Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

I honestly didn't know whether to cry with joy or smile like an idiot the whole time, so I did both. The master's legacy will always live on. I didn't expect such a genuinely funny Dragon Ball movie, and I'm not talking about the usual gags thrown in just to kill time or fill the screen. The comedy actually works, and it feels like the characters are having fun rather than simply following a checklist of jokes. It's a shame that the pacing suddenly speeds up so much towards the end. I would've liked the movie to slow down a little and spend more time focusing on the Gammas, because I really enjoyed what it was doing with them. Still, an incredibly fun Dragon Ball movie and a beautiful reminder of what Toriyama's work meant to so many people.

A classic short and sweet Dragonball story, and one that manages to stay better put together than most others. It has an interesting choice in artstyle, its got good character focus (even though as a standalone film you might get a little lost if you arent already familiar with them), and all in all a great Dragonball experience in a new coat of paint. Solid film from a series I love to hate, and I am not ashamed of my bias towards the Gohan and Piccolo pairing when it kicks this much ass. I urge anyone who's a fan of the series to watch it, although the general consensus is that the story comes off as bland to some. To me the plot is just servicable enough to work, and it follows a good chunk of the classic clichés... for better or worse.

The story, for someone that is following the series for a long long time, is partly on a good side, can't deny that. But, story is kinda going fastlane and everything is happening instantaneously. The animation on the other hand, is on the bad side. I'm not sure if it's hige or low budget, but the CGI style is like watching an ultimate technique from anime video games. Not your typical anime CGI. All and all, for anyone who follows Dragon Ball, at the end I recommend whatching it. It'll be a waste if you watched everything and skipped this.

SUMMARY:You need to see it to form your own opinion. I will be very hard with this movie, it really seemed very bad to me, bad rhythm, I did not take affection to any of the new characters, many nonsenses happen, everything is solved with power ups taken from the ass, the characters seem to have lost all their neurons , the only good thing that I can really highlight would be the animation, despite the fact that at times it doesn't look quite right, it becomes comparable to 2D animation and is very nice, and the final fight wasn't too bad. RESUMEN:Tienes que verla para formar tu opinion. Sere muy duro con esta película, realmente me pareció muy mala, mal ritmo, no le tome cariño a ninguno de los nuevos personajes, ocurren muchos sin sentidos, todo se resuelve con power ups sacados del culo, los personajes parecen haber perdido todas sus neuronas, lo unico bueno que realmente puedo destacar sería la animación, a pesar de que en algunos momentos no se ve del todo bien, llega a ser equiparable con la animación 2D y resulta muy agradable, además la pelea final no estuvo tan mal.

Non spoiler REVIEW! Just a few hours ago i was at the premier of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero together with my friends and it was great! Story & Characters: I think the story was really solid. This is my first DB film (I just finished the Cell Saga; have watched the original as well) and now fully hyped went to see it. Maybe if i had watched 2 or 3 movies prior i would appreciate the 'exclusion' of Goku and Vegeta more, but even as it is I think it was refreshing from the way the anime is. Finally seeing Piccolo get some screen time and have a major role, unlike in the anime, was cool. Now I am back to loving him. Imagine if they could do something like that for Yamucha and Tien as well. Nevermind that, the transformation Piccolo underwent was very cool. The story revolving around the RR army and characters of that affiliation was a good trip down memory lane as the RRA arc was one of my favorite from the original. It is sort of the Arlong Park of DB for me. The antags were decent, but not the best. I enjoyed the screen time the two androids got and how their plot line concluded, but I think the staff really should have done better with Cell Max's design. It was a recolored version of the original. Not that Piccolo's was much much different, but it felt significant in a way and that's what makes the difference between the two. Animation & Music: The animation, surprisingly, was very good. I would give it an 8/10 if i had to use a score-based system. The colors were crisp and beautiful. The 3D didn't stick out in a bad way, just the opposite - it enhanced the action and choreography. The music made a bunch of moments special and got me shivered once or twice throughout. For me it was a success in both animation and music. Fights: Probably the most important thing here - they were decent... or more like good. Yes, good describes them well. I was so relieved that things didn't end with just the two androids and that the final battle wasn't resolved in a single hit. The movements and direction were on point. Overall, they were enjoyable and got me engaged. Thoughts & Final Score: My final score is around 8.5/10. The film was very good, not too long, not too short. Had nice references to past DB arcs and was very viewer friendly. My two friends have never watched DB before, but the exposition spread throughout the show made the story coherent and they were not just thrown in the deep. Animation was great, fights and soundtrack as well. In conclusion, if you have some time to spare, this will be a good watch. I don't think everybody will automatically be a fan of the movie, but it has its highs and is at the very least enjoyable!

After their smash hit Dragon Ball Super: Broly in 2018, a follow-up was eagerly expected, if not downright begged for by the Dragon Ball community. Eager to see how the main trio of Goku, Vegeta, and Broly’s stories might continue, a sequel in either movie or show form seemed inevitable. However, come 2021 when details for the film began to be released, it seemed not to be quite what the community expected. Rather than continue Broly’s story of its three protagonists, Super Hero was primed to seemingly focus on a small-scale matter in an entirely CGI animated film, lacking the fan-loved animation and story of Broly. As such, expectations were certainly mixed, but as more press material was released, I personally grew more and more excited. Couple that with some spoilers I heard, and my expectations were pretty high to at least enjoy the movie when it came out. With all that in mind, did it manage to live up to the hype? In my opinion, yes. To begin with an area of immense discourse; the animation. CGI in anime is certainly an…unpopular method, but the methods and utility definitely show their worth even still, making it a general (if reluctant) mainstay of the genre to be used. However, Super Hero is entirely animated in CGI, being quite a different experience than the brief and often jarring cuts of it, being something finely honed instead. As such, the final product of Super Hero looks quite phenomenal, with clean models and fast-paced, enjoyable action that makes most other anime’s attempts at CGI look laughable in comparison. Something I frequently find myself forgetting but being reminded of every time I see a Dragon Ball piece of media is just how enjoyable the franchise's cast is. With great designs and wonderful personalities set after decades of growth, it’s a blast to catch up with everyone again and see how they interact with the new characters and experiences thrown their way. Equally linked is the film's comedy; as with Broly, Super Hero has both its serious moments and is generally light-hearted with many moments of comedy throughout that lighten up the action. It’s highly enjoyable and really makes the experience better than any fully serious and dull action could ever do for the film. Really that was what I found most appealing about Super Hero more than anything; just how fun it was. Throughout I had a big smile plastered on my face, I had moments of hype, moments of laughter, and just generally had an awesome time seeing it. It’s Dragon Ball at its best (in my opinion) when separate from any other factors; watching it just makes you enjoy yourself and get caught up in the flow of the moment. Unfortunately, Super Hero isn’t all pleasant times, and there are certainly a few issues to be had, even with its mindless fun. For one, particularly compared to Broly, the main story just isn’t quite as compelling or finely crafted. It isn’t abhorrent by any means, but it’s clearly nothing more than a device to pit characters against one another rather than having a greater idea to tell on its own. Again, not particularly terrible by any means, just not quite as notable as its predecessor. Another issue I found was in the movie’s pacing, which notably stumbled a bit, mostly early on. The movie has no qualms about starting slow and getting fast once it does, which is perfectly valid. However, near the beginning, it seems to both want to go and wait at once, with multiple odd surges of action that die down into more subdued times, as well as odd diversions to other locations or goals that feel rather out of place to throw where they were placed. Once it gets going later, the pacing is quite good, but early on it's notably odd and jolting. With all I’ve said about it, I feel that Super Hero warrants a proper comparison to Broly, to weigh exactly how they stand. While there are many points that can be compared or contrasted that go to one film or the other, I feel it's more useful to actually observe what both movies are trying to do, as I find them quite different experiences that aim to be exactly that. Broly was certainly more dramatic with a superior plot and higher-feeling stakes, but that’s not entirely to Super Hero’s discredit. Super Hero felt clearly poised to be exactly the light-hearted, character-driven, humorous down-to-earth action film it ended up being, and for that, I can’t really fault it much. In summation, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was quite a wonderful experience, bringing the kind of fun and bombastic experience to the table that we expected with some truly phenomenal animation and hilarity throughout. While it was perhaps lacking in some plot and had some odd pacing choices, I think the movie didn’t really aim to be that dramatic and climactic experience, wanting to be a more down-to-earth and light-hearted experience, and in that, I found it utterly succeeded in a dominant fashion. Grade - A