Okay, I've seen the movie in jolly old London and here are some scattered thoughts:
- I enjoyed the exploration of how the change in leadership with regards to the Saiyan race had small but significant shift to the personality of King Vegeta. He was already a man that was overflowing with pride and sense of superiority among his race, that seeing a nobody -- from his point of view -- could have a latent power far beyond his own son, despite his son being born from a royal bloodline. King Vegeta was a very insecure person, and Broly's high battle power at such a young age lead to that horrible green-eyed monster being born within him. Paragus calling him out on his decision to exile Broly because of his high battle power being fueled by resentment toward Paragus' son having more potential than King Vegeta served a good platform. Speaking of Paragus...
- I really enjoyed Paragus in the film. I liked that the more overt approach to his desire for revenge against King Vegeta for condemning his son to basically a fate worse than death. At the same time, he displayed a level of ruthlessness that as subtle reminder of innate Saiyan instinstic, as well as his desire to survive. No scene captures this better than when it was made clear that Paragus, Beets and Broly would be stranded on an isolated planet with limited supplies and Paragus kills Beets in cold blood to makes sure himself and his some have enough provisions to survive. It's cold hearted, but at the same time sympathetic and even justifiable, given the dire situation and how much effort Paragus had put into finding and saving his son. At the same time, he's fully aware of how his son can fly off the handle and lose himself in battle, so he makes sure the rule with an iron first -- with the aid of a shock collar -- to protect himself, domesticate Broly, and in the faint hope he has a chance for revenge, ensure Broly is a manageable vehicle for his vengeance.
-- With how Paragus was stranded on a remote planet for decades, with seemingly no hope for rescue or escape, his more jaded and authoritarian approach to parenting is made all the more tragic. Paragus is a man who was driven by vengeance based on the envy towards his son from those in a higher social standing. And when the opportunity for revenge -- even by proxy -- appeared, he had no issues with displaying a stricter and harsher hand in dealing with his son so that all the years he waited for this opportunity wouldn't be nothing. Yet when he realized that his son may be killed in combat against Vegeta, he wanted to save him. then following Broly's transformation into Super Saiyan, it became clear that King Vegeta had some justification in exling Broly. Paragus really is in that grey area of being a character who you can sympathise with, but at the same time question his decision making.
- I hate Dragon Ball Minus and the inclusion of that in the movie did nothing but pad out the run time. It really was out of place in a movie centred around Broly and Paragus' personal conflict with King Vegeta to have the origin story of Goku. I can only imagine that was thrown into movie to garner a nostalgia pop for Bardock and have that famous of his fight back against Freeza. But there's not build up to that moment, at least from Bardock's perspective. I mean, he assumes (correctly) that Freeza is planning something sinister against the Saiyan's.
-- But the movie doesn't do anything with that beyond having that memorable moment of him trying in vain to prevent Freeza's Death Ball killing all the Saiyans. To matters even more confusing, in the moment where Bardock attempts to stop Freeza from destroying Planet Vegeta, Bardock's armour is damaged quite badly, implying that some of the events of the 1990 Toei TV special happened. So it's like the movie wanted have its cake and eat it too with regards to Bardock's perspective in the story. I tried to two thing at once with the inclusion of elements of Minus and of the 1990 TV special, but the result was an uneven, undercooked subplot that adds nothing to the story.
- Broly is a wonderfully nuanced character. He exuberates n Tarzan like characteristic that makes him endearing. His transformations are still based upon intense emotion, but they're derived from more compassionate areas, while also not straying away from his carnal and innate instincts as a Saiyan. His love and respect for his father serving as a vehicle for most of Broly actions provides a nice dynamic between Paragus and Broly. Broly has some understanding that how his father has been treating him isn't appropriate, but still respects and care him greatly. Broly's anger leading into his transformation into a Super Saiyan following his Paragus' death serves as a palpable encapsulation of broly's feeling towards his father: genuine love and concern for his well-being.
- Broly in this movie serves a more of a parallel for how Goku may have turned out if he never met Bulma or any other person growing up and kept himself isolated in the areas of Mount Paozu. He's a child trapped in a man's body. Whose limited contact with life beyond his father and wild animals has led to him being socially inept. It's also led to him falling back on his immense strength as a defence mechanism and default response to situations that may appear hostile or are just so foreign to him that he's incapable of deciding how to react to it, so he instinctively fall back on his Saiyan nature of mindless fighting. Outside of combat, Broly, for the brief moments it's shown, is quite a docile and even friendly Saiyan who just needed a better environment to grow up in. I do find it quite disappointing that in the last 40 minutes of the film, Broly pretty much because this
- Cheelai and Lemo with work well as foils to Broly. It was rare to see a non-combatant character play such an instrumental role in the plot of Dragon Ball movies, but I enjoyed their scene time. Cheelai and Lemo provided so nice character analysis for Broly, as well as forming a bond with him that felt earnest. Lemo had a bit of "I'm getting too old for this" vibe to him that I dug a lot. Cheelai as well was very abrasive and somewhat confrontational, but it never got too over the top.
- Freeza was excellent in the movie... for the most part. He fit the role of magnificent bastard wonderfully in the movie. Him manipulating Broly -- to point of killing Paragus to hopefully get an emotional rise from Broly and have his power surge like Goku did when he killed Krillin -- and using him in general as a vehicle for his revenge serviced his cunning and diabolical traits excellently. He thankfully has some laser-guided karma dealt to him with Broly beating the shit out of him for an hour. Which I would have wanted to have seen more of in the movie. But just how Goku and Vegeta’s battle with Broly smoothly and hilariously transitions into Freeza having to fight Broly was enough to satisfy me, with regards to Freeza getting physical with Broly. That being said...
- Freeza’s wish was dumb. Very dumb. Even as a meta joke to whole "5 minutes" scenario back on Namek. The lampshade hanging provided in the movie about the circumstances of the wish save that wish from being a major negative against the movie. But given how this motivation is what spearheads Freeza’s involvement in the movie and ultimately serves as the indirect reason for Broly’s survival by the end of the movie, this is a blemish against Freeza’s character that can’t be ignored. It's bad character writing for the sake of a gag. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Super has done this to a few character already in both the anime and manga under Toriyama's supervision, so it's sadly par for the course.
- There really wasn’t much to speak of about Goku and Vegeta in the movie. They were pretty vanilla in terms of characterisation. I did enjoy Goku and Vegeta’s keen observations of Broly abilities in combat, and Goku extra observation of Broly personality.
- This has been mentioned a million times, but the animation, direction and storyboarding are exceptional. The best animated scene in the movie was without a doubt Goku fighting Broly in and ice mountain area. It’s a shame that the CGI stuck out. It’s not as out of place as it was in Battle Of Gods or Resurrection F, but it’s still quite noticeable.
- This movie treated Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue with more weight in battle than in any other occasion the forms have been featured in since their introductions in Battle Of Gods and Resurrection F. I mean, Goku’s transformation into Super Saiyan Blue in this movie was better than his transformation into the form in the movie that Super Saiyan Blue debuted in.
- Bulma, Whis and Beerus really felt extended cameos in the films as opposed to being actual parts of the supporting cast. They really brought nothing to the story of any interest.
- Sumitomo provided his best work by leaps and bounds. His score for the movie was fantastic.
- Thematically speaking, the movie is quite undeveloped and conflicted with itself. Ultimately, the movie wants to have the audience feel pity for Broly having to fight in circumstances where it's clear he doesn't want to. But at the same time, the movie wants the audience to relish in Goku and Vegeta fusing to fight back against Broly, and having Gogeta beat the shit out of Broly. The movie wants to have it both ways, but it simply can't. Or, in actuality, it doesn't spend enough time providing a real
grey and gray morality to make the opposing sides involvement in the conflict ambiguous enough. This leads to a real lack of any catharsis or satisfaction in the climactic battle with Goku, Vegeta and Broly that doesn't feel superficial. I don't get any personal gratification from Gogeta smacking around Broly despite the film building up to that moment.
- I'm happy that Broly didn't bite the dust as it gives him more room for development. I just hope that future stories utilize him well and this isn't a one-and-done kind of deal with Broly. They've got a good going with him right now that it would be a huge waste to not do anything with him beyond this movie.
9/10
though Yamoshi's legend still remains. We need a Yamoshi movie (preferably not involving time travel or the current cast)
Cheelai was pretty damn awesome and made me pissed that they decided to merch Raditz and Nappa who appeared for like 3 seconds! 
