What are your top 10 favorite DB films, TV specials and OVAs?

[Marlowe89]

Glad we have a thread for this. I have a weird fascination with the Dragon Ball movies, despite thinking that almost three quarters of them range from vomit-inducing at worst to just barely above average at best. I don't know why the hell I do it, but my guilty pleasure is marathoning every single one of them about once a year.

Now that I've seen Broly, here's how I'd rank all 20 movies from favorite to least-favorite (using Funi's title names for convenience, because why not?) excluding the specials and OVAs since I'm not as interested in grouping them here:

Essential Dragon Ball

1. Broly (9.5/10)
2. Battle of Gods (9/10)
3. The Path to Power (8/10)
4. Resurrection 'F' (7.5/10)
5. Fusion Reborn (7/10)

The best of the best. Broly hits all the high notes for me. The Path to Power is also a great film; I love how it combines some of Goku's first adventures into a self-contained, surprisingly focused story with multiple character threads that effectively weave back into its central premise (i.e. "the wish"). Despite its shortcomings, Resurrection 'F' is an entertaining action-comedy piece that brilliantly plays on the psychology and character flaws of Goku, Vegeta and Freeza while adding all sorts of fun, uniquely Toriyama-flavored interactions throughout. I'm oversimplifying a bit: I enjoy my top five for a myriad of reasons. None are without issue, but I find they encapsulate the spirit of Dragon Ball the most.

The Classics

6. Wrath of the Dragon (7/10)
7. Dead Zone (7/10)
8. Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (6.5/10)
9. Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (6.5/10)
10. The Tree of Might (6/10)

To be clear, these are largely an acquired taste. I don't think any of them are all that great as stand-alones - and despite its ambitious storytelling, even Wrath of the Dragon suffers from its share of problems - but they were easily among some of the best movies available before the franchise's revival. They're still enthralling romps for the initiated, and all have their own unique charm and atmosphere. Definitely worth checking out if you're a diehard, although I should note that they're often about as un-Toriyama as you can get.

Good Ideas, Subpar Execution

11. The World's Strongest (5.5/10)
12. Cooler's Revenge (5/10)
13. Mystical Adventure (5/10)
14. Bojack Unbound (4.5/10)
15. Curse of the Blood Rubies (4/10)

Skippable. Mystical Adventure is a bloated mess and crams far too much superfluous nonsense in a relatively short runtime (Arale's role is shoehorned, a lot of scenes feel like filler, the ending is rushed and disjointed) so it lacks focus and doesn't flow coherently at all. Bojack Unbound has some cool setpieces but hardly attempts to tell a story with them; there's so much useless fanservice that doesn't connect with the main dilemma, especially the tournament fights at the start, and Satan's excessive gag cutaways overstay their welcome very quickly. These movies honestly don't have much going for them, although their strong points do make them worth revisiting on occasion.

Downright Bad

16. The Return of Cooler (3/10)
17. Super Android 13 (2/10)
18. Lord Slug (1.5/10)
19. Broly - Second Coming (1.5/10)
20. Bio-Broly (1/10)

The worst of the worst. Look, the less I have to say about these, the better. The Return of Cooler does utilize the dynamic between Goku and Vegeta in interesting ways, but falters just about everywhere else. The others only get worse from there. I wouldn't quite give any of them a 0/10 - even the near-universally panned Broly sequels have a thing or two to enjoy - but the bottom five are unquestionably the most painful to get through. Proceed with caution.

Even now, my opinions on the movies haven't changed much from my first experience with them as a kid. Most of the old titles are mainly there for plotless spectacle and visual appeal, and very few are structured like a proper theatrical story. I'd say only my top three are absolute must-sees for anyone mildly enthusiastic about Dragon Ball, and even then, I'm not sure I'd ever recommend them to people unfamiliar with the franchise. Your mileage will vary depending on what you look for, but if nothing else, there's a reasonable amount of variety if you can temper your expectations.

So long, Koyama, and thanks for the silliness.

[Dbzfan94]

1. Fusion Reborn
2. Bojack Unbound
3. Broly Legendary Super Saiyan
4. Dead Zone
5. Wrath of the Dragon

Those are my absolute top 5. I love these movies a lot.

Worlds Strongest, Path to Power, Mystical Adventure, Tree of Might History of Trunks, Bardock the Father of Goku, the 08 special, Cooler's Revenge and Broly Second Coming are all really enjoyable too.

I put Battle of Gods here because I'm not a fan of the movie itself at all, but the character interactions save it for me.

Return of Cooler, Bio Broly, Lord Slug, and Super 13 and arent good but they're not awful either. Theres enough I like in those movies to warrant a rewatch every now and again.

I dont think I've seen Curse of the Blood Rubies and Sleeping Princess since I was a child so it'd be unfair to rank those.

Resurrection F is the worst by far. If I could give that movie a 0/10 I would.

Havent seen DBS Broly and have no plans to see it.

[Lord Beerus]

Having watched DBS Broly (twice, and in both English and Japanese) and given my definitive thoughts on the whole film, it's creeped into my Top 3 list of Dragon Ball films, TV specials and OVA's list. The placement of a few other films have also changed places upon further reflection:

1. Future Trunks TV special
2. Bardock TV special
3. Dragon Ball Super Broly
4. Battle Of Gods
5. Wrath Of The Dragon
6. Fusion Reborn
7. The World's Strongest
8. Mystical Great Adventure
9. The Legendary Super Saiyan
10. Bojack Unbound

[PacificOceanDub]

1. Dead Zone
2. Cooler’s Revenge
3. Lord Slug
4. Bardock The Father of Goku
5. Battle of Gods
6. Fusion Reborn
7. Bojack Unbound
8. History of Trunks
9. A Hero’s Legacy
10. Tree of Might

[orangebrick94]

1-The Worlds Strongest
2-Tree of Might
3-Lord Slug
4-battle of Gods
5-Bardock Father of Goku
6-Dead Zone
7-Broly Legendary Super Saiyan
8-Path to Power
9-History of Trunks
10-Coolers Revenge

[WittyUsername]

1. Bardock special
2. Trunks special
3. DBZ Movie 13
4. DBZ Movie 12
5. Battle of Gods
6. DB Movie 2
7. DBZ Movie 2
8. DBZ Movie 8
9. DB Movie 4
10. Either DBZ Movie 8 or the new one. I’m currently conflicted in regards to which one I prefer. The new one has superior animation, but I kind of preferred how dark and twisted Broly’s original backstory was.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

After some extra thoughts, here's my new ranking of them:

#1 - Trunks Special (10/10)
#2 - Battle of Gods (10/10)
#3 - Bardock Special (10/10)
#4 - Wrath of the Dragon (10/10)
#5 - Path to Power (8.5/10)
#6 - Broly (8.5/10)
#7 - Dead Zone (7/10)
#8 - Fusion Reborn (7/10)
#9 - World's Strongest (7/10)
#10 - Legendary Super Saiyan Broly (5.5/10)

[TenshinFan]

I'm the only one in this whole thread with Movie 7- Android 13 in the Top Ten. I can understand why it's no one else's no1 but I wouldve thought it would pop up in at least one persons list! Shame!

[Rubens]

I haven't watched Broli's movie yet, so for now I won't include it.

1. Battle of Gods
2. Bardock, father of Goku
3. Wrath of the Dragon
4. Fusion Reborn
5. Goku and his Friends Return
6. Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan
7. The Dead Zone
8. History of Trunks
9. The Tree of Might
10. Cooler's Revenge

[emperior]

1. Bardock: Father of Goku
2. History of Trunks
3. Broly
4. Battle of Gods
5. Wrath of the Dragon
6. Resurrection F
7. Fusion Reborn
8. Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return!
9. Cooler’s revenge
10. Dead Zone

I haven’t watched many of the movies in a while, so the list may change. Although I have recently watched the two TV specials and the latest Broly movie, and in the last few months I rewatched the 2008 OVA, BoG and RoF.
If I end up rewatching some movies, I may change the list but for now I am quite sure about it going off my memory of the movies. There’s no Path to Power because I always found it as a boring and worse retelling than the original manga and animated version, with the only thing saving it being the incredible animation.

[Kokonoe]

Still need to watch Wrath of the Dragon which I'll do later today.

Favorites:
1. History of Trunks
2. The World's Strongest
3. Fusion Reborn
4. Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
5. Super Android 13
6. Super: Broly
7. Episode of Bardock

Terrible:
1. Battle of the Gods
2. OVA
3. Bio-Broly

[OmegaRockman]

I can see my order fluctuating a bit (other than my number 1, that is), but here goes:

1. Battle of Gods
2. Bardock TV Special (I'm a little biased because of my dub)
3. DBS: Broly (I'm still riding that high, so this may change)
4. Z Movie 5
5. Heya! Son Goku (Again, a little biased because of my dub)
6. Z Movie 1
7. Z Movie 3
8. Trunks TV Special
9. Resurrection F
10. Path to Power

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
Sleeping Princess
Mystical Adventure
Z Movie 13
Z Movie 12
Z Movie 9
Z Movie 8

[PFM18]

1. Broly (9.5/10)
2. Battle of Gods (9/10)
3. The Path to Power (8/10)
4. Resurrection 'F' (7.5/10)
5. Fusion Reborn (7/10)

Wow. I was going to come in this thread and post the SAME list in the same order with basically the same ratings. I MIGHT swap RoF and Fusion Reborn, but even then I'm not sure I would even do that. It's really kind of weird because I usually disagree with you. Path to Power is so damn good and everyone forgets about it.(including me sometimes.)

[Jackal puFF]

I love lists.

1. Broly
2. Battle of Gods
3. Path To Power
4. Tree of Might
5. Fusion Reborn
6. Resurrection F
7. Bojack Unbound
8. Broly Movie 8
9. Super Android 13
10. Bardock

It's really hard to figure out which movies are good after seeing Broly. Dragon ball has truly come a long way.

[Quantum-Kakarrotto]

1. Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
2. Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest
3. Dragon Ball Z: DeadZone
4. Dragon Ball Super: Broly
5. Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and his Friends Return!
6. Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
7. Dragon Ball: Path to Power
8. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
9. Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
10. Dragon Ball Z: Tree of Might

(Honorable Mentions)
- Dragon Ball Z: Bardock Special
- Dragon Ball Z: History of Trunks
- Dragon Ball GT: Goku Jr. Special
- Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans

My list may fluctuate later, but right now this is my list.

[The Time Traveller]

• 10. Wrath of the Dragon

Probably the first Dragon Ball movie I ever saw, I downloaded the movie in like 6+ parts, it was VHS quality, had those shitty yellow subtitles and the opening pulled me in, it was so exciting and Tapion reminded me of Link and I loved Ocarina of Time as a kid.

• 9. Return my Gohan!

A classic, you got some goofy Gohan hijinks, Kami getting into a fight, and the Dead Zone. I got a new TV just before Christmas and this was the first blu-ray I played on it, it must have rocked it so hard that the TV just broke and everything turned green and impossible to see the moment the movie ended, thanks Panasonic!

• 8. Bardock: Father of Kakarrot

• 7. Goku and Friends Return

• 6. The World's Strongest

• 5. Battle of Gods

• 4. Magical Adventure

One of the first movies I saw and I still enjoy it's setting and repurposing of existing characters, it's like the characters are acting in a play, I love it.

• 3. Fusion Reborn

• 2. Path to Ultimate Power

This movie is sweet, cute, fun and dramatic, everything Dragon Ball needs in a film adaptation, Dragon Ball Evolution could have been THIS... it had my favourite Dragon Ball movie score until recently. And as much as a lot of people don't like GT this movie is a part of it with Goku's design, the year it came out and the ending theme! I actually wished they kept Dragon Ball going as a movie franchise after this one, imagine if after GT we got a second movie based on the Tenkaichi Budokai plus Piccolo Daimao arcs, then the Saiyan arc, then Freeza, Cell, Boo... would have rocked.

• 1. BROLY!

I've only seen it twice but it's still great, probably the best Dragon Ball movie full stop. And again, like GT some people don't like Super the same, and this is the best part of Super, Broly reimagined, Gogeta reimagined, some of my favourite things from other DB movies reimagined and repurposed, either coincidentally or just out of convenience.

[ruler9871]

1. DBS Broly
2. Battle of Gods
3. The History of Trunks
4. Fusion Reborn
5. Bardock the Father of Goku
6. Dead Zone
7. Path to Power
8. Wraith of the Dragon
9. Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan
10. Cooler's Revenge

[Tylerman29]

1. DBS Broly
2. Battle of Gods
3. Fusion Reborn
4 .History of Trunks
5. Dead Zone
6. Path to Power
7. Cooler's Revenge
8. Bojack Unbound
9. Resurrection F
10. Return of Cooler

[Akira]

Hrmm, my top ten favorites huh? Okay, let's see here..

1. DBZ Movie 1 The Dead Zone (Second Dragonball Movie I ever saw, and still my favorite as it carries over a lot of End of DB era stuff.)
2. DB Movie 2 Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (First DB movie I saw, and I love it for being unique and having a lot of Krillin/Goku training stuff)
3. DBZ TV Special 1 Bardock Story (I love this special, it is so original and introduces a story unlike anything seen in the series)
4. DBZ Movie 14 Battle of Gods (Introduced Beerus, Whis, and the multiverse, great fight, plus Goku didn't default win, but had to give up to live)
5. DBZ OVA The Return of Son Goku and his Friends (Felt like a "lost episode" and gave us our first taste of the time period that Super would be in)
6. DBZ Movie 2 The World's Strongest (Mostly unique story, and had some cool Roshi combat, plus the fights were great and the henchmen cool)
7. DBZ Movie 5 Cooler's Revenge (I always liked the plot and characters in this one, felt like it could be shoehorned into story somehow)
8. DBZ Movie 9 Bojack (Liked the tournament stuff at the beginning, and the only other appearance of Kid Gohan fighting as Super Saiyan 2)
9. DBZ Movie 12 Rebirth of Fusion (this quirky movie has so much silly, over the top moments, but I can't help but enjoy it for this)
10. DBZ Movie 15 Resurrection of Freeza (I know it isn't a popular choice, but I really liked this one too. The training with Whis stuff was great)

[MasenkoHA]

1. Return my Gohan
2. Super Broly
3. Battle of the Gods
4.History of Trunks
5. Path to Ultimate Power
6.The World’s Strongest Guy
7.Legend of Shenron
8.Bardock: Father of Goku
9. The rebirth of Fusion
10. Mystical Adventure