The wait is over. The highly-praised ‘Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’ movie was released in both Japan and other parts of the world, and now comes the review. There will obviously be spoilers in this article, so beware!
For the beginning, let’s make a quick overview of the plot. Dr. Hedo, the nephew of Dr. Gero who created the first androids in Dragon Ball Z, has been recruited and deceived with the purpose of reviving the Red Ribbon Army. Dr. Hedo creates much more powerful androids than before: Gamma 1, Gamma 2, and the final boss of the movie known as Cell Max. As you’ve already guessed, Cell Max is an improved version of Cell from DBZ.
On the other side, Gohan is too busy studying, while Goku and Vegeta are too busy training on Beerus’ planet along with Broly. Neither of our heroes doesn’t seem prepared for what Dr. Hedo has in store for the world, which is why Piccolo first decides to deal with the new threat all by himself. He takes the dragon balls from Bulma in order to ask Shenron to become stronger. His wish was surprisingly granted. While he can’t inform nor Goku or Vegeta about the new androids, he decides to knock some sense into Gohan.
A superior animation
The implementation of the new CGI animation turned out to be a great idea, as Dragon Ball arguably looked better than ever. It definitely created a much more modern style than any of the older Dragon Ball-related movies. But looks aren’t everything, and you’ll find out immediately why that’s the case for the new movie.
Go home, Cell Max, you’re drunk!
The return of Cell was one of the main reasons people were excited about the movie. But they got nothing more than a completely dull, pathetic, and useless giant creature that does nothing more than to yell, shoot energy waves at everybody, and, well… exist. He has some new colors, though, if anybody cares. Back in DBZ, Cell had a strong personality, and there was also the chemistry between him and the Z warriors. We get nothing of that in the new Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, except that Cell is supposed to be “stronger” now.
Who cares about those power levels when probably not even the writers have any idea about the differences between them anymore, as long as you don’t have a solid background and story for a character?
The new transformations of Gohan and Piccolo – too many colors for almost nothing
Gohan and Piccolo fighting side by side and getting the chance to eliminate the biggest threat is a very nice idea, as in general, Dragon Ball Super had been focusing too much on Goku and Vegeta. But the way the writers implemented that collaboration is not really as welcoming as it should be. Piccolo gets a new transformation thanks to Shenron, and although the design and concept look good, there are some problems here. For a character like Piccolo, who himself created the Dragon Balls, finding out that Shenron can grant him a power boost just by some sort of upgrade, is a little absurd. And why the heck didn’t they add such upgrades to Shenron in the past, such as in the Cell Saga from DBZ, in order to take down other villains?
As for Gohan, what can be said about a transformation appearing out of nowhere and for no reason? That’s just poor writing. Dragon Ball Super seems to adopt more and more a recipe that allows everybody to have a shining, colorful, and “more powerful” new transformation up their sleeves when the situation becomes critical or bad. At this rate, don’t be surprised if Krillin receives a new transformation in the next movie that makes him able to compete with Ultra Instinct Goku.
There is also some good-quality comedy in the movie, such as Bulma asking the dragon to have a bigger butt. But apart from that, the animation and a few fights that looked decent, the new “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” movie is plain bad and overrated.
