Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F Review

Kamehame-huh?

Directed by: Tadayoshi Yamamuro

Starring: Masako Nozawa, Ryō Horikawa & Ryūsei Nakao

Rating: 12

Price: £24.99 (Blu-ray), £19.99 (DVD)

Number of Discs: 1

Running Time: 94 minutes

 

Although we cover films at RulaVine, there’s more to Dan and I besides. When we’re not busy reviewing the latest releases or recounting old favourites, one of my favourite things to do is make a cup of tea and settle down with some anime (Japanese animation). They may be different mediums, but every now and then they come together to create something exciting. Last year, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F was released in cinemas in the UK. It was planned for a limited run, but due to fan demand, the film stayed on our screens a month longer and has recently received a single-day release in 3D. Now the fight has arrived on Blu-ray and DVD… but was it worth the wait?

 

For those who haven’t heard of DBZ, Resurrection F is set after the original series and the film Battle of Gods. Lord Frieza - an alien warlord and the most iconic villain in the series - is resurrected using Earth’s Dragon Balls (seven magical orbs from which the series got its name) and declares revenge on the Saiyan Goku. Trouble is, Frieza has been dead for years and Goku’s become stronger since they last fought, so he decides to train for the first time in his life before returning to Earth. Six months later, Goku’s friends are warned of the danger and race to meet it head on. But Goku himself is nowhere to be seen - in typical fashion, he’s training off-planet with rival Vegeta. Their friends Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien and Master Roshi are forced to deal with Frieza’s army until Goku and Vegeta come. When they do, Frieza enters the battle eager to test his new-found power.

 

At first glance, Resurrection F has a lot going for it from a fan’s perspective: a signature villain, a script by series creator Akira Toriyama and the distinction of being an official part of the Dragon Ball storyline. Despite all this, I found it disappointing from both a fan’s point of view and a filmgoer’s. Part of the problem is that Toriyama-san isn’t a screenwriter, but a manga artist. He created the series as a manga (comic) and treated the film as if he was writing a new chapter in the manga. This is good news for fans, but not for newcomers - they’re launched straight into the action without the time to get into the world. The cast are given the barest of introductions and past events related to Frieza’s return are barely covered. And there’s a lot of ground to cover. If you’ve never heard of a Super Saiyan, or you don’t know who Trunks is, this isn’t the place to find out.

 

Another problem the film suffers from is pacing. DBZ is famous for its battle scenes and epic transformations, but infamous for moving along at a snail’s pace. Resurrection F has the opposite problem: it’s too fast. It’s a given with the change of format from a twenty-minute series to ninety-minute film, but still the story moves too quickly for us to relish the journey. There’s no build-up, no character development and plot elements are either forgotten or put into effect with little to no impact. The worst example is the absence of Majin Buu; a former villain from the anime series. In the film, Frieza refers to Buu as “one of two warriors in the universe he was never to challenge.” Buu is alive and well when Frieza returns, but doesn’t make an appearance. The heroes neither explain nor acknowledge it. It’s a problem that could’ve easily been fixed with a line of dialogue, but sadly goes unchecked in both the Japanese and English cuts of the film.

 

The pacing even affects the fights and transformations DBZ is famous for. Toriyama-san promised the fans bigger, longer battles - and for all intents and purposes, he delivers. Goku’s friends are pitted against a thousand alien warriors and Goku himself spends a long time locking horns (or beams) with Frieza. The fights start thirty minutes in and span the rest of the film. True to form, they’re all fast and intense combining real-life martial arts with trademark energy blasts. The fights are brilliantly made, but run for so long the rest of the film suffers - the climax in particular. Goku and Vegeta unleash a new transformation called Super Saiyan Blue; it’s impressive, but done quickly and without ceremony. Frieza, on the other hand, reveals a new form of his own and it’s given the build-up and release it deserves. Despite this, once its weakness is revealed, the tension drops completely. It no longer becomes a question of if Goku will win, but how. Sadly, the answer is given in a matter of minutes and the story ends before Vegeta gets a chance to flex his muscles. Goku saves the day and we don't get time to savour it.

 

The film’s visuals and sound fare better. Unlike most animated films today, Resurrection F was made with hand-drawn animation like the DBZ series. Thanks to modern tech and a larger budget, the animation’s stronger than before and the fights more detailed than their TV counterparts.

CGI was used for the backgrounds, and occasionally, for fight scenes. The results are great, but not perfect – sometimes, hand-drawn characters are combined with CGI and the difference is shocking. You can see when the animation shifts back and forth between them. But when they do blend, the effect is stunning. Like most anime releases, Resurrection F includes the original Japanese audio (subtitled) and an English dub. The voices in both are great, but I found myself gravitating towards the dubbed performance of Sean Schemmel and Chris Aryes as Goku and Frieza. Their roles involve a lot of screaming and shouting, and despite the film’s flaws they gave it the best they could.

 

CONCLUSION

Resurrection F was a big deal when it came to cinemas… but even with stunning animation and the creator at its back, it didn't live up to the hype. Frieza should've stayed dead.

SCORE: 2/5