This may be my favorite of the DBZ feature films so far!

Sure, it may fall into the formula of "taking elements from the TV series and re-using them", that so many of the other feature films did, but one thing I especially like is how this film goes out of its way to insert itself directly into the timeline of the main series. I believe this is actually the first of the Dragon Ball films where I can place exactly which episodes it takes place in-between... having characters where they should be and plot elements lining up so precisely. This actually got me more invested in the story than any of the films before this have.

Not to mention the impeccable art design here, with fantastic use of color, some really impressive animation, and gorgeous looking background art. The character design is also very much on point, with Akira Toriyama providing designs for Bojack and believe his henchmen, as well.

The highlight of the film has got to be when we get to see more of SSJ2 Gohan kicking ass. And, I mean, sure, it's mostly just a re-hash of what we saw from this transformation in the Cell Saga, but as one of the coolest transformations in all of DBZ, it's great to see it in the level of animation quality that a feature film budget provides.

Highly recommended.

Most folks will probably be disappointed with this due to the fact that it comes right after the first Broly film. But if you can look past all that you really should enjoy this one. Think of this as "What if Gohan actually became the main character of DBZ?" like it was originally intended. Complete with blatant references to his all time high moments against Perfect Cell. The big bad's henchmen are ok, unfortunately they don't show any personalities and honestly no dynamic between them and Bojack. I will give them points though for actually being smart enough to attack the hero all at the same time. Bojack while he's a on the dull side when it comes to personality, had incredibly entertaining and brutal fight scenes, had me wishing everybody fought like him. If I'm being honest I felt his transformation was shoehorned in, he didn't even have to be pushed to transformed, it comes out of nowhere in my opinion.

One little detail that I like is the fact that despite being non-canon, an event from the actual series put the story of this film in motion. It almost gives it the feel of being a canon film due to the fact that it takes place during the 7 year time skip. I gotta give this movie some props for a few moments of gore that it has, while they aren't explicit they can still be unexpected. I also think it goes really well with the "Passing of the Torch" theme that the DBZ series had around this time.

Once again Piccolo is only here to save Gohan and then proceed to get thrashed by the villain, same goes with Vegeta in this case. I also thought it was a wasted opportunity that there was no sword fight between Trunks and the henchmen that had a sword. Goku saving Gohan was a gigantic Deus Ex Machina and in my opinion it would've been better if Gohan got out of the predicament without his father's help to show how much he's grown.