Dragon Ball Z is an incredible franchise that has spawned many video games and movies in the past. This is the 7th film in the series (I’m not counting Dragon Ball at all in this review. I’m only talking about the Dragon Ball Z days) and it definitely defeated the previous six films.

The film opens up with Goku and his family shopping and then settling down to eat some good looking food. It’s a pretty happy way to start the film and seeing the city was definitely unexpected. The Z fighters are usually on the go or fighting in the mountains. Trunks, Krillin, and Roshi are waiting in line to make it to a show (in a very awful subplot) but as per usual they didn’t think ahead. After a lot of crushing realizations, they join up with Goku and pals. At a very top secret base, the androids wake up and immediately head for Goku. Due to their scanners, they find him pretty fast and commence their attack by blowing up the building.

Dragon Ball Z never disappoints when it comes to a fight and that was the perfect way to start the film off. The Androids don’t take time to act mysterious or talk tough in the shadows. They just barge in and blow up the place. It’s definitely a very efficient way to get Goku’s attention. The rest of the film is a huge fight against the three androids and that’s a very good thing! The fight scenes in this film would put just about any other big franchise to shame. (Marvel, DC, Nintendo, Sega, etc) The villains are immensely powerful and they actually manage to give Goku an impressive fight. Granted that he was being attacked 2-1 for his first battle, but it’s still a feat.

As I mentioned earlier, there are three androids. Android 15 has a pretty large hat and “cool” sunglasses to remind us that he’s the most stylish of the three androids. His rival in this film is the (vastly superior) Vegeta. I’d personally go ahead and say that Android 15 is the weakest of the three, but considering that he’s still a faster than light, planet buster, he’s still strong enough. As for Android 14, he seems to have a lot of raw strength, plus he’s definitely the quietest of the bunch. His rival in this film is Trunks and he makes sure to give him a good fight. He’s immensely powerful and a pretty decent villain. I much preferred him to Android 15.

The film was named after the final Android and that’s definitely for a good reason. He’s much more skilled than the other two androids and he is able to fight on par with Super Saiyan Goku. He’s incredibly good at martial arts and he has a large array of energy attacks. I liked his character and he was definitely to the point. He attacks Goku and is possibly winning, but then he pulls the ultimate Dragon Ball Z villain technique…He transforms! After merging with the parts from the other androids, he is able to become the Super Android 13. In this form, the combined might of the Z fighters seems to be no match for him. I’d easily say that he’s an S rank fighter in this form and he could easily annihilate the planet with a single blast. He made for an extremely awesome final boss and the fight scene is intense.

Goku is pretty awesome in this film and he shows us what a true hero is. He stands up for all that is right and he’s someone that everyone can look up too. He takes a huge beating for the majority of the film, but he always gets up. He fights pretty well and even though he was outnumbered for a while, he managed to hold his own.

This is one of the only films where (Future) Trunks gets to appear. He does pretty well for the most part and while he’s significantly weaker than his fellow Saiyans, he gives it his all. For a while it is just him and Goku against the three androids and he made for a good ally. Piccolo appears very briefly, but he manages to have a critical moment where he saves the life of one of the Saiyans. Unfortunately, he is no match for the villains so he doesn’t look particularly great in the fight scenes.

Krillin and Gohan try to lend some moral support, but that’s about all of the support that they can give in this kind of fight. Once Vegeta shows up (Apparently he was inside a glacier or in the ocean…) things definitely look up for the heroes. He has a spectacular entrance and it should remind everyone why he’s the greatest Saiyan. (He’s my favorite anyway)

This film has everything that you could have hoped for as a DBZ fan. There were spectacular fighting scenes, the Saiyans all got some pretty good screen time, and they actually got to fight in the city for a little bit. The only negative in the film would be the Roshi and Oolong subplot, but that couldn’t bring down the rest of the film. It was just far too good. This is one film that I strongly recommend as it’s one of the greatest films of all time.

Overall 9/10