Well, I saw it at a movie theater last night in LA. I'll give a short review and a long one.
SHORT: It was an awesome dub...of an OK movie. None of the issues I had with the movie were related to the dub, but rather, with the movie itself. I'd say the movie was about a 7/10...but the phenomenal experience of seeing it in a giant, sold-out theater made it feel like a 10/10!
LONG(ER): Man, what a great time!
Since this wasn't opening night, and the theater I was seeing it in was huge, I was worried that the turnout wouldn't be particularly good. I mean, I figured I wouldn't be the only one there of course, but I thought I'd have plenty of seat options. Well, good thing I arrived 25 minutes early, because by then the majority of seats had already been filled. I'm not joking, there wasn't an empty seat to be seen by the time the movie began. I didn't count the seats, but if I had to take a guess--a
conservative guess, mind you--I'd say there was 130 people. Probably more...as I said, I'm being conservative.
There was a handful of kids, but most of the audience appeared to be my age...mid-to-late 20's. Which I thought was so cool upon further reflection. I mean, think about it...this thing that I started watching when I was 11 still endures to this day! If anything, I think that age demographic is where you'll find most DBZ fans in America nowadays. It almost kind of felt like the
Dragon Ball characters grew up with us, in a weird way.
The pre-show...eh, not necessary, nor a highlight, but not cringe-worthy either. It was fun. Some of those trivia questions towards the end stumped even me (how many planets did Freeza conquer?), and it was fun to see the logical deductions of the voice actors when they weren't sure of an answer. For example, with the, "How many planets did Freeza conquer?"-question, I believe it was Mike McFarland who said, "Well, this is DBZ we're talking about, so I think the highest number is probably the safest bet." Considering how absurdly powerful these characters are, I can't fault him for the logic! I also liked when they asked Sonny Strait what animal Greggory was, and his response was, "I'm going to say 'cricket,' mostly because it's right." The crowd also loved when Monica Rial, upon getting several answers in a row wrong, responded with, "In my defense, I was playing Bulma, and she was drinking throughout most of the last movie."
The audience went crazy when Chris Sabat and Sean Schemmel appeared on screen. I smiled at that.
Then the movie started...the audience, myself included, got into it from the first frame. The whole opening section had some great comedy in it, and the audience laughed hysterically at all the right moments. Jaco went over pretty well, but the moments that got the loudest reactions--both in terms of cheers and in terms of laughter--were Goku and Vegeta's interactions. The chemistry between those characters was great, and it's obvious that Schemmel and Sabat now have an excellent grasp on the relationship between the two.
As for Freeza...............I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I think casting Chris Ayers as Freeza was the greatest casting decision in the history of
Dragon Ball dubs. Talk about a complete and total understanding of the character! Also, some of you will be happy to know, I saw it with a friend who never really got into
Kai because he didn't like that some of the old voices were gone. When I told him Freeza was going to be played by a new voice actor, he sounded hesitant and bummed. But five lines in, he turns to me in the theater and whispered, "Whoa...dude, he is
really good!" I looked back with a smile on my face and whispered "I know, right? He's awesome!"
Like I said, the crowd was really into it throughout the whole thing. If I had to pick one moment that got the biggest reaction, though, it was probably Vegeta's fight with Freeza, and the lead-up to it. As immature as it was, I couldn't help but smile when I heard a guy way in the back, when Vegeta went SSJGSSJ, shout, "F*** HIM UP!!!" Yes, it was completely immature, but the spirit of it was too damn infectious, and between that and what was happening on screen, the crowd just burst out in a thunderous roar of cheers.
Having said that, I'd be lying if I said I liked this movie as much as BoG. BoG broke the DBZ movie formula in so many places, had a lot of character moments, and was full of tension. FnF, by contrast, stuck to the formula, didn't have as many character moments, and the fights began to feel long-winded and without tension at times. It seems like Goku and Vegeta were just toying with Freeza throughout the whole movie, rather than putting up a nerve-wracking fight. They either needed to add more moments of near-loss for Goku and Vegeta, or increase the number of character-oriented scenes. I think BoG was a little light on action, but it came far, far closer to my preferred balance of character moments and action than FnF did.
Now with all that said, I didn't dislike the movie. It just didn't blow me away in a, "I honestly didn't see that coming"-way like BoG did. It's still a good movie, and I'll definitely be getting it when it comes out on video. I think it's fair to say, though, that my theater-going experience had a lot to do with how fun the experience was. As a theater-going experience, it was a 10/10 experience that I'll never forget, but as a movie in and of itself, I'd say it's just a 7/10.
The movie may not have been particularly special, but damn, the theater-going experience sure was. When's the last time any of us went to a movie where the crowd was that into it? Where they were enthusiastically cheering, vocally rooting for the good guys? I for one can only recall one other instance, and it was when I saw the first
Avengers movie. I didn't get to see BoG in theaters due to some unexpected family events that ended up taking my time, but it sounds like it happened there too. I pray that Toei keeps releasing more DBZ movies, if it means I get to do this again. To sit down and enjoy a movie from a franchise I fell in love with at 11 years old, with over 100 people who felt the same way...pretty damn special.
