Special English Theatrical Dubbed Release/Seen: August 2015
Dragon Ball Z is back again… again with another new feature length movie. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F has some references and characters from last year’s Battle of Gods but stands on its as it features the return of Frieza. Which really makes it that DBZ is not just back again but is thriving with a major happening going on. This is the ultimate evil, back in full and more powerful than ever!! Justifiably the movie about his return and revenge does justice to the old sagas of old and feels like something creator Akira Toriyama himself dreamt up in his glory days.
All the legendary Z-fighters feature in this film. From Goku (Sean Schemmel) to Vegeta and Piccolo (Chris Sabat), Tien, Gohan, Master Roshi, and more the original cast returns again and delivers a wonderful and lively set of performances. Whether it’s in intensity or through the film dub there are many greatly written humorous moments where they bring coolness/charm.
But of course what would this movie be without Frieza (Chris Ayres). From the second he appears on screen he is vile and evil as ever and perhaps even more so. Frieza comes to Earth more powerful than ever and with his complete legions in tow, and it makes the situation that much more dire for it and his menacing promises. He always one of the legendary villains and its great to see him again in fullest despicable form. His revenge and invasion of Earth plot (never fully seen in the anime series) gives the film a much darker slant than most in the DBZ repertoire.
The other great use of classic characters is between Goku and Vegeta. They have a lot of great jokes as they train under Lord Beerus and Whis in far space; but what the movie really has as a central theme is their rivalry and arguably their love-hate bromance. On his own Goku is awesome and Vegeta is too, but this movie brings them together in a way that hasn’t been present in a while.
The other Z-fighters and minor characters also get more developed screen time in a incredible sequence which, without giving too much away, involves massive scales of action as Frieza invades. These are also some of the movie’s best parts. Of note here is newcomer (to the anime at least) Jaco the Galactic Patrolman who appears in deep Dragonball lore. Even this newcomer’s action is so good it feels like he’s always been there.
The action and dark stakes are great and animated beautifully while in 2D. Weirdly however this film has brought the new addition of large uses CGI animation to the DBZ franchise. At times it is seamless and aids the action but other times its questionable. Its inclusion is one of the film’s drawbacks. The other is that unlike Battle of the Gods this one is not so easily “pickup” to a non-fan as there is a lot of references to the Frieza saga and later ones of the anime. But if hasn’t seen those, then they likely aren’t watching this movie at all.
This movie takes the DBZ formula and brings it to cinema scale in the finest and awesome form. For a fan it’s a must see and is in the top best of the franchise, and if one somehow thought the last film was too humorous this brings a top notch deeper level of drama , character development, and action. That’s 8.9 kamehameha’s out of 10.
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