The Critical Frog: Dragon Ball Z- Resurrection "F"

While my main priorities as a critic are film and the occasional cartoon, there will always be a soft spot in me for Anime. There's just something enthralling about how much Japanese culture can indirectly affect American ideals. Probably in no way is this idea shown better than in popular anime series such as Dragon Ball Z.

While the original Dragon Ball was great, it's the sequel anime we all remember. And why wouldn't we? The characters are memorable, the fighting scenes are legendary, and the plot is straightforward without having to rely too much on fan service or demand. The show has had so much impact on our culture that even people who aren't familiar with it understand the basic concepts. Everyone knows who Goku is,and how to do a Kamehameha- they're burned into every person's brain at some point or another. Dragon Ball Z has had such an impact that it continues making stories and films to this day- and they're only getting better.

The last film, Battle of Gods, signaled a new leap for the series: the fights were better, the comedy was more focused, and even the new characters earned a welcome spot in the team (God of Destruction Beerus may be my favorite character, despite not being in the series for very long). So when the newest DBZ film hit the big screen for limited release, promising the return of the old and loved villain Frieza,  you can bet your dragonballs that I hunted down a theater to show it.

In an interview with Akira Toriyama (one of the gods of manga/anime and the creator of DBZ), he said that the power levels of certain characters could be measured on a simple scale of 1 to 15.
Son Goku at his current strength would be a 6, and that the God of Destruction would be a solid 10 while his teacher hangs at the perfect 15 mark.

If you applied this scale to the Dragon Ball Z films, we could put the first film featuring Broly (AKA Anime Hulk) at 6, Battle of Gods at 10 (being the best so far in my opinion), and Resurrection F would be somewhere around the 8-9 mark.
This definitely isn't saying that Resurrection F is bad at all. Quite the opposite: it's close to the best DBZ film out there. A lot of this comes from the antagonist: the big F-Man himself.

I'm just gonna come out and say it: Chris Ayres, the current voice of Frieza, is freaking AMAZING. He delivers the voice of Frieza with a regal yet pompous attitude, and captures the calm demeanor that later explodes into massive rage perfectly. I'd even go as far as to say that I like the new voice better than the original. And hearing Ayres in his prime portraying a newly revived and peeved Frieza on the big screen is an experience in itself.

The basic plot of the film is quite simple, as it's quite similar to the other DBZ films: Main character Son Goku and his friends/allies are minding their own business when a powerful evil force arrives on the planet and threatens to tear it apart, In this case it's the revived Frieza, back from hell with a vengeance. Quickly ambushing the heroes, who fight off Frieza's army in a fight scene. Afterwards, Frieza himself decides to attack, and it's up to rivals Goku and Vegeta to send him back.

While Battle of Gods of course reigns supreme for me, Resurrection F delivers the typical epic fight scenes that we've come to expect from DBZ laced with a tinge of Toriyama humor. While the comedy suffers some drawbacks (Why is there so little Beerus?), and the scenes where CGI is used flop a bit, the fighting is wonderful as always. My personal favorite is the beginning fight with Frieza's soldiers, where lots of the original characters finally get to show their fighting prowess again (Beefcake Roshi makes a welcomed return). Again, despite the silliness of some scenes (Out of place CGI is out of place), Resurrection F boasts some good humor, great fights and some fun cameos (Hi Kaiserneko!). It may not be my favorite DBZ movie, but it gets the job done.

OVERALL RATING: 8/10
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(That's all the time we have for this episode. Join us next time for Frog to finish 1/10th of one sentence in classic DBZ style!)

The Critical Frog Announcement: Updating

Just a quick heads-up: with school coming up and needing to think about college and work, I may not have as much time to write. I'll do the best I can, but no promises.