Post
by Onikage725 » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:01 pm
Hm, so now that I've seen it... man was it awesome!
Mainly because I was with a large group and we got to lampoon it.
(I'm short on time, so this post may lack cohesion. But given what I'm critiquing, that seems about fair).
One of my friends is a HUGE Yamucha fan, so he seemed to be in physical pain when said character was introduced. When Yamucha was using power tools to carve through the rock, I leaned to him and said "that's the power of his wolf fang drill." At least it got a smile out of him.
When Goku was down for the count and Muten began to power up:
Me: Summon all your life force! (Dragonstrike reference from when the cleric heals the mage).
*When Goku cuts into the dream world with Gohan*
My friend (same from above): I didn't know we were watching Twilight...
Me: With great power comes...never mind.
Piccolo: You ARE Ozaru.
Me: That's not true! That's impossible!
Anyway, yeah- fun with a group. The film itself really didn't make any sense though. I mean, if it was like 20-30 minutes longer with a little back story and some more Piccolo screen time (much love to my boy in green and my man JM), I'd probably accept it as a silly "laugh with your friends" B Movie (like Guyver/Mutronics). And I am kinda hoping that the sequal comes out something more equivalent to Guyver II: Dark Hero in comparison to it's predecessor.
My personal biggest WTF moments:
1. Promethean orb?
2. Mai. Nothing new here, but I just didn't see the point (save for having a chick fight, but the main one was just Chi Chi vs Chi Chi).
3. Bulma mistaking Goku for Mai. I get that she didn't get a good look, but her yelling that Goku took her Dragon Ball followed by a goofy shot of Mai's face as she jetpacks away just elicited a facepalm from me.
4. The romances.
5. The whole tournament subplot just felt tacked on. In the middle of their quest, they stumble upon the training grounds. Later, when things look grim, we randomly cut to Mai vs Chi Chi at the tournament. Then Chi Chi is at the temple to flirt with Goku. It just jumped around a bit with little real transition.
6. The climax. It seems like they realized they were low on time, skipped an act or two, and jumped right to the end.
7. The Ozaru subplot. I didn't get it. It seems that the Nameks as a group are held responsible for causing destruction, but then Muten explains that it was Piccolo and "Ozaru." They say that Piccolo was sealed, but not what happened to Ozaru. How he was even sealed is a mystery, since he easily escapes the Mafuba when Muten tries it by himself, and he presumably had Ozaru to back him up the first time. Piccolo says this was 2000 years ago, and that Goku crashed "in a metoer" 18 years ago. The Dragon Balls are tied to the eclipse, but is this also tied to Piccolo's release and Goku's birthday? Did Mai free him? That'd be cool since it'd be the single similarity with her source material. But none of this is really clear. Also, after Muten tells Goku the story of how Piccolo and Ozaru messed things up and were defeated, Goku strides up to Piccolo claiming that he will defeat Ozaru. Why does he think Piccolo has another Ozaru? Does he think it was sealed with him and just laying low? Why boast that you're going to wreck the villain's sidekick?
8. Yamucha. Just in general. And, hell, why not give him a pet cat? I'm not even asking for the damn thing to float, talk, or shapeshift. And the notion that Yamucha would need a gun to take out Mai is just silly to my fanboy senses. Why was he blonde, again?
9. Out of order, but the high school stuff. It was brief, but it still sucked. I just watched Transformers again. If Bay can somehow not nauseate me with "prerequisite" high school elements and a blink and you missed it romance, then anyone else really ought to be able to.
10. The last fight sucking. Really. The opening training sequence, brawl with Fuller's goons, and skirmish with Muten were all more exciting than the climatic throwdown.
Things I liked.
1. Piccolo. I feel bad. It seems like every now and then he would show up to add some presence, then just cut back to the corniness.
2. Piccolo's carrier. I loved the design.
3. Gohan, I admit, I liked. And we spend more time with him here than we do in the series (well, alive anyway).
5. Some Muten stuff. Him having to rifle through everything in his mess of a house to find a misplaced precious artifact was completely in-character. Also his making Goku travel on foot weighted down was a nice homage, I thought.
6. I liked Chi Chi, aside from the romantic angle.
7. Bulma not being a total bitch wasn't bad. I'm really not a fan of early-mid Bulma (I'll admit some of this is the dub's fault).
8. The Fulum assassins, in concept. The effects for their regeneration were cheesy and the fight was way too brief. But they seemed like something more out of YYH than DB, which honestly isn't a problem for me.
9. The last blow of the fight with Piccolo. Not satisfying enough due to the generic obscuring flash of light, but it was a decent nod to the end of the battle with Daimao.
10. Ozaru, I thought, was ok. It's place in the story was complete rubbish, but the visual effect worked for me. And I can see where turning the movie into King Kong for five minutes would have ruined what was passing for the flow of the plot.
One last note- I used to say Chatku reminded me more of Buu-era Gohan than Goku. Watching the flick, he kinda reminds me of Chibi Trunks...
To show my appreciation, I'll only beat them half to death.
