30 Years Of Dragon Ball Movie 3

[Robo4900]

I'm a few days late, but whatever...

As of Monday, Dragon Ball movie 3 released 30 years ago. I've always been more of a fan of movie 2, but 3 certainly has its place with its odd version of events, interesting melding of many story elements that the last two movies hadn't covered, its weird unique elements, its beautiful designs and art, and its generally fun nature.

So, let's all take some time to appreciate this fun piece of Dragon Ball history. Perhaps, as to my knowledge these haven't had 30-year threads of their own pop up, we can briefly discuss movies 1 and 2 aswell, since the three do tie together to form a neat trilogy that kind of sums up everything great about the pre-Piccolo arcs of Dragon Ball, something I've always appreciated about them.

[TheGreatness25]

Ah, the Mystical Adventure movie... I'll be honest: It was my least favorite of the bunch. I've seen the first two movie so many times on VHS, that I could probably recite every piece of the dub dialog. So clearly, there's a bias there. Then, Path to Power was my first Dragon Ball DVD that I've ever bought and I watched that thing like a million times too. Unfortunately, Mystical Adventure escapes my nostalgia radar, as I got it much later in life and probably watched it twice.

BUT... I can appreciate its take on the whole Crane Hermit, Tenshinhan, Chaozu story. And yes, even you, Tao Pai Pai. I've heard a lot of people say that it was weird how it warped the story, but every DB movie warped the story, so I wasn't really bothered by it.

[Gaffer Tape]

While I slightly prefer Movie 2 (and Movie 1 was just pretty bad), I can't deny that Movie 3 was by far the most impressive effort of the DB film trilogy. In terms of adaptations, Movie 2 got off easy by taking a very small part of the story and expanding it. Movie 1 had the task of condensing the entire first arc, and, unfortunately, it came across as very rushed and sloppy, with characters being introduced almost at random, and character motivations not making much sense. But Movie 3. Oh, Movie 3. It managed to adapt three whole story arcs and barely break a sweat, and that's because it handled things so creatively. Nary a shit was to be given as to how the story was supposed to go. They just threw all the elements in, found a story that managed to encompass all of them, and made that story. It was not perfect. The Karin section felt a little rushed, for example, and his lesson came across a little too easily. But the fact that it managed to deliver such a different but still undeniably Dragon Ball story makes it so good and makes me so disappointed that the Z movies opted for the "pluck the characters out of the main story and don't think about it too much" approach. I would have loved to have seen the film franchise carry on the story from the first three films.

[ABED]

DB movie 2 doesn't feel like DB. It feels like a mish-mash of DB and a horror movie. Movie 1 feels rushed, but it's still fun, though it does feel like a mish mash of Miyazaki and DB. The nature moral at the end is very un-Dragon Ball.

3's by far my favorite because it feels the most like DB. It does a great job of condensing a lot of stories and characters. I do think it could've benefited from a slightly longer run time, but it does an admirable job of integrating so many arcs.

[KBABZ]

The nature moral at the end is very un-Dragon Ball.

I felt like the topic was handled more deftly with the Red Ribbon Arc having it as a sub-theme.

[WittyUsername]

My favorite Dragon Ball movie is still DBZ movie 13, but DB movie 3 did an admirable job of condensing the arcs it covered.

[ABED]

The nature moral at the end is very un-Dragon Ball.

I felt like the topic was handled more deftly with the Red Ribbon Arc having it as a sub-theme.

I don't recall that theme in the Red Ribbon Army arc.

[KBABZ]

The nature moral at the end is very un-Dragon Ball.

I felt like the topic was handled more deftly with the Red Ribbon Arc having it as a sub-theme.

I don't recall that theme in the Red Ribbon Army arc.

There was a lot of focus in some of the Colonel Silver filler that the RRA kinda double as eco-terrorists, bulldozing and burning down the forest in search of their Dragon Ball and giving zero fucks about its effects. It wasn't ever directly discussed but it was used in the "With a Burning Heart" recap montage at the end of the arc as one of the reasons why the audience should hate them.

[ABED]

I felt like the topic was handled more deftly with the Red Ribbon Arc having it as a sub-theme.

I don't recall that theme in the Red Ribbon Army arc.

There was a lot of focus in some of the Colonel Silver filler that the RRA kinda double as eco-terrorists, bulldozing and burning down the forest in search of their Dragon Ball and giving zero fucks about its effects. It wasn't ever directly discussed but it was used in the "With a Burning Heart" recap montage at the end of the arc as one of the reasons why the audience should hate them.

I remember that, but that was filler. I guess I should've written "it's very un-Toriyama" to be more specific.

Off topic, but when I read "With a burning heart", I thought of the song from Rocky IV.

[KBABZ]

I don't recall that theme in the Red Ribbon Army arc.

There was a lot of focus in some of the Colonel Silver filler that the RRA kinda double as eco-terrorists, bulldozing and burning down the forest in search of their Dragon Ball and giving zero fucks about its effects. It wasn't ever directly discussed but it was used in the "With a Burning Heart" recap montage at the end of the arc as one of the reasons why the audience should hate them.

I remember that, but that was filler. I guess I should've written "it's very un-Toriyama" to be more specific.

I felt it worked as a passive plotline. I haven't seen the entirety of Movie 1 but even the ending feels a bit weird when I saw that bit.