I've managed to wholly avoid the Dragon Ball films up until now, as by the time I got around to watching them the first two had been incorporated into Dragon Ball: Super as a series. Still, either they're not giving Brolly and Superhero the same treatment, or there's a major delay, so I figured I'd give these a go.

Overall, it's the same DB:S content that you'd expect, with a general continuation of the core group's plot lines, even picking up pretty soon after the multiversal tournament that finished the series "proper". Except, well, everything is a little more contrived and much smaller in scope. I'm not quite sure I'd have guessed that I'd be saying this, but the whole film would have been a lot more interesting as a new Saga. Brolly is an interesting character with a fascinating twist on Saiyan power, and the new Frieza Force characters are surprisingly different in their own way, but none of them get enough time to really have an impact. Similarly, whilst I respect the decision to finally have Vegeta and Goku use Fusion, the way they get there is by basically speed-running a battle sequence. I'm also neither convinced that Vegeta having Super Saiyan God form makes any sense (🤷‍♀️) or that he can be this unaware of how Trunks and Goten use Fusion, but it is at least a clear power-up that puts golden Frieza in his place. And yes, he's here too, for reasons that are strained to say the least, but which do provide some shortcuts to get the fight to occur.

Speaking of, the fight is quite remarkable but also a bit ridiculous. Where DB:S hit a bit of an animation sweet-spot for me, this is too extreme, too over-the-top. The mixture of 3D CGI and more traditional animation isn't helping, either, especially with physics sims this blocky and outdated; it looks like an old videogame at times, which is just jarring. Outside of the fight, though, the animation is almost too good, with a fluidity to the characters that a TV budget likely wouldn't stretch to. I'm not complaining about that, but it is a bit funny when you're so used to a specific style 😅

If they ever do turn this into a proper Saga, I think I'll come back to it. Brolly deserves more fleshing out, and it would be nice for the Fusion form to be a secret from Frieza for now. Still, an entertaining fight nonetheless.