Animation wise, this movie is excellent. Dragon Ball movies never looked this good before.
I also liked the introduction, revealing more details of the Saiyan life.
And the fight scenes were simple wonderful.
But a couple of things left a sour taste in my mouth:
First, and more importantly, the awful characterization of Goku which started in Dragon Ball Super (Yes, I know Toriyama said Goku is "not a hero" like Superman, but there is a line between being a hero, and befriending guys that regularly commit genocide)
He is an idiot here. A totally unlikeable idiot with no more thoughts other than "I must fight strong guys". So, so annoying.
We have reached the point where Vegeta, a former cruel villain from this series, is more heroic than him. If Super continues this path, soon even Nappa would be more heroic than him.
The second, is Frieza.
I see some fans already claiming Frieza is the "Joker" of the Dragon Ball Franchise. For me, that is awful. Look, I do not hate Batman, but one of the reasons of why I preferred manga over the DC or Marvel comics, it's because there is real progress in the stories, the villains (and some heroes) stay dead, instead of keeping an eternal status quo where nothing can never change: This is made purely for commercial purposes; the real reason Batman cannot kill the Joker is not because the writers want to make a profound statement about how "killing is wrong", but is made because the editors are afraid of losing the Joker hardcore fans as part of their readership.
So, no matter what, Batman can never kill the Joker, and he always keeps escaping from Arkam asylum and nothing ever changes.
I hate the status quo from superhero western comics, because it totally squanders any form of character development in favor of endless pandering.
So yeah, the last thing I would want for Dragon Ball is to follow that route. I can get over Frieza coming back to life once. I can get over the addition of another Frieza looalike character. So resurrecting him a second time (And by Goku, no less!) was way too much.
Worse, at the end of the horrible Dragon Ball Super, he gets away scott-free, and this movie shows him continuing his genocide on the galaxy. And Goku? He simply does not care, and allows Frieza to roam free (Despite the clear warning Vegeta gave to him, about how ridiculously strong Frieza could get just by training a couple of months)
This movie, like the horrible, horrid Dragon Ball Super, is just another victory for Frieza. He got away with everything, and they try to pass this as a "happy ending". Now Goku is just one step away of being best pals with the same guy that killed all his people.
It might sound like nit-picking, but it kinda ruins my enjoyment of this movie, disregard of the positive elements. I cannot stand the new Peter Griffin Goku that only cares about fighting and befriends genocidal tyrants because he is "not a hero".
But hey, at least the animation was nice. And New good Broly is an ok character.
I also liked the introduction, revealing more details of the Saiyan life.
And the fight scenes were simple wonderful.
But a couple of things left a sour taste in my mouth:
First, and more importantly, the awful characterization of Goku which started in Dragon Ball Super (Yes, I know Toriyama said Goku is "not a hero" like Superman, but there is a line between being a hero, and befriending guys that regularly commit genocide)
He is an idiot here. A totally unlikeable idiot with no more thoughts other than "I must fight strong guys". So, so annoying.
We have reached the point where Vegeta, a former cruel villain from this series, is more heroic than him. If Super continues this path, soon even Nappa would be more heroic than him.
The second, is Frieza.
I see some fans already claiming Frieza is the "Joker" of the Dragon Ball Franchise. For me, that is awful. Look, I do not hate Batman, but one of the reasons of why I preferred manga over the DC or Marvel comics, it's because there is real progress in the stories, the villains (and some heroes) stay dead, instead of keeping an eternal status quo where nothing can never change: This is made purely for commercial purposes; the real reason Batman cannot kill the Joker is not because the writers want to make a profound statement about how "killing is wrong", but is made because the editors are afraid of losing the Joker hardcore fans as part of their readership.
So, no matter what, Batman can never kill the Joker, and he always keeps escaping from Arkam asylum and nothing ever changes.
I hate the status quo from superhero western comics, because it totally squanders any form of character development in favor of endless pandering.
So yeah, the last thing I would want for Dragon Ball is to follow that route. I can get over Frieza coming back to life once. I can get over the addition of another Frieza looalike character. So resurrecting him a second time (And by Goku, no less!) was way too much.
Worse, at the end of the horrible Dragon Ball Super, he gets away scott-free, and this movie shows him continuing his genocide on the galaxy. And Goku? He simply does not care, and allows Frieza to roam free (Despite the clear warning Vegeta gave to him, about how ridiculously strong Frieza could get just by training a couple of months)
This movie, like the horrible, horrid Dragon Ball Super, is just another victory for Frieza. He got away with everything, and they try to pass this as a "happy ending". Now Goku is just one step away of being best pals with the same guy that killed all his people.
It might sound like nit-picking, but it kinda ruins my enjoyment of this movie, disregard of the positive elements. I cannot stand the new Peter Griffin Goku that only cares about fighting and befriends genocidal tyrants because he is "not a hero".
But hey, at least the animation was nice. And New good Broly is an ok character.