Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly (1994) Review:

How many times can villains come back from being dead? Apparently many times. This isn’t uncommon at all. Look at all the famous horror icons throughout the years where they were declared officially gone, only to come back for another round. Well it seems as though, this isn’t just for American cinema as it also happens in the anime industry too. Broly as a misunderstood and brainwashed villain from his first introduction gave an interesting depth and more lore exploration for the ever growing universe that Akira Toriyama had created. Obviously he was popular enough where he was brought back for another entry, although with less than impressive explanations. From what it looks like, that wasn’t enough for fans or producers either and decided to make one more entry for this enormous roided out Saiyan.

The story for this entry is after Mr. Satan (Chris Rager) “wins” his world martial arts tournament on a technicality with Android 18 (Meredith McCoy), Mr. Satan is confronted by an old rival named Lord Jaguar (Bill Townsley). In order to show Mr. Satan how much better he is now, he used science to create bio-engineered warriors. What isn’t know is that one of the townsfolk from the prior film had joined forces with Lord Jaguar with a DNA sample of Broly’s dead body to recreate Broly as a biowarrior. Goten (Kara Edwards) and Trunks (Laura Bailey) who also tagged along catch wind of this and help 18 and Mr. Satan keeping the biowarriors from taking over. The script for this entry was written by Takao Koyama who has been the go to person for these films.

For director Yoshihiro Ueda, although he hasn’t directed too many of the features, they still have worked on the series. There’s one glaring issue with this feature and that is the story. There really isn’t one, this is just another reason to get the original legendary super saiyan back in another film. Viewers aren’t going to care why Lord Jaguar doesn’t like Mr. Satan. That’s just the way it is, mostly. Surprisingly, the one thing writing does accomplish here is much better continuity from the show and the prior weaker film entry. For one, the townsfolk who felt pointless in the past movie now have a connection to this one and for a reason. The other is, one could practically place this film’s events right in between when Mr. Satan wins against 18 before the real terror Majin Buu appears.

Normally, these movies have either a character that doesn’t belong or takes place at a time where it would disrupt the shows current set of events that are unfolding. Now why the others couldn’t accomplish this, who knows. The acting is well performed as usual. Chris Rager as Mr. Satan is possibly the best part of the film due to the level of slapstick comedy he generates. Mr. Satan is just a completely wholesome and silly buffoon and that’s why a lot of people (viewers and animated fans alike) enjoy his presence. Meredith McCoy, Kara Edwards and Laura Bailey all voice their characters well too. Even Sonny Strait has a few lines in there, as well as Vic Mignogna, although technically he says no actual words.

Bill Townsley is also good as Lord Jaguar, however his role in the show has been for more notable characters. The animation still looks good for its time, and has the same classic 90s anime feel to it. The same goes for the action, which there is plenty of too. Lastly for music, the score was still meddled with by Mark Menza, but thankfully with no dated contemporary rock music. That doesn’t mean Menza’s score is great though, because the original music from Shunsuke Kikuchi should have been left alone. It really makes no sense why music should be rescored if it works as it does. It’s just very unnecessary.

Believe it or not, despite it not having any kind of remarkable story and with slightly better music although not great, this feature is better than Broly – Second Coming. This entry has better continuity, a different focus of characters which makes it fun, good voice acting and animation.

Points Earned --> 7:10

Original Sin (2001) Review:

Lust and love are two very similar four letter “L” words that get confused quite often when emotions are running high. Love can involve lust but normally it doesn’t exist the other way around if the partners come back to reality. Lust is a more of fleeting moment feeling that exists under intense desire for the sake of simply pleasing ones’ senses. However, many people in relationships have trouble distinguishing what they’re feeling when confronted with questioning themselves. Love is more sacrificial where one will do something for their partner even if it may not be what they want. Unfortunately, love and lust can make people do very stupid and even dangerous things to each other. That is essentially what happens here in this film based on a novel from Cornell Woolrich.

Adapted to the screen and directed by Michael Cristofer, the story follows a wealthy Cuban Luis Antonio Vargas (Antonio Banderas) who has been writing letters to an American woman he is looking to meet in person. The woman he is meeting is Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie). At first, there is hesitation between the two but they slowly gravitate towards each other. Initially, the attraction is lust and develops more into love. The road to getting to that point is not straight forward at all. This makes the development between Luis and Julia feel natural as no relationship happens purely overnight. There is more to the story though that can’t be disclosed as it would be spoiling how events play out. There’s also Billy (Thomas Jane), a private investigator who comes to seek Luis’ help as he is looking for a woman with the same name as Julia’s.

The way Cristofer handled the characters throughout the story gives the viewer an interesting idea as to how both emotions can drive people to various limits. The script isn’t the most edge of your seat intensity but there are a number surprises that viewers may not see coming. From an acting perspective, everyone does a decent job at their roles. Both Banderas and Jolie show their emotions properly, as does Thomas Jane. Prior to this, Banderas was in Desperado (1995) and The Mask of Zorro (1998). Jolie had been in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Jane had been in Thursday (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998) and Deep Blue Sea (1999). There’s even appearances from Jack Thompson and Gregory Itzin.

There’s no one that really sticks out with their performance, but they are all competent performances. The one infamous scene this film is best known for is the love making scene between Banderas and Jolie. Despite it being heavily cut down, it is still pretty graphic but that’s not the only time. There are other scenes as well where things get pretty sexual. It’s just surprising seeing how much this occurred throughout the film. The premise definitely lives up to the nature of the film though. There’s even a few scenes where if it weren’t for acting, it would look like domestic violence. It’s actually quite surprising to see how much Jolie went through here. Some viewers nowadays may not be comfortable with it either.

Visually speaking, the filming locations look great. Shot by Rodrigo Prieto, the majority of sets are actual locations which makes the scope feel that much bigger. Since the time setting also took place far in the past, a lot of the technology used throughout the movie are unique too. Even if it’s just riding a horse instead of a car. Prieto would later go on to film for Frida (2002) and 8 Mile (2002). Lastly, the score composed by Terence Blanchard is appropriate for the movie. There’s a lot of tracks throughout the listening experience that reflect the Latin background this story place in. The album itself is about an hour and it is decent to listen to as well.

The story itself isn’t the most captivating and the content can sometimes be quite much to take in. The acting though is still very much believable, as are the completely real set pieces and authentic musical score.

Points Earned --> 6:10

Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming (1994) Review:

The Dragonball Z franchise and its subsequent set of films have never had a high success rate in fitting in with themselves. The stories and villains are iconic but how they actually fit in timeline wise have never been that good. The Super Saiyan element was always a big deal in the lore and when the character of Broly came around, it seemed as though the true myth had been revealed. However, with the character’s defeat, the idea had felt like it came and went. But like many other unique characters, Broly had left a lasting impact on viewers and there was demand for another appearance. Just how that made sense though was for the production team to come up with. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it was well thought through.
 
The title to this entry is exactly what it’s about. Taking place in the future far after the events of Cell, Broly (Vic Mignogna) finds himself in cryostasis in some random tundra. Somewhere in that same area Videl, Goten (Kara Edwards), Trunks (Laura Bailey) find themselves looking for the Dragon balls. It just so happens that in the midst of their search, there’s a disagreement between them which makes Goten cry. This wailing ends up awakening Broly as it reminds him of his original encounter with Goku when they were babies. This sends him off again looking destroy everything in his path. Not long after Gohan (Kyle Hebert) hears the commotion, he jumps in to help out too. This feature was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, who also directed the previous Broly focused movie, which makes sense.
 
For writing, Takao Koyama handled this like they have for the previous entries. However, the continuity again lacks little connection with the show or even with its predecessor. In the original film that introduced Broly, Goku had defeated him indefinitely with an ending no one would think could survive. But then here he is in this entry like nothing ever happened and with no explanation how he got there or survived. It really doesn’t make any sense. There’s also other characters from some local community that interact with the main characters. However, they don’t have any real purpose or impact on the story. It’s basically Broly wakes up and the protagonists have to fend him off. There’s no real in-depth narrative here. It actually might be an even weaker in character development than in Bojack Unbound.
 
The voice cast is still nice to hear though. Vic Mignogna is still fairly crazy sounding as the newly awakened Broly. However, it is kind of sad to see him fight toe to toe with two children with the likes of Goten and Trunks, no matter how powerful they are claimed to be. Kyle Hebert, better known as the narrator to the Dragon Ball Z franchise is now voicing adult Gohan which is the definitive version. Kara Edwards and Laura Bailey are both fun to hear as the Saiyan kids. Both have their own quirks about their voices that make them, them. Edwards as Videl is also fun to hear. There’s also voice cameos from Sean Schemmel as Goku and Sonny Strait as Krillin. All of these voice actors together have proven themselves to be the required voices for the English dub.
 
Visually, the animation to this feature feels touched up which is good. As a feature film, animation budgets should be increased to try and maximize the quality of the look. It still has that very classic 90s anime look to it. The action is also fun to watch as the fight sequences are always interesting and energetic. As for music, the film still suffers from contemporary interference. For whatever reason, background music was composed by Nathan Johnson with exclusive songs sung by I.O.N. That particular genre just isn’t used in this franchise. Shunsuke Kikuchi as the original composer should have had his music left in the film. It is the only music that fits the scenes depicted. Some things are just not meant to mix, plus if contemporary music is used, it becomes outdated later.
 

Continuity as usual is a problem with this film, like many others before it. Plus, explanations for things go unexplained along with no real development. The animation and voice acting remain fine. Music is still a bad mix of rescored and outdated music.

Points Earned --> 4:10

Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006) Review:

Among the DC comic properties to be adapted to the TV or movies, there was only one that got a different kind of look. The animation styles used for kids shows during the 2000s for this particular era was pretty standard. Of the Saturday morning cartoons to be shown, Static shock, Justice League, Batman, Superman and even The Zeta Project were all drawn similarly because they all existed in the same animated universe. Of these properties though, Teen Titans was a special cartoon as it was animated with aspects of both western and eastern influences. It has the look of an American made program but had traits of Japanese anime. Despite it only lasting five seasons, the show was very popular and ended up getting one film after its five season run.

The plot is about a foreign enemy attacking the Titans on their home turf, only for them to be led to Japan. The script was written by David Slack, the same writer behind Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Jackie Chan Adventures and Totally Spies! The feature in itself serves similarly to other TV show specials where it feels like an extended episode. This is fine, because if anything the script is written so that it further develops the relationship between Starfire and Robin. An emotional struggle that many fans have wanted to see come to a full close. Directing this feature is Michael Chang, Ben Jones and Matt Youngberg. Two of which Chang and Jones have directed the same TV shows. The consistency is important otherwise the team behind making the film would not have a solid footing.

The viewing experience is very much a standard affair with how the story plays out. There’s just more the characters to get involved with since the runtime is longer. Beast Boy is all for taking a vacation despite the trip not being intended for one. Cyborg is all for touring around the country. Raven who apparently understands many languages looks to find something that she’ll understand in Japan. And lastly Robin and Starfire talk about whether being a hero is important one hundred percent of the time or not. At least one of these aspects can be familiar to a viewer as almost each Titan represents something a tourist feels while in another country. Also, since Japan is country known for its devoted fans of the culture.

The voice acting is all respectable to say the least. Greg Cipes as Beast Boy does his best to get as much of Japan as possible as well as singing his own Karaoke of the Teen Titans theme song.  Before he was Beast Boy, Cipes played Atlas in the latest Astro Boy TV show reincarnation. Scott Menville as Robin plays his character like he always has. Before Robin, he also voiced Red Herring in a Pup Named Scooby-doo. Khary Payton as Cyborg plays his role well, which he basically is best known for now. Tara Strong as Raven who has voiced many female and male characters does her best as always with the drab sounding heroine. Lastly Hynden Walch as Starfire shows the team a new trick or two they weren’t aware of.

From a visual perspective, the look of is not so much a negative but more of misunderstanding. Although the animation and action all look good, it’s a little weird how the show can get a feature film, one would think the production quality would be somewhat higher end. Instead what is shown on the screen looks very much like it was produced as an extended episode with no production upgrade. Musically speaking though, the film did receive an album composed by Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion and Kristopher Carter. The three began their careers with Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series who have produced many musical cues. The album itself contains almost thirty tracks of music and sounds very much the same to what is in the show. It’s nice when lesser known composers get album treatments.

Other than the animation looking relatively unchanged, which it could have been for feature film, the viewing experience is serviceable. The voice acting is great, the music is given a notable release and the story itself works in further developing its beloved characters.

Points Earned --> 8:10