DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO movie review

DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO (hereafter simply referred to as “SUPER HERO) is directed by Tetsuro Kodama. The English dub features the voices of Kyle Hebert, Sean Schemmel, Robert McCollum, Chris Sabat, Johnny Yong Bosch, Monica Rial, Sonny Strait, Eric Vale, Kara Edwards, Jeannie Tirado, Zach Aguilar, Aleks Le, Zeno Robinson, Charles Martinet, Dameon Clarke, and Jason Marnocha.

Years ago, Son Goku decimated the evil Red Ribbon Army, and years later, fought their Androids. But the Army lived on under the guidance of a pharmaceutical company controlled by Magenta, the son of late Red Ribbon leader Commander Red. With his own plans for world domination, he recruits the eccentric Dr. Hedo, the grandson of former Red Ribbon Army scientist Dr. Gero, with Magenta offering funding to Hedo’s experiments under the false pretenses that Capsule Corp and the heroes who’ve saved the world numerous times are actually extraterrestrial villains wanting to take it over. With Vegeta and Goku training on another world, it’s up to Piccolo and Gohan, the latter of whom being horribly out of practice due to his career, to rise to the occasion and battle a new group of villains. But the reformed Red Ribbon Army has several other weapons at their secret base. Will our heroes be up for the challenge?

SUPER HERO is the fourth DRAGON BALL SUPER movie (even though the first two, later adapted into the series proper, were initially released under the DRAGON BALL Z moniker) and the twenty-first overall theatrical movie release in the DRAGON BALL franchise as a whole (not including TV specials/OVAs/etc.) The DRAGON BALL franchise has been in existence in its original manga form since 1984, and with movies that have more direct involvement from series creator Akira Toriyama, it’s still going strong (older films were non-canon “side stories” created by Toei Animation which had little or no involvement from Toriyama himself) the more reason options have been some of the best in years. It’s the first DRAGON BALL movie since BROLY was released a few years ago, and while SUPER HERO doesn’t quite top the previous effort, it’s another fantastic effort that brings the action, characters, and humor long associated with the franchise to the forefront, with only minor shortcomings.

Perhaps the best thing about SUPER HERO is that it changes the emphasis of its characters, removing Goku and Vegeta from the central plot (of course, doing so in a rather humorous way). This allows fan favorites Gohan and Piccolo to take center stage; something they haven’t been able to do in a long time. It means the movie feels far less like a retread of anything before, and the new villainous characters are quite entertaining; we even get SUPER MARIO BROS. voice actor Charles Martinet voicing Magenta, the new Red Ribbon leader! The movie rides the balance between action and humor well, and the dub script and voice cast are more than up to snuff; despite my old reservations regarding FUNimation’s dubs of the show due to the inaccurate transactions, they’ve really picked up their game ever since dubbing DRAGON BALL KAI.

The DRAGON BALL franchise is entertaining, but can be a challenge to get into due to its cumulative nature and everything building on everything else. SUPER HERO tries to remedy this somewhat by offering a lengthy prologue describing the past dealings of our heroes with the Red Ribbon Army, giving some much-needed backstory for new fans and a recap for the veterans. Despite this, though, it’s still the long-time fans of the series familiar with our heroes who’ll get the most enjoyment. One major surprise (albeit a welcome one) is that the first portion of the movie largely focuses exclusively on the villains, building them up and making them more interesting than the one-dimensional antagonists of some of the older films.

Where SUPER HERO succeeds greatest is that it doesn’t feel like it’s a retread of any earlier DRAGON BALL movie. The art style is more heavily manga-influenced and there’s more of an emphasis on CGI, though it complements the 2D work here instead of distracting from it as it did in some other more recent DRAGON BALL animation. The villains are unique and have an interesting story that ties into the series at large. In particular, the “Gamma” Androids are some of the most entertaining characters to enter the series in quite some time. The only place the movie really falls flat is its big final fight which involves a slightly less interesting “musclehead” villain that feels dragged out. But this is a small price to pay to reunite with these fan-favorite characters is one of their most interesting adventures in quite some time.

SUPER HERO is DRAGON BALL at its most entertaining. While not necessarily a great “jumping on” point for new fans, the veterans of the franchise who’ve loved it for years should be especially entertained with what they find here, with just enough surprises to keep their interest while largely sticking to a tried-and-true formula. Fans won’t be let down by this latest DRAGON BALL movie. Highly recommended!