Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest

Most of the original DBZ movies are just retreads of the events of the series with some slight differences. "Dead Zone" is a lot like Raditz, where they kidnap Gohan, Piccolo and Goku team up to fight and Gohan's untapped potential makes itself manifest. Lord Slug is just doing what King Piccolo did, and Cooler is just Frieza again. 'World's Strongest" takes a different approach. Yes, I am aware that a lot of the final fight takes beats from Goku vs. Vegeta, but the villains and plot are different enough that I am willing to overlook it. Besides, if you are going to steal, might as well steal from your best fight. The movie has the makings for what the series would later use in the android saga, Dr. Wheelo being the prototype for Dr. Gero. The movie also brings in some original Dragon Ball continuity back in, where Wheelo believes Master Roshi to be the world's strongest because of his win in the World Martial Arts Tournament. This not only ties into the series cannon, but it gives Roshi some much needed time to shine. The villain's plan to take the world's most brilliant mind and put it in the world's strongest body is a unique, simple and instantly understandable goal. The creepy scientific ice lair location is a great location and helps give the whole thing a spooky feeling. The downside is that they do spend too much time explaining the villain's straight forward plan. The whole bit with Oolong and Gohan feels out of place, Gohan's dream sequence with Piccolo is strange. And the wish made on the dragon is one of the series' dumbest wishes. Outside of those problems, this is one of my all-time favorites. This was one of the original three that Toonami played back in the day, and of those three this one stands out as the best. It remains to this day one of the series strongest.

At a snowy mountain top, Dr. Kochin uses the dragonballs to wish that Dr. Willow be released from his icy tomb. The duo then set out to kidnap the world's strongest fighters in order to test them against their experiments. The reason? To find a suitable host for Dr. Willow's brain, which was the only thing to survive their ice prison after 50 years of confinement. Goku, upon being told that Piccolo and Master Roshi have been kidnapped, teams with Krillin and Gohan to defeat the experiment and ultimately Dr. Willow, who uses a giant robot mech to fight them. Overall, It was certainly a more tolerable film than Dead Zone because it told an actual story and didn't rely on filler to pad it through. I will say though that the final act was a bit of a drag and relied too heavily on obvious fake-outs before the heroes win at the end. Much like the first film though, This isn't considered canon so thankfully, it is optional viewing.

This movie is the ultimate, super, coolest next to the tree of might. NO ONE can beat some of the animation in this movie. so in other words i'm saying Akira Toriama outdid himself on this movie.

For sometime the crazed Dr. Wheelo has been resurrected as a brain in a robot. Now his desire is to inhabit the body of the world's most powerful fighter. Master Roshi was targeted as the body to snatch. While little did Wheelo knew is that there's someone far stronger than Master Roshi himself. Like the previous movie this one is like watching a 2 parter episode. The idea of the story was entertaining and it has all the promising characters making an appearance. Course this was an alternate telling during the first part of the series, so it doesn't feature those who make an appearance later in the long lived anime. If you like the first one, then this one is right up your alley.

It is without a doubt, the best in the trilogy of films. The DVD has kick-a** sound. The plot is pretty standard, world is threatend by an evil madman, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway this film is much better than Dead Zone, and 100 times better than Tree of Might. All it needs now is 79 minutes of new footage. Grade: A

The World Strongest was a decent Dragon Ball Z. I mean it tries to be original. While the first film The Dead Zone retold the beginning of the show, this one made a honest attempt to make an new story....problem is....the story's pretty plain. Goku's friends are hurt, Goku shows up, fights a few of the lackeys, get the living crap beaten out of him, finds a way to beat the bad guy. No surprise. Well one. Goku's spirit bomb works on the boss. Goku's used that thing four times. Only hurt Vegeta, barely hurt Frieza, killed Buu, and this robot guy. That was pretty cool. I also don't like the voices in the movie as I don't like the early voices of the show. They just don't fit the characters.

I don't know how this movie fared on the market yet I liked it. The movie unlike others, (others meaning ones translated by FunImation) kept the original musical score. BIG +. Though dialogue at times was a little naff (writer Christopher Neel), I was simply too hooked into the fight scenes to notice. Goku vs Piccolo, as evil as he was, had to take the cake. Especially when Piccolo smacked Gohan round. You got to see everyone fight, even Master Roshi which was pretty cool. I really liked the detail in this movie. Being set in the mountains, steam was drawn wafting from the characters mouths at points. A nice touch. The plot was decent enough. Dr. Wheelo even got a little history thrown in. His three elite fighters if I recall had next to no lines, so they kept a real evil air about them when fighting. As for bad points. The voice chosen for Dr. Wheelo was somewhat annoying and he tended to have rather bad lines. He could have been made much more evil than what he was. Many a time lines were just the problem, if only he had said that instead of *sneer* .... that. It was also some what uninventive that Goku finished with the spirit bomb attack. If all else fails I guess. But overall I did like this film, it is the better of the few I have seen. "I am my own best quote"

This DBZ movie is very good. It is the only movie so far that I have seen where you get to see Master Roshi fight. Sure the fight doesn't last long, but he does good for a bit. This movie is about a crazy doctor who is now a brain in a jar. This guy wants the strongest person in the world so he can have his body. He hasn't been around lately so he mistakes Master Roshi for the strongest, but Bulma tells him that Goku is. Goku is on his way to rescue them and a bunch of cool fighting begins. Gohan, Krillin, and Picallo also are on hand for the fight.

Out of the three DBZ films I've seen--Dead Zone, The World's Strongest, and Tree of Might--The World's Strongest is the one I most enjoyed. The plot is decent enough: evil guy tries to take over the world, Goku and pals have to stop him...there's a little bit in there about Goku's rival/ally, Piccolo, getting mind controlled and having to fight Goku. This all leads up to some nice, fast-paced action with the least stalling ever featured in DBZ. ^_^ What's really great about the action in this film is that unlike most other DBZ stuff, it concentrates mostly on martial arts rather than the flying and massive blasts of power and charging up that is the center of the action on the TV show. The martial arts action is very well-animated, and the fights manage to be very dramatic for the most part. Now for the bad. Gohan...sings...a...song...in...honor...of...Piccolo. I will never get those few minutes of my life back. "Di di di, Pic-co-lo..." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Sorry...having flashbacks. That is seriously one of the most screwed-up, insane songs in the world and I worry that the people who made that sequence were on some sort of mind-altering substance...there is no other explanation for its existance. Anyway, fast-forward past THAT insanity and this is a film you should enjoy.

This was an excellent movie. The animation is just great. The story seems pretty weak and it doesn't have the greatest dialogue in the world, but it's still pretty good. The fight scenes are terrific and more than make up for the story. This is a definite must see for all fans of the series.