ABED wrote:But they do matter. What matters to those characters usually matters to the audience. If victory is important to them, it's important to us.
But victory wasn't important for them as Goku said. So it's not important to us either. Their victory or loss changes next to nothing at all.
Matter to WHOM? And why can't a movie sustain it but an entire TV or manga arc can?
A movie is actively trying to get you out of the house, to a theatre and then to part with your money to see what happens on opening weekend. That is very different from just watching a 20 minute episode on TV. It needs a much more significant hook than what you get normally.
Dragon Ball Super has episodes involving them playing Baseball and Gohan making a Great Saiyaman movie. That can work as part of a series but not a movie for the same reason.
And like I said it worked better for the series because it was a change of pace following directly from two more serious sagas. That's not a movie problem when they are released years apart.
This isn't a superhero story. Marvel and DC stories are about superheroes. They are out to save the day. Goku and his friends aren't. This isn't an apt comparison. Making this comparison makes me think you don't understand the core of DB.
That's besides the point because that's what they constantly do anyway. They were out to save the day when it came to Cell and his threat to destroy Earth, when it came to Buu and him wiping out humanity, with Beerus and him threatening to destroy Earth, with Frieza and him bringing an army with him to cause mayhem, with Black and him wiping out humanity in Trunks' timeline, with this current Tournament where there universe is in danger.
They are always saving the day from evil beings just the same as in superhero movies and superhero movies don't have plots where what happens is inconsequential.
That isn't structure. Structure is how a story is told.
Yeah and it wouldn't have what it takes to be told well when it has a weak beginning and no resolute ending and where the middle would be mostly just action. There's not much in the way of story to even tell.