Recurring villains can work well if done right or if they are memorable in their own way. Sometimes the antagonist is better off just showing up once. For Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z franchise, the show has spawned countless villains who have come and gone. Some more iconic than others. However, the first big baddy to be showcased was lord Frieza. A ruler who ended up sharing a history with the main protagonist on a coincidental account. Once the bout had concluded, many did not consider that perhaps the character of Frieza was just a one off individual, but actually had a few family members undisclosed at the time. The first to be revealed was Cooler in Cooler’s Revenge (1991). And while the character was not the same as Frieza, it was not that big of a difference either. Despite that, the character makes a return here.
Written again by Takao Koyama who adapted many of Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z Mangas to film, this movie continues the story of Cooler going after Goku and his friends again but indirectly. After the Namekian clan started rebuilding on their new home planet, a giant alien mass known as the big geti star engulfs the planet and enslaves the people all over again. Fearing the worst Dende sends Goku (Sean Schemmel), Krillin (Sonny Strait) and Gohan (Stephanie Nadolny) to help find out what’s going on. To their shock, they find out that Cooler (Andrew Chandler) returned this time in a metal form, infused by the big geti star. The direction was also headed by the usual Daisuke Nishio who handled multiple projects from before. However, the issues pointed out before still remain for this entry too.
The idea of Cooler coming back again to exact his revenge (which technically was his first outing in the first movie) is an interesting part two. Just when the Namekian’s seemed like they could be left alone for one stinking moment, they get attacked all over again. Their race just can’t cut a break. Seeing Cooler return in a more intimidating way is also more interesting to see how Goku and friends will be able to defeat him this time. As for timeline continuity, it still takes place sometime in season four of the show but doesn’t make sense with Goku still in the picture seeing he didn’t return until later in season four. There’s always one part that throws the whole line up off for these features.
The voice acting remains spot on for those who partook in the English dub. Sean Schemmel as Goku, Sonny Strait as Krillin and Stephanie Nadolny as Gohan all play their parts well. Chris Sabat even has some roles to play in the movie. Lastly Andrew Chandler returns again as Meta Cooler with more hate in his voice because of how badly he original lost against Goku. The fight sequences are again fun to watch as martial arts always capture the viewers’ attention fairly easily. There’s even some minor comedic bits thrown in that help balance the more serious tone of the entire feature. This goes hand in hand with the animation headed by Minoru Maeda as the animation director. Maeda who also served in this role for every other film prior keeps the scenes well-choreographed.
As for camerawork, believe it or not there was no cinematographer credit to this feature. This is surprising seeing that many of the other features had a credited cinematographer. Maybe this was missed here. Lastly for the musical score, again while Shunsuke Kikuchi was the original composer, Mark Menza was the chosen composer for this feature. And although Menza is not as memorable as Kikuchi, the background music is far more appropriate than the past few films with a mix of hard grunge rock bands. Menza’s music as mentioned before does sound like a precursor to the more popular Bruce Falconer musical score. Either way it’s far better than what was heard before in Cooler’s Revenge (1991). However, Kikuchi’s musical composition should’ve been used from the beginning.
Storyline continuity fits within the setup of the first movie but still doesn’t fit within the series. And while the return of the main villain is cool as is the setup, there’s really not that much difference how things are handled. Still, the animation looks great. The voice acting is on point as always and even the music although not the original score is better than the previous film.
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