wife Gine, which is more than I can say for the original Minus story.

Despite his new origin though, I can't help but feel that Goku doesn't really have any purpose in this story except to be there to teach Vegeta how to fuse. Vegeta at least has a connection to Broly and Paragus with the latter wanting to kill him. Goku on the other hand is there because...he's the main character? Yeah, that's all I got.

And we can't talk about this movie's story without talking about the main driving force: Broly. Broly in his original incarnation was one that was very interesting in concept, being this super powerful saiyan that King Vegeta wanted to get rid of. But there were two big problems to him. One, he held a grudge against Goku because he cried a lot when they were babies, and two, outside of his Legendary Super Saiyan state that turned into a giant rageaholic, Broly had the personality of a Brick Wall.

Because of this, I was delightfully surprised by how much I liked this new version of Broly. Series creator Akira Toriyama doesn't radically change the character of Broly, but rather just take what was interesting about him in the first place and tweaks it. Changing him into this Tarzan-esque gentle giant with an uncontrollable strength makes him so much more endearing as a character; and as the movie goes and you learn more about him, you really sympathize with him and you hope that things really work out for him.

While Broly is the biggest highlight in the movie, the runner up goes to Frieza, who is at his most smug, pompous, and despicable in the movie. Not only is he constantly stirring the pot in the film, but he's the source of some of my favorite jokes in the film and Chris Ayres delivers what I'm boldly proclaiming is his best performance to date as Frieza.

Up and down, Dragon Ball Super is such a fun experience. Not only does it deliver on the top quality action it promised in its trailers, but a story with a surprising amount of heart to it thanks to its title character. I had a blast watching it and I wholeheartedly recommend watching it in theaters and buying the Blu-Ray while you're at it.

But that's all from me folks, til next time I'm The Shaman of Animation and I have shamefully jumped on Broly/Cheelai ship...

Come on, look at them! Don't pretend you wouldn't ship it...

Take Care...