Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (1993)

You won't be disappointed!

Touches You

Powerful

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I think this is one of the best Dragonball Z movies and people here seem to agree with me. I think it's because it just has the traditional feeling of the series. The only fault is that the villain isn't that good. He doesn't appear until halfway through the movie! That's weird, given how short the movie is. I still liked this because it really did everything that made the DBZ show so good. I guess I just like the idea of everything being set up as a tournament. It's great to see all these familiar faces back.It really helps being a fan of the show as you recognize all of the great characters. Everyone here acts in character. I like how it's set up, with them talking about Goku dying. Then again, it does say Trunks already beat the Androids so that seems to imply he came back to the present timeline. It doesn't matter, because it's still nice. I especially like when Bulma and Chi Chi are fighting over which of their sons is better! Vegeta is great in this and even though he's not that relevant it's nice to see what he's been up since Goku died. ***

This DragonBall Z movie was rather entertaining, it just suffers the same flaw a lot of the movies do. They generally have all this lead up, a fight with some underlings, and then you have your fight between the two strongest warriors only to be left disappointed in the fact that the fight is very anti-climatic. This one features the DragonBall Z gang in the martial arts tournament, which for some reason in this movie is full of gimmicks. Some entertainment to be found here as I enjoyed the Tien and Trunks fight. Then this tournament goes onto a second phase, here though some rather unruly participants get involved and start causing major trouble. So the fighting begins between the Z fighters and the strange assortment of villains led by Bojak or whatever his name may be in Japan. It has its moments, but it is also a bit of a disappointment when compared to other movies from the series. Like most of the movies you can usually not fit this one into the flow of the regular series all that well, though it fits a bit better than others. It almost works, but then it doesn't, like the fact Trunks supposedly comes back from the future to fight in a pointless tournament other than help rebuild the decimated Earth from his time. This one also features a one note villain who has absolutely no back story whatsoever. Still, some cool fights here and there and you get to see Mr. Satan who is called Hercule in America. Though I guess it may be a negative to some that he is in this.

The ninth DBZ feature film, I really like this one. Everyone stars, albeit it'll be the last time the entire Z-team appears. Hard to find previously, buying it now-a-days is a simple matter with the Funimation re-release. The story is crafted much better than "Super Android 13", which is the double-edition set you'll receive with this film. It actually makes sense (most of the time) and offers better explanations for the villains other than Dr. Gero's henchmen. The fights aren't just beam wars and really offer some new material thank the Lord.My favorite? Other than the ending its simply Trunks vs. Kogu. The setting is beautiful (come to think of it the whole movie has very nicely done locations) and the fight is spectacular. I love how Trunks goes ascended super saiyan (or super saiyan 2nd grade) and ends the brawl with a single punch. Bad-ass!! I also love the brutality of the movie seeing as how everyone is getting kicked in half and having holes punched into their guts. Also, the dialogue is freer, another enjoyable aspect.One ploy that really grinds my gears is the misuse of Vegeta. He doesn't show for like the whole film but out of nowhere gets a bad-ass entrance. You would think he'd kill the weaker guys to the very least, but instead goes straight for Bojack, who even in his base form beats the sh*t out of the Prince. In the show and the manga Vegeta does get the chance to show off, but here its equal to abuse in my opinion. Maybe it's because I'm a hard core fan of Vegeta (especially Super Vegeta). In acknowledgment of that I guess that's why his bad-ass is on the cover of the DVD!! (=])!!Well, the ending is very similar to season six in several ways but I loved it. Gohan quickly kills Bido and Bujin and actually defeats Bojack rather easily. The power of SS2 Gohan is unrivaled apparently. Oh yeah, Goku makes a surprise visit, much to the urk of most viewers., even me. Is it that hard to have a story flow without Goku?Classic DBZ though, see it!!Grade: B +

There's probably a spoiler here. Who knows? People spoil so much more easily than they used to.As a general rule, martial arts films are fairly stupid. Animated martial arts films are, as a general rule, terminally stupid. I will be the first to admit that the Dragonball Z material, which is extensive, isn't the most absolutely stupid, although at times it comes perilously close.Those who are unfamiliar with this subset of the genre, the Dragonball series concerns the dynasty of muscle-bound martial arts superheroes founded by an alien (Seiyan), Goku. He was sent to Earth to destroy it as an infant, but forgot all about it an became the closest thing to Li'l Abner seen in modern anime (he's hugely strong, mild of manner, and innocent to the point of impraticality.You would think the series would actually be about "Dragonballs". Well, it sort of is, occasionally. These little orange balls with stars on them, if collected together, allow the possessor to call up a gigantic magic dragon that will grant a wish. At times where's a lot of plot business connected with rivalry in getting the balls. However, at other times the dragonballs completely disappear. This is one of those times.Instead we get lots of martial arts and of course the other thing associated with Dragonball Z, overabundant and overdone "comic relief" -- which is too self-consciously "comic" and from which there is little relief. A lot of this is provided here by a stock Dragonball character, Hercule. The reader is referred to an other "Hercule", Clouseau's assistant in the early Pink Panther films (and clearly a parody of a third Hercule, namely Poirot). The Panther Hercule is only marginally brighter than Clouseau ... the Dragonball Hercule is more than marginally less bright. Despite the clearly greater martial powers of the Goku dynasty and other fighters, he always manages to retain the title of World Martial Arts Champion through some fluke. For a while, Hercule has no idea he's benefited from other than his own skills, but by the time of the "Bojack" film, he's well aware of his position at the bottom of the totem pole.You won't see much it here, but Dragonball comedy tends to use laughable names for its characters, particularly villains -- such as the perennial Garlic Jr.As is usual with Dragonball, there is a martial arts contest and it turns into a serious threat to the continued existence of Earth. The threat is then dealt with (with lots of cliffhangers) by a member of the Goku dynasty. (By the way, nobody ever explains how the continued mating of the Goku dynasty members with Earth people fails to produce weaker and weaker offspring. If anything, this genetic dilution seems to produce stronger results. On the other hand, expecting things in this series to make any real sense in the real universe is very, very foolish.The "Bojack" film is fairly harmless and will no doubt fascinate kiddies whose educational prospects are limited. Nevertheless, I urge you not to buy this turkey. The reason is simple: it is preceded by 2 blatant and obnoxious commercials that can't be bypassed. If you want to watch the film, you have to watch the commercials.Shades, we hope, NOT of things to come.