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Dragon Ball - Akira Toriyama
- Thread starter ShineCero
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ShineCero said:~ Z ~ said:
Yeah, this marks the second time a fusion actually does something and wins, instead of disappearing for a few seconds and forcing the heroes to rely on other options.
It would be interesting to see the differences between Original Broly and New Broly; judging from the spoilers and in-depth summary, I have a clutch that I might preferred the original Broly over the new one just a tad bit.
The newest chapter of Dragon Ball Super is now out, concluding the Tournament of Power. Toyotaro is skipping the Broly movie (although there is a promo manga for the Broly movie by another artist I believe) and heading straight for a new arc.
https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/dragon-ball-super-chapter-42/chapter/16035
Prior to this chapter, I decided to read everything, starting from the beginning of ToP to the end, and I have to say, I wasn't impressed by Toyotaro's take on the arc. Perhaps this new one, Toyotaro can shine through... or not. Here's an image of the new villain:
Yeah, the ToP was beyond weak in the manga. Lot of potential hype but extremely wasted. Only thing I'll defend for him is that, imo, he's preserved the overall ability to take the story and make it flow better so there weren't as many "don't even know what's even happening" type of inconsistencies. But it's little solace when you do things like, "here's Kefla vs Ultimate Gohan", and then like four panels later of not seeing either of them, they both knocked each other off the fighting stage.
Anti-climatic as hell, would definitely prefer the "fantastic mess" that was the anime over it any day of the week xD
ShineCero said:
vegetto, is dat u?
Kidding aside....my god. The hype, the combat, the song...asdfghjkl. I can't wait for January!
Even knowing his appearance is real/his involvement in the plot at all, it does nothing to dissuade or diminish the hype and interest to see the movie for me: this may be the first movie that I honestly can say that I fully expect to live up to my high expectations for enjoyment. Although:
This has been me for the past few months lurking on this forum, dodging Shine's consistent spoiling of the plot of the movie xD
~ Z ~
Black Jacket
ShineCero said:
MY LOVE FOR THE FUSIONS INCREASED!!!
You already know I have a massive chub for the fusion characters, but I think Gogeta Blue looks amazing! Probably my fave of all time! I personally really love the animation style of the movie and I kinda already spoiled myself and know what the movie is going to be about (no thanks to you, Shine. :wagh: ) and I want to draw a special little short comic probably using Cuki or a psycho soldier out for blood. (@"Vegetto" knows what I mean. :maybe: ). We'll have to wait and see. Overall, I am inspired to draw something thanks to how this trailer hypes people up.
btw: The music is the best I've heard. Phenomenal.
[video=youtube]
Yo, so aside from the english version being dropped of this trailer, big thing I actually wanted to ask @"ShineCero":
I have dodged your spoilers for months, scrubbing the memory of each spoiled detail as best I can from accidental click. I can safely assume that the memory has been erased, but I come before you to seek knowledge on this trailer and ask you to use your digging powers for good: did Daichi Miura create an actual English version of the song? I normally stay away from English translations of Japanese works, the overall beat and sync of the song seems weird and usually never seems to work well when the song is modified for English, let alone the fact that most covers tend to be garbage. Yet from the small snippet in this vid, I'm actually pretty stoked and want to see how it turns out if the man himself really made an English version.
Yo, so aside from the english version being dropped of this trailer, big thing I actually wanted to ask @"ShineCero":
I have dodged your spoilers for months, scrubbing the memory of each spoiled detail as best I can from accidental click. I can safely assume that the memory has been erased, but I come before you to seek knowledge on this trailer and ask you to use your digging powers for good: did Daichi Miura create an actual English version of the song? I normally stay away from English translations of Japanese works, the overall beat and sync of the song seems weird and usually never seems to work well when the song is modified for English, let alone the fact that most covers tend to be garbage. Yet from the small snippet in this vid, I'm actually pretty stoked and want to see how it turns out if the man himself really made an English version.
Vegetto said:
Yep! Miura made an English version of the song and man, he rocked the fuck out of that song.
Not yet. The single is supposedly for release on December 19, 2018 (which I assumed, includes the english version). Has the Japanese version already released (in full) online already? :thonk:
Huh, interesting! I didn't know the Japanese one was released. Thanks man! Hoping the English one gets release soon too! Considering the trailer, it might be around the corner.
Just saw the film.
The film is good in terms of animation, but on the narrative side, it is a bit confusing.
A continuation of my earlier post, I want to comment on other criticisms I had with the film. Once again, the film is a spectacular animated flick; stunning visuals, music is decent, some with highs and lows, and the choreography (first-person perspective comes into mind) was damn awesome. However, stunning visuals means nothing if the narrative is either all over the place or frail throughout and this film is a combination of both.
Dragon Ball Minus: Animated
The first section of the film (about 25 minutes) is a re-creation of Dragon Ball Minus in animated format. Another user said it best; if you like Minus, you will like this one, if you did not, well, it did not do engaging to reel you in. Bardock being the only Saiyan who figured out Freeza’s big plans was a bit hard to swallow, despite their attempt to add further reasoning onto it. There are new scenes presented here that was not shown in the Minus chapter, but it does not do anything to Minus itself, but more so towards the titular “antagonist”; as if simply only added the interaction between Paragus and King Vegeta (meaning, no Dragon Ball Minus)—and nothing would change.
There was a touching moment towards Goku’s departure, despite the emotional music trying to bait you in by giving “feels”, it felt flat. Once the actual movie starts, I finally felt something, a sense of joy—finally, the movie can start. Of course, I’m being hyperbolic here, but I digress.
There was a clear awkward transition between Freeza destroying the planet and Bardock, suddenly damaged, tries to stop it. I’d assumed there will be an extended version or a retelling, but man, does it look awkward and noticeable.
A user named Gaffer Tape said it best about the content:
The film was advertised as hell and back as a movie about Goku, Vegeta and Broly; yet hardly any of them gets a glimpse of a character arc (even Broly barely scratches the surface here). In fact, hardly have anything to do with each other at all.
Goku hardly gets any character arc in this film and the end where he says “Kakarot” rings hollow, especially since such character arc regarding his heritage is completed in Saiyan and Freeza arc. One would think with Toriyama’s heavy involvement in the film would grant some promises, but it’s more-or-less the same we seen in Super—offsetting character moments that Goku shouldn’t be doing, like asking Freeza a word means (granted, it was a bit funny though!).
Vegeta gets to fight, then once Goku steps in, he just disappears from the film for 15 minutes until he shows up again for a few worth of scenes of fighting together before fusion. You know Piccolo always shows up in the film and saves Gohan? Is this Vegeta’s version? Shows up, fights something and then disappears when Goku gets into action? Hope it doesn’t become a habit.
One of the common criticisms of Broly is that he either have no personality, no character or a combination of both (and the often cited the zombification theory that never dies, Broly hates Goku because he cried). So, naturally, whatever new aspect presented in this film will be taken face value without examination. After watching the film, I cannot see where the idea that new Broly had “more” character than the original.
Here’s what we know about Broly:
I just cannot see how these things gave any depth to Broly at all—especially since he rarely spoke in the film. Original Broly was quite talkative in his first appearance and combined with cruelty, sadism, and competitive nature; even in his second appearance, his lines (he says Kakarot 12-14 times and uttered one full sentence to Gohan) can sum up as “Get that guy out here so I can get a rematch”.
Perhaps people don’t like that kind of character, so they fetch whatever tack on as an improvement, which is fine, but I don’t see this Broly having any more personality than the original. It’s more or less the same… perhaps even less so.
And honestly, despite the glaring issues the film had with those three, those problems I can overlook due to time restraints or things getting cut for the film. Yet, there is no excuse for Cheerai and Lemo; they are easily the worst characters in the film.
I mentioned before that they seem to dip into this idea that Paragus loved his son (it was done more subtly in the original film, but it was nice to see it here). Yet, these two little shits constantly demonized Paragus back and forth, and the film does nothing to address it, as if the film is trying to leave the audience to see if Paragus and Broly’s relationship is bad or not.
But it doesn’t work in my opinion. Paragus flat out abandoned everything in order to save his son. He spent 41 years together with him—it is clear that Broly had a positive view of him. Another thing is the shock collar as I mentioned before, before Paragus starts the zapper, he talks him down multiple times and when that doesn’t work, he uses it.
What’s worse is that these two barely just met Broly and Cheerai acted like she knew him inside out. It brings down enjoyment of the film whenever she and Lemo appears on screen to talk one thing and another of how Broly truly feels… yet the film consistently shows Broly loving the shit out of this fight. Inf act, when Paragus practically was on his knees trying to get Broly to stop fighting Vegeta and come home when he realized he wasn’t strong enough—it was clear he pretty much stop giving a shit about revenge and wanted to go home, yet, we’re supposedly have to take Cheerai’s words into heart about Broly based on few interactions?
All and all, it is a good film, but the original film, as the Doctor said, did everything this film did, but better. If I were to truly rank all the Broly films, it would be like this:
Just saw the film.
The film is good in terms of animation, but on the narrative side, it is a bit confusing.
ShineCero said:
A continuation of my earlier post, I want to comment on other criticisms I had with the film. Once again, the film is a spectacular animated flick; stunning visuals, music is decent, some with highs and lows, and the choreography (first-person perspective comes into mind) was damn awesome. However, stunning visuals means nothing if the narrative is either all over the place or frail throughout and this film is a combination of both.
Dragon Ball Minus: Animated
The first section of the film (about 25 minutes) is a re-creation of Dragon Ball Minus in animated format. Another user said it best; if you like Minus, you will like this one, if you did not, well, it did not do engaging to reel you in. Bardock being the only Saiyan who figured out Freeza’s big plans was a bit hard to swallow, despite their attempt to add further reasoning onto it. There are new scenes presented here that was not shown in the Minus chapter, but it does not do anything to Minus itself, but more so towards the titular “antagonist”; as if simply only added the interaction between Paragus and King Vegeta (meaning, no Dragon Ball Minus)—and nothing would change.
There was a touching moment towards Goku’s departure, despite the emotional music trying to bait you in by giving “feels”, it felt flat. Once the actual movie starts, I finally felt something, a sense of joy—finally, the movie can start. Of course, I’m being hyperbolic here, but I digress.
There was a clear awkward transition between Freeza destroying the planet and Bardock, suddenly damaged, tries to stop it. I’d assumed there will be an extended version or a retelling, but man, does it look awkward and noticeable.
A user named Gaffer Tape said it best about the content:
The Tagline, the Characters and the UglyGaffer Tape said:
The film was advertised as hell and back as a movie about Goku, Vegeta and Broly; yet hardly any of them gets a glimpse of a character arc (even Broly barely scratches the surface here). In fact, hardly have anything to do with each other at all.
Goku hardly gets any character arc in this film and the end where he says “Kakarot” rings hollow, especially since such character arc regarding his heritage is completed in Saiyan and Freeza arc. One would think with Toriyama’s heavy involvement in the film would grant some promises, but it’s more-or-less the same we seen in Super—offsetting character moments that Goku shouldn’t be doing, like asking Freeza a word means (granted, it was a bit funny though!).
Vegeta gets to fight, then once Goku steps in, he just disappears from the film for 15 minutes until he shows up again for a few worth of scenes of fighting together before fusion. You know Piccolo always shows up in the film and saves Gohan? Is this Vegeta’s version? Shows up, fights something and then disappears when Goku gets into action? Hope it doesn’t become a habit.
One of the common criticisms of Broly is that he either have no personality, no character or a combination of both (and the often cited the zombification theory that never dies, Broly hates Goku because he cried). So, naturally, whatever new aspect presented in this film will be taken face value without examination. After watching the film, I cannot see where the idea that new Broly had “more” character than the original.
Here’s what we know about Broly:
- He has an ignorant view of new shit around him (is curiosity a personality trait…?), since he’d been on Vampa for 41 or so years.
- He used to have a gigantic space pupper as a friend before his Dad shooed him away.
- He doesn’t like the collar thing.
- Loves his Dad.
- Likes to fight, contrary what the film is trying to shove down the throat of the audiences.
I just cannot see how these things gave any depth to Broly at all—especially since he rarely spoke in the film. Original Broly was quite talkative in his first appearance and combined with cruelty, sadism, and competitive nature; even in his second appearance, his lines (he says Kakarot 12-14 times and uttered one full sentence to Gohan) can sum up as “Get that guy out here so I can get a rematch”.
Perhaps people don’t like that kind of character, so they fetch whatever tack on as an improvement, which is fine, but I don’t see this Broly having any more personality than the original. It’s more or less the same… perhaps even less so.
And honestly, despite the glaring issues the film had with those three, those problems I can overlook due to time restraints or things getting cut for the film. Yet, there is no excuse for Cheerai and Lemo; they are easily the worst characters in the film.
I mentioned before that they seem to dip into this idea that Paragus loved his son (it was done more subtly in the original film, but it was nice to see it here). Yet, these two little shits constantly demonized Paragus back and forth, and the film does nothing to address it, as if the film is trying to leave the audience to see if Paragus and Broly’s relationship is bad or not.
But it doesn’t work in my opinion. Paragus flat out abandoned everything in order to save his son. He spent 41 years together with him—it is clear that Broly had a positive view of him. Another thing is the shock collar as I mentioned before, before Paragus starts the zapper, he talks him down multiple times and when that doesn’t work, he uses it.
What’s worse is that these two barely just met Broly and Cheerai acted like she knew him inside out. It brings down enjoyment of the film whenever she and Lemo appears on screen to talk one thing and another of how Broly truly feels… yet the film consistently shows Broly loving the shit out of this fight. Inf act, when Paragus practically was on his knees trying to get Broly to stop fighting Vegeta and come home when he realized he wasn’t strong enough—it was clear he pretty much stop giving a shit about revenge and wanted to go home, yet, we’re supposedly have to take Cheerai’s words into heart about Broly based on few interactions?
All and all, it is a good film, but the original film, as the Doctor said, did everything this film did, but better. If I were to truly rank all the Broly films, it would be like this:
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (7/10)
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming and Bio-Broly (two films that seemingly, for some reason, decides to use the boring characters in the franchise, Trunks and Goten, as main characters.)
Gonna leave my two cents here on the film:
Ok, so now that I have sat down and given some time to let the hype down, I'll get into how I feel about the film:
I read your review, Shine, and I do agree on quite a bit on the points you made. Starting first with the backstory, it was no doubt a complete and utter half assed backstory. I personally have never read Minus, but the 25 minutes dedicated to this was definitely a small improvement over the Bardock episode only because it was simple enough for me to see Bardock in a new light that didn't make me annoyed to see him. I'll only say that I felt a small bit of feels just in the notion of good people who didn't deserve death having to face the reality of it happening, mainly in Gine saying goodbye to Goku. How Bardock knew and the overall build up was felt super half-assed imo, but it's a moot point because in the end, I only felt the same established "ok Frieza needs to be stopped" I got from the Namek saga, which was probably the goal of the whole thing outside of establishing where Broly and Paragus fit into the history now. For nostalgic purposes, I enjoyed it, and then felt the initial hype of the actual movie itself starting. I'll even go as far to say that I felt that kid Vegeta and Raditz were the biggest wastes of time I've ever seen in film. There was little to zero point to include them there, simply because anyone new to Dragon Ball wouldn't have given a damn about their feelings on the destruction of their home world.
I've gotten so hollow to Dragon Ball Super's extensive fuckery of giving up consistency and character establishment for fanservice that I honestly missed a few points you brought up, simply so I could enjoy the movie. I agree with practically all of them, and want to complain about a couple of things that you brought up more in depth:
Broly was not better character wise, don't give a fuck what anyone says. One of the most half assed attempts of a cliche Tarzan I've ever seen with the 'mentor/parent killed my only dog to teach me how to be emotionally detached' tacked on. Outright boring, did not make me feel for him, but I appreciate the new direction in how he's not an antagonist bent on destroying everything. Old Broly had more character in that sadistic superiority complex, and I think many people are confusing the notion that we get to see more potential from new Broly in development than the old version as if he already has more character. All in all, New Broly has a platform to do something interesting, but is definitely not more fleshed out or a better character than the old version.
Cheerai is now officially my least favorite character in DB. Starts as an immediate thirst trap with camera panning all over her ass and the "let me flick my boobs with flexible armor while having a normal conversation" mechanic to try and trap people in. It was the one level of bullshit I couldn't tolerate, my buddy actually laughing in the theater next to me when I couldn't help but blurt out, "Stop this shit" when Broly was defending her from the drunk guy trying to cop a feel. Absolutely garbage development, forced asf, and the bond just didn't work. The development would've worked if it showed Broly didn't value them and just sort of went along with it because he has no friends after Cheerai saved him at the final fight. Her being thirsty asf for Broly's friendship is fine, but Broly reciprocating any sort of bond to them is just complete trash. Rewrite the plot to indicate Cheerai's comments are annoying (IE, Cheerai complains about Broly not being a fighter, cuts to Broly laughing and enjoying the battle to spite that notion), and it would capture some of the old fun from DBZ where characters would blatantly be caught dead wrong in their encompassing statements. Rather than what you put, of character's making statements to try and explain character's motivations, and it being contradicted in a manner that makes you annoyed at the poor writing. Then we would get a fun dynamic that I think we might see with Cheerai and Broly, where it'd basically be the same as Goku and Chi-Chi: simpleton guy (Broly/Goku) wants to go out and have fun fighting while supporting character/romantic interest character who annoyingly speaks for him limits that for her own selfish reasons (Cheerai/Chi-Chi).
The Good
The plot of the fights was significantly better in this one. Starting with Vegeta vs Broly: my god, the typical build up of "Oh shit, what's a Super Saiyan?!" from Paragus worked well with the 25 minute prologue. The nostalgia of seeing it be relevant for a few minutes was fantastic, and the fights gave admirable respect to the forms this time around. Vegeta switching to SSG was even well done: seeing a brute who had zero experience in combat struggling to put up a fight against Vegeta upgrading in transformation was a very fun sequence in both cases of SSJ and SSG.
Goku jumping in was boring: was just literally Goku fighting a guy at his level, despite some show of "experience vs brute power". Basically was just sitting there, waiting for him to pull out SSB and force Broly to get to LSSJ (Full power), but it was good animation and typical flash of punches and blasts that you expect from DBZ. Frieza killing Paragus as a means to trigger Broly is a fantastic meme: use of a funny irony to trigger a serious plot mechanic is something I'll always admire from DB in general and glad to see that tradition upheld here. Goku and Vegeta indirectly dumping Broly onto Frieza was also great, fantastic humor from him getting absolutely shit on like an old Tom and Jerry cartoon when the antagonistic villain's plan backfires humorously on him.
Finally, the glorious inclusion of the man himself: Gogeta. Aside from obvious fan service, I actually thoroughly enjoyed how they handled him here: taking elements of fusion's domination in a fight but removing the bad plot mechanics to make it work without ruining Goku and Vegeta's impact on the story. No more extensive pandering/dragging out an established plot mechanic from Vegetto (anime dragged out the "stalling to get absorbed" plot way too long), no "oh shit, power usage forces early defusion" nonsense like SSJ4 Gogeta and Vegetto Blue. Just straight domination from Gogeta first in his immense enjoyment from simply dodging everything from Broly's first engagement, powering up to SSJ to square up with a small edge over SSJ Broly, then advancing to Blue when FP Broly tanked some hits from SSJ Gogeta.
Everything about that fight's progression was great: Gogeta had the edge, was having a blast, and we all knew it. Thoroughly enjoying the test to see if he could push Broly, the raging monster growing stronger and stronger, even higher just for the lols while Broly was clearly starting to hit his ceiling and fighting on like a wild cheetah starting to overheat and inching closer to dying from sprinting for too long in chase for food. The mechanisms created that dynamic so well in both characters: Gogeta, in being masterful and experienced as a fighter, while Broly is written as a brute literally throwing his barbaric power around in a desperate bid to overcome his prey. Gogeta manhandling him in the final portion was easily one of my favorite battles in the entire series, even potentially dethroning Vegetto vs Super Buu for me simply because it was very similar in how it showed the extensive superiority you expect from fusion without the additional filler that dragged it on for too long. It simply did what I felt has been lacking from Dragon Ball for a long time: created a fight where there were two sides you could find depth in. Not just "hey, here's Goku fighting someone you really can see interesting combat dynamic in other than "hey he's strong" or "hey he is a cheater" or a combination of both. Along with showing someone being dominated through means that's not just "fuck, he's so much stronger".
All in all, I say this film is my favorite in the entire lineup of DBZ films by far because of that final battle alone being a better return to old DBZ nuances and performing better fight stories than any other of the movies. It has some major flaws, but I only hope certain things they performed well in this film will make their way into the new series.
I read your review, Shine, and I do agree on quite a bit on the points you made. Starting first with the backstory, it was no doubt a complete and utter half assed backstory. I personally have never read Minus, but the 25 minutes dedicated to this was definitely a small improvement over the Bardock episode only because it was simple enough for me to see Bardock in a new light that didn't make me annoyed to see him. I'll only say that I felt a small bit of feels just in the notion of good people who didn't deserve death having to face the reality of it happening, mainly in Gine saying goodbye to Goku. How Bardock knew and the overall build up was felt super half-assed imo, but it's a moot point because in the end, I only felt the same established "ok Frieza needs to be stopped" I got from the Namek saga, which was probably the goal of the whole thing outside of establishing where Broly and Paragus fit into the history now. For nostalgic purposes, I enjoyed it, and then felt the initial hype of the actual movie itself starting. I'll even go as far to say that I felt that kid Vegeta and Raditz were the biggest wastes of time I've ever seen in film. There was little to zero point to include them there, simply because anyone new to Dragon Ball wouldn't have given a damn about their feelings on the destruction of their home world.
I've gotten so hollow to Dragon Ball Super's extensive fuckery of giving up consistency and character establishment for fanservice that I honestly missed a few points you brought up, simply so I could enjoy the movie. I agree with practically all of them, and want to complain about a couple of things that you brought up more in depth:
Broly was not better character wise, don't give a fuck what anyone says. One of the most half assed attempts of a cliche Tarzan I've ever seen with the 'mentor/parent killed my only dog to teach me how to be emotionally detached' tacked on. Outright boring, did not make me feel for him, but I appreciate the new direction in how he's not an antagonist bent on destroying everything. Old Broly had more character in that sadistic superiority complex, and I think many people are confusing the notion that we get to see more potential from new Broly in development than the old version as if he already has more character. All in all, New Broly has a platform to do something interesting, but is definitely not more fleshed out or a better character than the old version.
Cheerai is now officially my least favorite character in DB. Starts as an immediate thirst trap with camera panning all over her ass and the "let me flick my boobs with flexible armor while having a normal conversation" mechanic to try and trap people in. It was the one level of bullshit I couldn't tolerate, my buddy actually laughing in the theater next to me when I couldn't help but blurt out, "Stop this shit" when Broly was defending her from the drunk guy trying to cop a feel. Absolutely garbage development, forced asf, and the bond just didn't work. The development would've worked if it showed Broly didn't value them and just sort of went along with it because he has no friends after Cheerai saved him at the final fight. Her being thirsty asf for Broly's friendship is fine, but Broly reciprocating any sort of bond to them is just complete trash. Rewrite the plot to indicate Cheerai's comments are annoying (IE, Cheerai complains about Broly not being a fighter, cuts to Broly laughing and enjoying the battle to spite that notion), and it would capture some of the old fun from DBZ where characters would blatantly be caught dead wrong in their encompassing statements. Rather than what you put, of character's making statements to try and explain character's motivations, and it being contradicted in a manner that makes you annoyed at the poor writing. Then we would get a fun dynamic that I think we might see with Cheerai and Broly, where it'd basically be the same as Goku and Chi-Chi: simpleton guy (Broly/Goku) wants to go out and have fun fighting while supporting character/romantic interest character who annoyingly speaks for him limits that for her own selfish reasons (Cheerai/Chi-Chi).
The Good
The plot of the fights was significantly better in this one. Starting with Vegeta vs Broly: my god, the typical build up of "Oh shit, what's a Super Saiyan?!" from Paragus worked well with the 25 minute prologue. The nostalgia of seeing it be relevant for a few minutes was fantastic, and the fights gave admirable respect to the forms this time around. Vegeta switching to SSG was even well done: seeing a brute who had zero experience in combat struggling to put up a fight against Vegeta upgrading in transformation was a very fun sequence in both cases of SSJ and SSG.
Goku jumping in was boring: was just literally Goku fighting a guy at his level, despite some show of "experience vs brute power". Basically was just sitting there, waiting for him to pull out SSB and force Broly to get to LSSJ (Full power), but it was good animation and typical flash of punches and blasts that you expect from DBZ. Frieza killing Paragus as a means to trigger Broly is a fantastic meme: use of a funny irony to trigger a serious plot mechanic is something I'll always admire from DB in general and glad to see that tradition upheld here. Goku and Vegeta indirectly dumping Broly onto Frieza was also great, fantastic humor from him getting absolutely shit on like an old Tom and Jerry cartoon when the antagonistic villain's plan backfires humorously on him.
Finally, the glorious inclusion of the man himself: Gogeta. Aside from obvious fan service, I actually thoroughly enjoyed how they handled him here: taking elements of fusion's domination in a fight but removing the bad plot mechanics to make it work without ruining Goku and Vegeta's impact on the story. No more extensive pandering/dragging out an established plot mechanic from Vegetto (anime dragged out the "stalling to get absorbed" plot way too long), no "oh shit, power usage forces early defusion" nonsense like SSJ4 Gogeta and Vegetto Blue. Just straight domination from Gogeta first in his immense enjoyment from simply dodging everything from Broly's first engagement, powering up to SSJ to square up with a small edge over SSJ Broly, then advancing to Blue when FP Broly tanked some hits from SSJ Gogeta.
Everything about that fight's progression was great: Gogeta had the edge, was having a blast, and we all knew it. Thoroughly enjoying the test to see if he could push Broly, the raging monster growing stronger and stronger, even higher just for the lols while Broly was clearly starting to hit his ceiling and fighting on like a wild cheetah starting to overheat and inching closer to dying from sprinting for too long in chase for food. The mechanisms created that dynamic so well in both characters: Gogeta, in being masterful and experienced as a fighter, while Broly is written as a brute literally throwing his barbaric power around in a desperate bid to overcome his prey. Gogeta manhandling him in the final portion was easily one of my favorite battles in the entire series, even potentially dethroning Vegetto vs Super Buu for me simply because it was very similar in how it showed the extensive superiority you expect from fusion without the additional filler that dragged it on for too long. It simply did what I felt has been lacking from Dragon Ball for a long time: created a fight where there were two sides you could find depth in. Not just "hey, here's Goku fighting someone you really can see interesting combat dynamic in other than "hey he's strong" or "hey he is a cheater" or a combination of both. Along with showing someone being dominated through means that's not just "fuck, he's so much stronger".
All in all, I say this film is my favorite in the entire lineup of DBZ films by far because of that final battle alone being a better return to old DBZ nuances and performing better fight stories than any other of the movies. It has some major flaws, but I only hope certain things they performed well in this film will make their way into the new series.
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