Dragon Ball: The Legendary Warrior (2017) User Reviews

Not bad, but won't turn you into a fan

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 December 2018]

"Dragon Ball: The Legendary Warrior" is an Argentinean English-language short film that runs slightly over 20 minutes and it is the first effort as writer and director for Esteban Adúriz. For a rookie work, it really isn't bad in my opinion. Of course the film profits a bit in terms of popularity from the hyper-successful franchise mentioned in the title here and I must say that I have always been far more into Pokemon, Studio Ghibli than into Dragon Ball, I prefer the harmless stuff over the fighting etc. so maybe my review and rating are a bit biased because I felt it wasn't a bad watch overall and also the fight sequences especially looked visually decent like the rest of the movie too, but the story never dragged me in really that much. I found it a bit surprising that actually a female character was at the center of the story here next to others, which was a pretty interesting creative decision. Also maybe because of my lack of knowledge about the franchise, it did not feel too much of a DB film to me, could have worked as a standalone movie too with some slight alterations I believe, but maybe like I wrote that is just my lack of knowledge about Dragon Ball talking here. There isn't too much spoken language in this one, it is more about sounds and music, maybe it has to do with the filmmaker not being North American I don't know, but you could almost say that even as somebody who understand no or almost no English, it is possible to watch the film without everything being lost in translation. But I still would say that you shouldn't really because it is not that good. I am baffled by the high rating here. Only go for it if you really adore Dragon Ball. I watched a considerably shorter live action film at under 10 minutes a while ago and did not like that one either, so perhaps it's just me, but the statement to only watch it if you like or better love DB should not surprise anybody here. Chances are low you come across this one and consider seeing it without knowing about Goku, Piccolo etc. I mean even I do without being a big follower at all. Thumbs down as a whole. Not recommended