As for what I think? Super: Broly is better. Like... way better. There's just such a massive difference in quality. BoG does a great job introducing Beerus into the mythos and his quest in finding the Super Saiyan God is interesting enough, but goddamn, the second he arrives on Earth the story just stops. I really loved the movie the first few times I watched it, but the moment I realised that the story of the story hit pause in favour of gag scenes, it automatically felt like they were padding out the film just to hit a feature-length runtime. Gag scenes should complement a narrative, not take centre-stage and run the whole thing. It goes on like this until Buu eats all the pudding and Beerus gets mad. It's made even worse in the extended edition.
Once the film goes back to being about the Super Saiyan God and having Goku become one, I was finally engaged again. The fight that follows is also really damn good. I love Goku's whole dissatisfaction with the form because he wasn't able to achieve it on his own. The conversation between him and Beerus during the fight was also great. The film also ends in a satisfying way. Goku admitting defeat to Beerus is one of my favourite scenes in the entire franchise. It hearkens back to Muten Roshi's lesson all the way back in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai; there will always be someone better than you out there. It's a great Dragon Ball film, it's just that middle part, man. Way too much padding.
Now, Broly? Broly does things that I never thought I would see in Dragon Ball. Let's get the obvious out of the way first. It looks waaay better than BoG. Everything from direction, storyboarding, character designs, artwork, animation and backgrounds absolutely put BoG to shame. It is the best looking Dragon Ball thing ever. I've seen some people say that the film is lacking in story but I totally disagree. Super: Broly is a character piece about, well, Broly. He is the protagonist of the film. Goku and Vegeta's whole origins that play out in the first act in the film served to build up Broly's story. Vegeta's very existence was what caused Broly to be exiled to Vampa. Goku's origins showed that the tiniest bit of affection shown from Bardock completely changed the direction of Goku's life for the better, compared to the vengeance shown from Paragus that changed the life of his son Broly for the worse. When the two of them meet, you know that they're both good Saiyans at heart, it's just their circumstances that have made them different. You could tell that Broly had an affect on Goku through him saying his Saiyan name "Kakarot" at the end. Goku realised that there was a Saiyan like him out there, which meant that not all Saiyans were scumbags and that his heritage was worth embracing. It's that subtle type of storytelling that I haven't seen from this series in a while. If this was any other shounen anime they would've dramatised the fuck outta it.
I never once felt during the film that they were padding things out. Every scene served a purpose to the narrative. Even Freeza's whole wish to grow taller was the reason behind why Goku, Vegeta and Broly all met in the film. Some have argued that the long action scenes completely throw the narrative to the side, but that can't be further away from the truth. The fights slowly show Broly descending into madness and the end-goal isn't to defeat him but is rather a fight to save his soul. You learn so much about Broly prior to the big fight. His abuse from Paragus, his friendship with Bah and the fact that he'll still abide to his father even after everything because he's the only person he's truly known his whole life. That scene where Broly is terrified just at the sight of the shock remote from Paragus is one of the most heartbreaking moments I've ever seen from this series.
The movie made a subtle parallel between Broly and the big green dog monsters on Vampa that I really liked. At the start of the film where Beets and Paragus are exploring Vampa (fantastic scene btw) they encounter those monsters and they're portrayed as huge, terrifying green beasts that feast on those bug creatures. But later on in Freeza's ship, you learn that Broly befriended one of these monsters and they turned out to be really sweet. Toriyama was making the point that Broly is just like the green doggo monsters. He had to survive on Vampa eating the bug creatures just like them. There's even a moment where Broly's completely lost it and he's slowly rising out of the ground, surrounded by green aura and he has red eyes, just like the monsters on Vampa. I looove stuff like that. Broly's a terrified little child deep down and you just want to see him get through all of this. I loved this rendition of Broly and I want to see more of him. Such a fantastic film.
To me, Super: Broly is significantly better. Battle of Gods just doesn't have any of that subtle storytelling that I mentioned above. I don't feel emotionally attached to the film's plot and characters. Half of the movie felt like something with an actual story and the other half felt like "Hey! Remember these guys? It's been a while, yeah? Let's just dick around for like 30 minutes cause it's been so long." And while that stuff is fun to watch as a big fan of this series and its characters, it just doesn't work in the grand scheme of the film's story. I'm really interested to see what other people think, though.
Poor Resurrection 'F', though. I see so many people shitting on that movie now. I still like you.
