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

Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (1993) Review:

There’s nothing ever wrong with expanding a roster of characters or expanding the realm of a particular universe. This kind of world building goes back decades and not just at the start of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. The way it is done though should be gradual and over time. Having new characters inserted into a story with no particular background or context is usually a bad idea. For the Dragon Ball Z world, Akira Toriyama did a fairly decent job of doing this kind of foundation laying so that there was a real solid base behind the story being told. However, that doesn’t mean it was always on point. A good example of this is this feature film entry. Out of all other entries to be released, this one perhaps has the most disappointing of stories.

The plot to this entry is about Mr. Satan (Chris Rager), the supposed world champ holding another fighter tournament where whoever wins will go up against him. Little does the man know that Goku’s son Gohan (Stephanie Nadolny) and friends consisting of Krillin (Sonny Strait), Trunks (Eric Vale) and Tien (John Burgmeier) have all entered too. Midway through the tournament, the Z fighters are interrupted by Bojack (Bob Carter) and his goons looking to destroy earth. Why? Because apparently King Kai (Sean Schemmel) and the other Kais had banished this villain long ago. The only reason why Bojack has returned is due to Goku (Schemmel) blowing up King Kai’s planet, which is what kept Bojack locked away. Convenience! That is literally why this film exists and for no other reason.

The writer behind the screenplay was again Takao Koyama, the same for all previous film entries. Yoshihiro Ueda served as the director to this feature who surprisingly headed the History of Trunks film which was much better. What doesn’t work here is the blatant blank slate backstory used to explain who Bojack is. Unlike Dead Zone (1989) or many other stories, the villains there at least got some kind of visual throwback to their run-in with the protagonist who knows them. Instead viewers will just get an exposition dump from King Kai with no further explanation to anything else. The character of Bojack is the laziest form of “new villain, insert here” writing. But this isn’t the most surprising aspect of this feature. It’s actually one thing that has been pointed out for almost every other entry.

Believe it or not, the writing decides to acknowledge the TV shows continuity. Why now of all times? It never seemed to matter before, but now the movie’s acknowledging timelines? This time, the characters properly refer to events like the end of the Cell games and all relevant characters are properly available? Shocker! When it comes to lineup of between the shows seasons it seems to work well as a one off story that happened in between major events. So this proves it can be done, but for whatever reason this is not preferred. The voice acting to this feature is always good to hear though with the funimation voice cast. For Bob Carter, this was his first time working a major film villain role and he sounds good. Although Bojack is not a well-developed character, his voice sounds cool.

The action and animation work well together. Having Tadayoshi Yamamuro as the animation director helped, seeing that they’ve helped animate the franchise going years back to the beginning. Much of the movements are fluid and the character designs are much more detailed. The action is also well mixed. The music for this entry was a little better but still not by a long shot. Returning to compose the new film score to this feature was Mark Menza. The tracks heard throughout work better than just random dated hard metal band music tracks, but nothing will beat the original score from Shunsuke Kikuchi. Much of Menza’s score sounds anonymous with no real signature. It’s weird because Mark Menza isn’t even credited on imdb but is in the film version release that he worked on.

Aside from the standard top notch voice acting, animation and surprisingly accurate continuity this entry is average. There’s no plot and there’s no development for Bojack as a stock rando villain. The US musical score still doesn’t come close to the JP original music either, despite not including outdated tracks.

Points Earned --> 5:10

Mermaids (1990) Review:

There’s a lot of factors that go into what attracts a viewer to a movie. It could be the visuals, it could be the premise and the cast. Sometimes within the cast it’s just a single person that makes people want to see it. For this particular movie it seems at the time of its release, the main attraction to this feature was Cher. Although she was not unknown at the time and had been in several productions before, she still hadn’t headlined too many movies. And being that Cher has been looked up to by so many for her ambitions and beauty, seeing her name and the title of the movie looks like it would be some kind of a unique fantasy any young girl would look at, thinking it would be for them. Cher and mermaids sound like they would go hand in hand.

The premise for this film is about Mrs. Flax (Cher) and her two daughters Charlotte (Winona Ryder) and Kate (Christine Ricci) finding a town they can call their home. The problem is, Mrs. Flax is not one to stay too long for commitment reasons. That it is until she meets Lou Landsky (Bob Hoskins) who happens to show Mrs. Flax that he’s not like other men she has met. Meanwhile Charlotte is trying to find love among strangers and wants to be a good daughter. The original story came from a novel by Patty Dann of which this is her only work that’s been adapted to film. Adapting this novel was done by June Roberts who had only wrote for one film almost a decade before. Directing this feature came under Richard Benjamin, a veteran of the classic Hollywood era who acted in Westworld (1973) and even directed other films like City Heat (1984).

When it comes to the plot, the execution makes sense. However, if one is expecting some type of fantasy element revolving around mermaids, viewers will be sadly mistaken. Other than a visual reference to the title during a New Year’s Eve party, nothing else really is said about the title. Maybe the meaning behind it is about how mermaids are eternally single? As they are typically creatures that lure men to their deaths as oppose to the family friendly version presented by Disney. But this is never made clear though, so it can definitely confuse some viewers. Other than that, everything about the story is okay. The characters are written where the viewer can understand their opinions on things. Charlotte wants to be nothing like her mother, who is clever, sassy and attractive for all the wrong reasons.

She also wants to remain celibate before getting married, which her mother thinks is preposterous. The one person Charlotte has her sights set on is Joe (Michael Schoeffling), a simple town guy who everyone respects, likes and works with nuns, mainly mother superior (Jan Miner). The only thing that can get on some viewer’s nerves is that Charlotte is always in her head monologuing, which can be a bit tiresome to hear her thoughts. Cher as Mrs. Flax plays her role almost like one would expect her to play as described before. She is her own woman, ain’t no man is going to tell her what she has to do, and she can get any man she desires. There are a few interactions that she has with Lou and her daughter Charlotte that show how her attitude impacts others. Bob Hoskins plays Lou like the guy who would ground Mrs. Flax, although he does look a little too old for her.

Christina Ricci as the youngest daughter is cute in her own way. This was her first theatrical debut and really seems like she was given permission to do whatever she liked. When it came to the camerawork, Howard Atherton was the designated cinematographer. For this picture much of what shot looks okay, but nothing that stands out either. Atherton would later shoot for Bad Boys (1995) and Deep Rising (1998). Lastly the film score behind the music was composer Jack Nitzsche. Probably best known for his work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Starman (1984), the work behind here feels a little underwhelming. The main theme sounds like what could’ve been the start of The Entertainer song but then quickly moves to other notes. There doesn’t seem to be an album available either so maybe it wasn’t a very notable effort on his part.

The story and acting are all fine. It’s just the confusing title along with average camerawork and music that makes this Cher film rather uneventful.

Points Earned --> 5:10

Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993) Review:

As it has been quoted by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, the power level gimmick used in the Dragon Ball Z series was never meant to become a mainstay for the franchise. However, because of how it made fans latch onto the story, it was something he had to continue going with. The unfortunate thing is, because every new villain had to one up the previous, the ability to quantify the topic at hand just loses all of its heft. With every successive antagonist Toriyama’s hero Goku (Kakarot) was able to knock down, there’s always someone else that needed to fill that void. Although becoming a Super Saiyan was supposed to be it in terms of power limits, many forms came after. However, this particular entry was to bring in the real original.

The plot is about another Saiyan prodigy who was forgotten just like Goku (Sean Schemmel). This one was named Broly (Vic Mignogna) of which his father Paragus (Dameon Clarke) did his best to convince his king that Broly would become the legendary super saiyan. His efforts fell on deaf ears. As time passed, Paragus would find his way to Earth where in order for Broly to claim his right as the only title, Goku would need to be defeated. Written by Takao Koyama who has been penning the script since the first Dragon Ball Z film and directed by first timer to the franchise Shigeyasu Yamauchi, this duo makes this feature interesting for its contextual background. It seems as though that is one of the stronger traits to this franchise despite how good the action is.

Whenever it comes to giving background to certain characters, there’s always something new a fan didn’t know about. Similar to how Goku’s father encountered Frieza, and Cooler could have almost intercepted Goku’s pod flying to Earth. This time, Broly was the one who missed being decimated. This just gives the character of Goku far more depth than any character introduced before and the scope of his impact continues to increase. As usual though, timelines do not fall into place for when this entry takes place in the shows chronology. It’s just a big mess. Trunks is still around, and again Goku is alive as well. So, did this all happen before the androids even made their appearances? But that’s the whole reason why Trunks came to Goku’s timezone. Seems like there’s a lot of things going on before the meat and potatoes of the cell saga even starts.

When it comes to the voice cast, everyone on board now is pretty much solidified their parts where nothing is questioned. If there was anything to callout on it, there would be something said about it, but that’s not the case for this entry. Dameon Clarke as Paragus is no stranger to the series and plays Paragus fine. For Vic Mignogna as another first timer to the franchise, he would also cement his place as Broly with a fairly intimidating voice. Everyone else still has a voice cameo here and there. The main voices to be prominent in this feature though are Sean Schemmel, Eric Vale, Chris Sabat, Dameon Clarke, Vic Mignogna and Stephanie Nadolny. For the action, the fights between the heroes and Broly is pretty intense. As the original super Saiyan, Broly has no cares on how low he goes.

The fights are well staged and choreographed fluidly. This goes hand in hand with the animation which continues to have the well detailed drawings of the characters and backgrounds. Credit to animation director Tadayoshi Yamamuro for keeping things looking good. Sadly, for the musical end, the original American release of this feature has the dated mix of new instrumentals from Mark Menza and Bruce Falconer along with inserted tracks from Pointy Shoe Factory, Tendril, Pantera and others. For those whole love heavy metal, have at it. But Dragon Ball Z properties are not the right avenue to have this kind of music overlaid in the scenes. They just don’t match and only further date the production of what studio producer said would be the “in” thing to have at the time.

Aside from the story not finding any real place where it falls within the timing between the show’s episodes, this is a fair entry. The story gives another interesting aspect of the main protagonist, with entertaining animation and voice acting. The contemporary music again used is less than to be desired.

Points Earned --> 6:10