Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods - Movie Review

When I learned that Akira Toriyama wanted to make this film, partially because of a personal vengeance against Dragon Ball Evolution, I knew everything was right in the world. Dragon Ball Z Battle of Gods is a new anime film from series creator Akira Toriyama, the creator of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z manga. This was released simultaneously in theaters across the nation tonight for one time only, and I got to experience it with a packed theater full of people that I completely understand. Now if you guys didn't know, I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z. It really is the first anime that ever made me inspired to watch other animes, because it was one of the first ones that ever broke through to the mainstream and really captivated people in the late 90s. Not just kids, like my dad watched it with me too. It really actually had a lot of effect on people of all different ages. And a lot of times you guys do ask me, Chris, what is your all-time favorite movie? I don't have one, guys. I can't pick a favorite. I can't even pick an order of favorites. That's just not how my brain works. I do, however, have a least favorite movie of all time, and if you didn't know, it is Dragon Ball Evolution, the American remake, the attempt at trying to recreate Dragon Ball Z for American audiences, and all they really did was rape it. I mean, it was horrible. It was awful. Now if I were you and I was not a Dragon Ball Z fan, I would be watching myself right now going, this guy is so biased. He grew up with that thing. Of course he's gonna like it. He's not gonna have any problems with it. He's completely biased. This review isn't even fair. And I understand how you might think that, but let me give you a bit of an analogy. I also grew up watching the original Star Wars trilogy, and I love them, but I also watched the Star Wars prequels, and I experienced those, and I know that they just weren't what most of us wanted them to be. I grew up watching Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, and I do love them, but I also experienced Dragon Ball Evolution, so I know what it's like to experience something Dragon Ball related that's totally shit. So I did go into this film with that air of skepticism, knowing that I have experienced crappy Dragon Ball before, and I have in no way ever hidden my thoughts on it. DBZ Battle of Gods is exactly what I wanted as a fan of Dragon Ball Z, because it combines the best elements of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. It has the really awesome and epic action that was in Dragon Ball Z, but it has the fantastic humor that was ever present in Dragon Ball. And that was something that really surprised me. This is by far the funniest Dragon Ball movie we've had. It really is very funny and clever, and I was laughing throughout the entire film. One of the things I loved was the fact that they actually infused the villain, Beerus, the god of destruction, with humor himself. He wasn't like some evil, epic guy who just went around killing children. He was just somebody who slept for 50 years, woke up, and then thought, what can I do today? Well, I'll just find some planet to flick away into nothingness. But he just goes to Earth looking for food because he loves trying different delicacies. I love that, because that is so Akira Toriyama. He takes a villain that you expect to be a certain way, and then just turns all the cliches on their heads. Another cool thing about Beerus that my very clever fiance actually mentioned is that he looks very inspired by certain Egyptian gods, particularly Anubis and Sekhmet. And he took all of that and made a really cool villain. And a movie is really only as good as its villain, and I really liked Beerus in this film. All the characters live up to the way they were in the original series, but one of the things I loved again was the humor, especially with Vegeta's character. They found such the perfect note to have Vegeta try to be a badass, but he's also kind of become more lighthearted. And he also knows who Beerus is and how powerful he is, and so he's always trying to distract him from destroying the Earth in all these hilarious ways, and I dug it. It was hilarious. But if you're a fan of DBZ, you know that there are certain moments throughout the show that stand out as big moments. You know, those clips on YouTube with tons of views. Vegeta's final flash against Cell. Goku's 20 times Kamehameha against Frieza. You know, these big moments that you want to watch over and over again. This movie has a few of those that I will not spoil for you, and that was something that I really loved, because they understand certain things that fans expect to see, and they deliver it. As for problems that I had with the film, I can tell you this is not a standalone film. If you haven't watched Dragon Ball Z prior to this, or any of the other films, you're going to be lost. This is a film that expects you to know where all the characters are, where they've been, who they're related to, who they're dating, blah blah blah. You can't really just walk into this movie because you won't understand it. Also, there is a side story involving a character that was in Dragon Ball quite often that I won't spoil for you, and I didn't really feel it was necessary to the film. And some might say there wasn't quite enough fighting, even though there was a humongously epic moments of awesomeness with really beautiful animation that was definitely the most stunning animation work I have seen in a Dragon Ball Z film or the series. It's a great combination of hand-drawn animation with digital animation, but I can see a fan who just wants to watch Goku punch things being disappointed by the fact that there isn't a humongous fight until about halfway through the film. I, however, just love these characters so much, and love seeing the tiny nuances between them, and they really did a great job pulling that off. I'm so happy that Akira Toriyama came back, was involved in this project, and announced that he wants to make more. There's going to be more of these coming out, and I can't wait to see them. I'm going to give this film two different ratings. If you are a fan of DBZ, this is an A. I love this movie. You're going to enjoy it. I had a lot of fun with it. If you're a casual viewer of anime, this is more along the lines of a B if you weren't really that into Dragon Ball Z. If you're not into Dragon Ball Z at all, don't even see this movie. Because it's not made for you. It's more made for fans of the show who really wanted something else besides what we got back in 2009. I love this movie, guys, and I hope you do check it out if you're fans. There are a few more showings over the next few days, and I'm sure that Funimation will release the Blu-ray soon. Speaking of Funimation, I would like to announce I've actually become partnered with them. They're sending me some of their anime releases for me to review on this channel and to promote, and I think that is so awesome of them. For one, they recently sent me Psycho Pass Vol. 1 and 2. I'm really interested in seeing this show, and I can't wait to check it out and review it for you guys. They also sent me Dragon Ball Z Season 5. Season 6 is coming out very soon. In fact, it comes out today, August 5th. I'm going to be picking that up soon as well. I hope you guys do check out some of Funimation's releases. They have a lot of great stuff. I am extremely excited to be working with them. I just returned from L.A. like the other day, literally. I slept for like 11 hours. I've been editing my interviews with Sean Bean, Ali Larder, and Morris Chestnut. I'm extremely excited to share those with you guys. Thank you so much for watching, and as always, if you like this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.