I cannot stress this enough, this is not a good introduction into the Dragonball series. If you have not watched the series, do not watch this movie. It will simply make no sense and you will get absolutely nothing out of it. Now that out of the way, this is definitely one of the best Dragonball movies, if not the best.
To really see what the movie does well, its important to understand what its predecessors do wrong. They treat the movie like its own story arch, with a big bad and his minions scheming for the dragonballs, tree of life, a can of Coke or whatever, and its up to the heroes to come together and curb stomp them all in short, unimpressive fights. After laying out Toriyama's shopping list disguised as antagonists, the big bad readies to fight them to close out the last ten minutes and gets eliminated by some sort of plot device like Gohan's dormant power, a Hail Mary energy blast, or whistling. There is little catharsis and the villains are tossed in the trash never to be heard from again. Except for Broly. The hulking behemoth gets center stage in this movie, after exploring his character he is thrown headlong into a brutal slobber knocker that carries the movie further than any cockamamie scheme and cannon fodder ever could. The fight itself is masterfully paced, Broly has been fighting for training wheels all his life and finally meeting someone that can match him he just keeps improving until he can match the overpowered heroes. As they escalate, so does he until he becomes an unstoppable monster devoid of reason and mercy. It in itself tells an interesting story that can't be expressed in words. Finally, Broly is the main event threat that he is designed to be.
This leads us back to another massive improvement, in spite of the popularity of the character, Broly's prior appearances aren't good. In fact, the chatracter's backstory has been downright stupid. In his first outing, his personal driving force was his disdain for baby Goku's crying when they were in the nursery. Its a postnatal grudge match, as ridiculous as that sounds. Sure there is the grudge his father has for Vegeta and the Saiyan race but most of it is Goku's crying. This is followed up with his clone Bio-Broly who melts pretty much instantly and can't even speak. To fix the character with one of the worst backstories the movies had ever contrived, they focused on what worked. Broly has never interacted with any of the main cast, he hasn't interacted with anyone but his father since before the series starts. Stranded together, the two have done nothing but refine him into a killing machine to reek revenge upon the Saiyan race that scorned them. He was a monster made, living a childhood devoid of kindness or care, the only creature he can endear himself to is a massive carnivorous beast and even that is taken from him by his tyrannical father. When he is found and brought before Frieza, he is seen as an impressive tool to avenge his defeat at the hands of Goku but proves too powerful for the alien tyrant to control. There is nothing superfluous about him, he is a force of nature that threatens the earth.
With such a direct plot, its the fight that everyone paid to see and it gives everything in spades. The animation is crisp as it transitions into CGI and everything has a good sense of weight. Goku getting slammed alas Loki in the Avengers doesn't look like he is made of feathers, Broly slings him around like a bag of hammers while the heroes body goes ragdoll. There are plenty of zippy movements that lead into a very visually appealing scene where they break time and space with their fighting only to smash their way back. They even manage to work in some funny comedy as Goku and Vegeta rope Frieza into the fight. The only real complaint is how the initial fight with Vegeta ends, Goku simply steps in and Vegeta doesn't complain. It lacks any decisive winner and transitions poorly.
Again, if you are a fan of the series this is a must see, but if not know that it does not explain anything. If anything I said doesn't make sense its only a fraction of the show specific terms that they will not define. There are flashbacks to scenes from the series that well have no context for those who have not seen them and characters who get no introduction at all. This is specifically for the fans
To really see what the movie does well, its important to understand what its predecessors do wrong. They treat the movie like its own story arch, with a big bad and his minions scheming for the dragonballs, tree of life, a can of Coke or whatever, and its up to the heroes to come together and curb stomp them all in short, unimpressive fights. After laying out Toriyama's shopping list disguised as antagonists, the big bad readies to fight them to close out the last ten minutes and gets eliminated by some sort of plot device like Gohan's dormant power, a Hail Mary energy blast, or whistling. There is little catharsis and the villains are tossed in the trash never to be heard from again. Except for Broly. The hulking behemoth gets center stage in this movie, after exploring his character he is thrown headlong into a brutal slobber knocker that carries the movie further than any cockamamie scheme and cannon fodder ever could. The fight itself is masterfully paced, Broly has been fighting for training wheels all his life and finally meeting someone that can match him he just keeps improving until he can match the overpowered heroes. As they escalate, so does he until he becomes an unstoppable monster devoid of reason and mercy. It in itself tells an interesting story that can't be expressed in words. Finally, Broly is the main event threat that he is designed to be.
This leads us back to another massive improvement, in spite of the popularity of the character, Broly's prior appearances aren't good. In fact, the chatracter's backstory has been downright stupid. In his first outing, his personal driving force was his disdain for baby Goku's crying when they were in the nursery. Its a postnatal grudge match, as ridiculous as that sounds. Sure there is the grudge his father has for Vegeta and the Saiyan race but most of it is Goku's crying. This is followed up with his clone Bio-Broly who melts pretty much instantly and can't even speak. To fix the character with one of the worst backstories the movies had ever contrived, they focused on what worked. Broly has never interacted with any of the main cast, he hasn't interacted with anyone but his father since before the series starts. Stranded together, the two have done nothing but refine him into a killing machine to reek revenge upon the Saiyan race that scorned them. He was a monster made, living a childhood devoid of kindness or care, the only creature he can endear himself to is a massive carnivorous beast and even that is taken from him by his tyrannical father. When he is found and brought before Frieza, he is seen as an impressive tool to avenge his defeat at the hands of Goku but proves too powerful for the alien tyrant to control. There is nothing superfluous about him, he is a force of nature that threatens the earth.
With such a direct plot, its the fight that everyone paid to see and it gives everything in spades. The animation is crisp as it transitions into CGI and everything has a good sense of weight. Goku getting slammed alas Loki in the Avengers doesn't look like he is made of feathers, Broly slings him around like a bag of hammers while the heroes body goes ragdoll. There are plenty of zippy movements that lead into a very visually appealing scene where they break time and space with their fighting only to smash their way back. They even manage to work in some funny comedy as Goku and Vegeta rope Frieza into the fight. The only real complaint is how the initial fight with Vegeta ends, Goku simply steps in and Vegeta doesn't complain. It lacks any decisive winner and transitions poorly.
Again, if you are a fan of the series this is a must see, but if not know that it does not explain anything. If anything I said doesn't make sense its only a fraction of the show specific terms that they will not define. There are flashbacks to scenes from the series that well have no context for those who have not seen them and characters who get no introduction at all. This is specifically for the fans