Dragon Ball Super: BROLY | Honest Review

0:00 if you're like me you've probably noticed that nostalgia is usually only skin-deep once you peel away the immediate gratification of something warm and familiar there's usually not much left beneath the surface and despite my urge to do so for the longest time I refuse to review this film until I thought enough time had passed I wanted to judge this story on its merits and not on my rose-tinted love for it and the franchise had represented I wanted to know if a curatorial his third outing into the movie world was as great as I thought it was I wanted to peel away the surface level nostalgia to see if there was something of substance within toy animations greatest box-office smash hit looking into the story the music and the visuals I wanted to write an honest review for the 2018

0:45 film Dragon Ball super Broly [Music] as I was going on I never really enjoyed the Dragon Ball movies I would always give him a shock but they never captured my interest the same way the anime did while trying to watch these films I always thought that they were rushed unearned versions of the anime story in miniature the visuals and action sequences looked really cool across the board but the story seems secondary and because of that it never really interested in fact I didn't end up seeing all of these to the end until TFS redid them decades later that is until battle of gods and resurrection F changed everything we now had standalone stories that worked as films battle of gods was the first

1:31 Dragon Ball film I enjoyed beginning to end and resurrection F was fun on first viewing at the very least despite it being a less enjoyable film to me overall and needless to say with Dragon Ball super anime over and a new film slated on the horizon I was more than excited then it was announced to be a bro Li movie which had a lot of folks like myself worried a character like bro Lee taking center stage was nothing new to the Dragon Ball films and to be perfectly honest I saw him always as a condensed version of everything I hated about those old Dragon Ball films all appearance no substance but primarily what made me anxious and many others was the prospect of making a character like bro Lee Canada however soon after much of the negative hearsay surrounding the film vanished as Toriyama made a formal announcement reassuring us all that he

2:17 was rewriting bro Lee's character as well as handling the film script personally additionally three interesting and impressive trailers dropped demonstrating some incredible visuals with the promise of an interesting origin story but did it live up to that promise the beginning of this film is extremely efficient streamlined and surprisingly accessible for the 20th film in a franchise that spans decades and while there are tons of tiny nods to past events technologies and lore for the longtime fans to enjoy the film takes specific care in establishing the key players and motivations of the film being told beginning with a flashback 41 years in the past we are greeted with shots of the freeze of force in its heyday the jinyu's star Vaughn tutoria king called and a young Frieza are all present taking place in the same home world before us destruction this is the

3:03 first look we get at the Society of the Saiyans written by Kirra toriyama in animation and it's honestly terrific there's a tremendous sense of scale at awe as King Cole's army arrives on planet Vegeta this is the single most important moment of the sands history up until this point and we feel that in the dialogue that's delivered the spectacular angles on display and the expressions of the people it's the perfect place to start this film and it's the event that triggers every major choice that drives this story forward from here on in immediately it's instantly recognizable that the visuals have underwent a significant upgrade from the wobbly outlines vibrant colors lighting and nostalgic character designs this film feels and looks more like dragon ball than anything that's been released in the last 10 years at least bring

3:49 characters closer to how the original artist envisioned them enhancing their expressions and personalities through exaggerated movements and close-ups it's honestly a feast for the eyes that you can only fully appreciate when watching it for yourself the first scene acts as a passing of the torch and a coronation of sorts for Frieza as he accepts his father's position as the leader of his forces immediately setting a ruthless and sinister tone effortlessly brushing aside the Saiyans plans to stop him with a simple tech demonstration humiliated and frustrated we follow King Vegeta as he visits his son in the nursery with the hopes that he one day will carry out his revenge on Frieza with a father impressing motivations like this it's it's easy to see how Vegeta's childhood made him the man he is today however

4:35 this isn't Vegeta scene it's broglie's revealed as a lower-class warrior with an exceptionally high battle potential the exposition bully receives is incredibly natural and believable as the doctors try to justify his placement in this particular nursery to the king all the while he struggles to accept the fact that his son might not be the best choice to overthrow Frieza and this is the film's strength the motivations established in these early scenes drive and inform the subsequent ones in natural and believable ways King Vegeta is threatened by Broly upstaging his son and being a danger to the same race therefore he is exiled ultimately to a remote planetoid called vampa broglie's father para gas naturally takes issue with this and immediately flees after his son to save him breeding and lifelong grudge that ultimately becomes the driving

5:21 force for all the conflict in the second half of this film the visuals of broli landing and vampa as a small Opie for the film stunning visuals lighting color and music concluding with the single best Tyler drop I've ever seen in a Dragon Ball film there's just something so satisfying about it we are only 10 minutes into the film and we have already established all of this this is honestly excellent pacing in traveling to vampa para gas common dere's a ship piloted by another Saiyan called beats that regrettably gets wrapped up in all of this however once they find Broly they realized that the escape pod they use to get to Planet vampa was irreversibly damaged in the crash removing all options of leaving the planet thereafter once para gues discovers that there's no way out he immediately removes beats from the

6:07 equation to save food as cold-heartedly as you can imagine shooting a laser straight through the Saiyans chest this is where we leave bro Lee's story for the time being and move some years into the future where we find the first controversial section of the film the following 10 minutes cover the events derived from a one-shot manga written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama called Dragon Ball - when screenshots from trailers suspiciously similar to - surfaced online a wave of worries swelled across the fan base that was palpable but to be perfectly honest it plays out much better than I first expected it to at least with that said there are some negative takeaways from this section the most glaring of which being Goku's true origin while it works incredibly well within this film and significantly better than in - is comic

6:52 it's still difficult not to constantly see the Superman parallels once you first notice it the film does make considerable efforts to integrate new elements of the Dragon Balls story into the classic Canon succeeding fantastically in some cases while not so much in others for everything else in the scene it works exceptionally well even instances in the - comic that I disliked like Bardock suspicion of Frieza made much more sense here than it did in the manga giving legitimate believable grounds for him to suspect something off Frieza rather than him just having an unexplained feel additionally this is one of the first scenes that works substantially better having prior knowledge of the series after being introduced to the elites nursery that housed Vegeta and Broly Goku situation is far more modest there's something heartwarming and

7:38 special about it kept locked away in an old capsule at the back of their house no one not even his parents knowing what he will do with his life moments like that accompanied by the stunning visuals and breathtaking heartbreaking scores lifts this section of the film higher than my wildest dreams ever expected in a surprisingly touching scene Goku is sent off the doomed planet by his parents Frieza charges his blast Bar Doc's prediction comes to pass and were greeted by a montage of moments from Goku's life as both he and Vegeta fight into the present day easily missed in this quick flash of iconic moments is a young parolee minding his own business surviving as both Goku and Vegeta get to experience their lives this is a film about these three characters and how their fates have been in some shape or

8:25 form connected our large criticism people have thrown this film's way has been its exclusion of fan favorite characters like go on and piccolo and while I do love these characters I think the decision to keep the cast focused and uncluttered grant to the film the breathing room it needed to flesh out this story but it's not without its flaws and I'll get to that with that we're almost thirty minutes into the story and this is where I start seeing things that bothered me slightly small things admittedly but they still exist essentially to get all of these major players in the same area to fight one another the Dragon Ball has become involved Frieza appoints men to steal them from boneless place which they do with ease because plot needs to happen and naturally goku and vegeta are conveniently not there to intervene additionally and also conveniently boma

9:11 only gathered six Dragon Balls which gives Goku and Vegeta a means of tracking them down before they find the last one this honestly is all very contrived done this pretty weak storytelling thankfully the means with which Broly and para guests are rescued from bomba makes much more sense in the context of its story characters and things Chi lie and Lemmo two new characters introduced for this story are recruits with in the freeze of force tasked with locating strong power signatures to recruit into the freeze of force those fire every scene concerning Broly has been this film's strongest aspect as honestly it should be he is the titular character after all and thankfully this praise train continues as he builds a wonderful relationship with level and the wonderful chili and all of these scenes were Broly interacts with Frieza his father chili and the

9:57 crew of the ship are fantastic through the revelation of his past as well as his father's cruelty we develop a deep sympathy for him and the situation he has grown up with it's revealed that Broly has been controlled using a shock collar this is an interesting idea that comes with some tragic visuals both from the act of shocking Broly himself and the expressions on his face once he seized the remote that turns the collar on what doesn't make sense to me is why he just doesn't take the collar off I mean he already in a calm state has a power level in excess of 100 thousand according to Chia a Scouter so I think he can break some metal around his neck now that aspect of the film did bother me quite a bit especially when you consider that it's a vital part of what makes or breaks the film but I digress in an effort to protect Broly from his

10:43 father's cruelty chill I steal the remote Paris uses to restrain his son as both the forces of Frieza and earth set themselves on a collision course it's now only a matter of time before all three main characters clash for the first time fated for this meeting this fight goes on for almost 40 minutes and it's not only the best Dragon Ball has ever looked but it's one of the most visually impressive sequences of animation I have ever seen the ridiculous amount of effort that went into this film if it wasn't clear before it most certainly should be now and while I'm sure many of you will be familiar with this fight I'm gonna try to break it down and maybe point out a few things here and there that you might have missed the fight itself can be divided into three sections with each section serving a particular purpose within the story

11:28 Broly versus vegeta to kick things off Broly versus goku that takes up the middle section and finally Gogeta vs. Broly to end everything and it just so happens that each of these three sections focuses on the unique strengths of each individual fight for instance a vegeta fight is most entertaining when he is styling on his opponent and in control of action we don't often get to enjoy sequences like this but when Vegeta receives the first punch from broli and gives us that cheeky grin we know what's coming and we know how good this is gonna be the Vegeta fight takes up about eight minutes of the overall fights runtime and Yuya Takahashi is in charge of this section within which we get to enjoy the shock fall across the faces of both Broly and para gasp as Vegeta introduces the Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan God transformations to the fight and my god are they handled

12:14 beautiful I specifically love the Super Saiyan transformation as he begins to glow refusing to let go of broglie's hand before being enveloped in a massive golden aura with the camera panning 360 degrees around his stance it's beautiful this fight however serves one important purpose primarily to bring Broly up to speed both figuratively and literally with the level of combat the main cast is on through breathtakingly beautiful tracking shots Broly slowly gains the upper hand of vegeta until he finally overpowers the Saiyan Prince before losing his mind the fight from here quickly shifts focus to Goku and Broly again the script clearly understands that Vegeta is most fun to watch what he's performing in a dominant fashion and Goku is most interesting when he's on the back foot and thus this transition came at the perfect time

13:00 this Goku section is handled primarily by animator reel on a she who is also the artist to animated the very first teaser released for Dragon Ball super burly and demonstrates some really experimental animation that I really enjoyed where the Vegeta fight established all the regular things we've come to expect from the series in a fantastic fashion Goku's fight introduces new takes on the franchise through its music selection animation and lore the music up until this point of the film has been phenomenal however much the battle tracks are something you will either love or hate Sumitomo the man responsible for the music of the film felt inspired by the live event gatherings in latin america during the final episodes of Dragon Ball super and so wanted to add chanting and a hype man for lack of a better term to the tracks in this section I enjoyed the experimental nature of it

13:47 and if nothing else it's most certainly memorable from an animation perspective we got to enjoy a first-person tracking shot perspective the likes of which I honestly never seen before in Dragonball I thought it was a fun idea and worked well in this long fight to help break up the monotony on the action but wasn't majorly impressed and could even see a lot of people missing this sequence if you weren't looking for it the fight itself lasts about 12 minutes in total for Olli and Goku it has some interesting new techniques and even has an explosive Super Saiyan blue transformation in the middle of things it does have a few moments of CGI here and there but with the battle itself being almost 40 minutes long I'm willing to forgive the little CGI that was involved in fact I'd even go as far as to say that in many other aspects of the film CGI was used to enhance sequences beyond what it would have been without it through backgrounds special effects

14:33 and filters amidst all of this action and explosion para ggest now injured from being too close reveals to freeze that that bro Lee must be at his limit now fortunately Frieza has the perfect contingency plan packed with being a magnificent scene rich in character for Frieza it's also an almost mirror image of how para Gus casually killed beats in cold blood earlier in the film due to the sudden loss of his father brouilly overcome with grief begins to transform during which there's an incredible shot of Frieza standing front and center surrounded by flames and destruction all of his own doing something of interest also during this cut is that Brawley blasts his father's body away out of view never to be seen again in the film with the situation now more dire than ever Vegeta rejoins a fight in what is a

15:20 surprisingly effective CGI sequence some terrific angles backroads choreography and even angles we wouldn't normally see in traditional 2d animation overwhelmed by the hulking enraged Saiyan both Vegeta and Goku in one of the funniest moments of the film pond brewing off on Frieza before making their way to piccolo somewhere else on earth using Instant Transmission this scene is pretty much ripped straight out of fusion Report and honestly after all Vegeta has been through in Super with Goku this scene didn't make sense to me Vegeta for whatever reason still has a problem fusing with Goku understands that it's only 30 minutes and he understands that he can't do it any other way I just honestly can't understand this hang-up he has he's just fought alongside Goku in the tournament of power as well as 30 seconds ago

16:07 he's even danced before to save his friends in battle of gods why is this of all things an issue for him simply put because it gives them a chance to make jokes and to create fake tension there's really no other reason I would have preferred if Vegeta showed the emotional maturity to bring the idea forth to Goku first that would have been interesting and a first for the character needless to say the two of them agreed to fuse eventually but all these botched fusion attempts basically translates to Frieza getting pummeled for the bones of about an hour before they eventually arrive as the newly fused Gogeta makes his Canon debut in the film now after almost 90 minutes of the movie having seen some of the most spectacular animation we've ever seen from the series one would think that we've already seen all this film can

16:53 show us however nothing could be further from the truth the remainder of this fight is packed to bursting with not only the best animation Dragon Ball has ever seen but some of the best action animation I've ever seen period Naruto shishi that contributes around 1 minute in 40 seconds of pure movement to the beginning of this fight and it's spectacular but seeing as this is an honest review I do have one small gripe while everything looks fantastic and clean the fact that Natasha Sheeta is held in such high regard within the company he works for means that he gets to board his own section which has one unfortunate side-effect he ends up repeating angles techniques and sequences almost exactly the same way over and over again multiple times during this sequence I recognize the

17:38 composition and ideas from earlier works and super I'm guessing this isn't something the regular viewer would even notice but I did and I thought it worth mentioning regardless of this small gripe I still love this spectacular color of animation from The Incredible no Toshi cheetah also within this section is the third and final CGI sequence but honestly it's the best one and suits the dimensional shift both characters undergo its honestly stunning something also of note once Cheeta turns Super Saiyan blue rolling neverland's a hit on him after while this phenomenal fight is taking place my last major problem with the film rears its head she lies desire to save Rolly by putting her life at risk this leap from her while I understand it seems a little premature she already paid Rolly

18:24 back for standing up for her after she stole the remote away from Paris and while I believed that her and Burleigh have a fondness for one another that is believable I find she lies particular decision here kind of unbelievable this is a narrative thread that I thought could have greatly benefited from having more time exploring it the film did make a concerted effort to build the relationship up in three separate scenes and while I did love their Tarzan and Jane dynamic they still only knew each other for a few hours the remaining moments of the fight are again filled with some of the most spectacular animation I've ever seen from Dragonball full of amazing choreography callbacks to prior films and character rich moments the final moments of the battle are made even more tense with the use of the Dragon Balls causing the world to be shrouded in darkness as Gaggia charges his final kamehameha Broly looks

19:10 genuinely scared like he's suddenly come out of a trance he's beaten and I sincerely really liked that inclusion the wish is made to transport Brody back to home all is back to normal once again and the fight is over and so now that everything has been said and done these are my final thoughts this film really isn't perfect and as I pointed out has its shortcomings narrative Lee it isn't a flawless film and while the first half does a fantastic job delivering exposition for first time viewers the second half really takes off the training wheels going full force with its lore and combat so why don't I think this is the most accessible Dragon Ball film to date I still would assume that for most people unfamiliar with the series prior knowledge of it is required to get a relatively mediocre level of enjoyment out of it when all is said and

19:56 done however what did I think of it as a fan of the series I've honestly never had more fun watching a film to say that this movie takes you on a ride is an understatement of the highest order the fanservice the characters the story the ridiculous action sequences and set pieces it's plain as day that the animators musicians artists writers and everyone involved we're going all out with this film it's taken the best elements from Dragon Ball - brouilly the legendary Super Saiyan and fusion reborn to create a brand new story that is far superior than the sum of its parts it's not a perfect film and it has its problems but the exceptionally great parts of this movie far outweigh its drawbacks and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen this to experience it for themselves thanks for watching

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