Last night I attended the premiere of Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F in my local movie theater. I could have in fact had the movie reviewed last week, since Funimation was kind enough to send me a screener, but I held off. I wanted to savor the next feature-length DBZ movie for the big screen. Having missed Battle of the Gods in movie theaters, I couldn't pass up another opportunity to see Goku and the gang on the big screen (not counting the horrid Evolution of course). Surprisingly, the theater was packed enough that they had to open a second one just to accomodate all of the attendees. And these weren't kids mind you. These were adults my age. Adults who watched DBZ every afternoon after they got out of middle/high school.
Battle of the Gods was the first resurgence of Akira Toriyama after many years, making a movie that wasn't just a side story that didn't make sense within the show's episode structure, unlike the previous 13 DBZ movies. This was a story that showed fans what life was like for the Z crew after the Buu Saga. It was also a movie that didn't take itself quite too seriously, which was certainly for the better, and yet introduced a likeable villain who would actually come to be a mainstay. Resurrection F continues the canon, taking place after the events of Battle of the Gods, but this time tries to resonate more with those who wanted the movie to feel a lot more like the show.
*Note: I will be delving into very slight spoilers for the remainder of the review*
Resurrection F, like the title implies, sees the return of what is easily DBZ's most iconic villain, Frieza. It's been a while since fans have seen Frieza in action and the movie does a fantastic job at reminding us what a ruthless and vile being he is right from his resurrection. He immediately kills one of his men to simply test out his power, and dispatches more who dare to disagree with his motives of revenge. It's a glorious entrance scene.
Immediately after this, the crowd is introduced to a character named Jaco, an intergalactic patrolman. Even die-hard Dragon Ball fans might not know who this character is, since he only appeared in a spin-off manga that tied to Dragon Ball in 2013. This was further supported by all the "Who the heck is that?" and "I don't recognize that character" remarks I heard in seats around me. Needless to say he's a pretty hilarious character and by the time the credits rolled, I was really glad Akira tied him into this story.
Resurrection F also does an absolutely fantastic job at including a lot of other past characters in the action. When Frieza first arrives and Goku and Vegeta aren't there to stop him, we get an awesome scene of Tien, Master Roshi, Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo and Jaco taking on thousands of Frieza's henchmen. That's right, even Master Roshi gets in on the action and holds his own.
Speaking of the fight scenes, they are by far the best I've seen in this franchise yet. DBZ is one of those shows that relies on insanely fast action, often resulting in animating characters with repeating fast animations as they try to hit each other, or even simply teleporting across the sky, implying that they're too powerful and fast for the human eye to see. Like Battle of the Gods, but dare I say better, Resurrection F slows it down a bit, really showing each and every hit, dodge and blast. We're no longer mortals looking upon Gods fighting, we've ascended and are now part of the action. Some CG was used in certain parts of the fights, but it complemented the action perfectly, and never detracted from the visuals of the show.
The balance of comedy with the action felt slightly off this time around, unlike Battle of the Gods. The previous movie's premise was goofy to begin with; A god with a penchant for human delicacies decides to spare Earth as long as we supply him a steady stream of goodies with Vegeta playing the secondary comic relief, ensuring his satisfaction. With Frieza's return, it just seemed slightly more serious, and yet the jokes kept coming even in-between the climactic showdown between Goku and Frieza. I am happy to say though that Vegeta does get some good time to shine in this movie.
Oddly enough though, I think I might have prefered this movie to play out over a course of a standard anime run of 12 episodes. I'm simply more of a fan of exposition. I would have loved to see the training of our main characters, especially those who have been out of commission for like 20 years. Or even seeing Frieza conquer worlds to get stronger. The first act reveals a key power by a particular character that when you see it, you know they're simply showing it to you because it will be crucial to winning the fight. Had this been spread out over a bunch of episodes, I might have forgotten about this power, making one of Frieza's ultimate moves devastatingly heartbreaking. However, as soon as it happened, I was unaffected, because I knew it could be fixed instantly.
I was a bit letdown with the introduction of the new Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form. Visually, I think it works. I definitely didn't hate the blue hair, I mean, where else were they going to go after red. I just wanted to see Goku attain that form through his fight with Frieza. Instead, Goku simply powers up and changes into this Godly blue form, simply stating that he attained a form higher than that of a Super Saiyan God. Frieza's new form, Golden Frieza is a bit easier to swallow, as he had six months of training pent up with pure rage and a craving for revenge.
Despite my minor gripes though, Resurrection F was simply fantastic. Sure the pacing with too many jokes can be a bit jarring, but the action more than makes up for it. Seeing past DBZ characters join the fray made me really happy as well, though I would have enjoyed seeing Goten and Trunks fuse it up and try to take on Frieza as well. Chances are, if you're a DBZ fan, you were in the theaters along with me at the opening last night.
