“Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'” manages to maintain the “Dragon Ball Z” animated film via popcorn action consistency. With a story focused on all-out action and the usual comedy, featuring the return of the Z Warriors taking on a more powerful Frieza, “Dragon Ball Z” fans will be no doubt be excited for this animated film! If you are a DBZ fan, “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'” is recommended!
Image courtesy of © BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, 2015 Dragon Ball Z the movie production committee. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
DURATION: 95 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 16:9, English and Japanese 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, English subtitles
COMPANY: FUNimation
RATED: TV PG
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Original Creator/Character Design by Akira Toriyama
Directed by Tadashi Yamamuro
Screenplay by Akira ToriyamaÂ
Chief Animation Director: Tadayoshi Yamamuro
Music by Norihito Sumitomo
Art Direction by Shinzo Yuki
Anime Production by TOEI ANIMATION
Voice by:
Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel as Son Goku
Ryusei Nakao/Chris Ayres as Frieza
Hikaru Midorikawa/John Burgmeier as Ten Shin Han
Hiromi Tsuru/Monica Rial as Bulma
Kouichi Yamadera/Jason Douglas as Beerus
Masaharu Satou/Mike McFarland as Kame-Sen’nin/Master Roshi
Masakazu Morita/Ian Sinclair as Whis
Masako Nozawa/Kyle Hebert as Son Gohan
Mayumi Tanaka/Sonny Strait as Krillin
Natsuki Hanae/Todd Haberkorn as Jaco
Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Vegeta
Shiro Saito/Jeremy Schwartz as Sorbet
Toshio Furukawa/Chris Sabat as Piccolo
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ is the second Dragon Ball film personally supervised by the series creator Akira Toriyama, following Battle of Gods. The new movie showcases the return of Frieza – one of the anime world’s greatest villains. Frieza has been resurrected and plans to take his revenge on the Z-Fighters of Earth. Goku and Vegeta must reach new levels of power in order to protect Earth from their vengeful nemesis.
As the worldwide popularity of “Dragon Ball Z” continues, a 15th film was released in 2015 titled “Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F” (“Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F”).
The animated film did very well in Japan as it took #1 in the Japanese box office earning over $8.1 million (US) and also did very well internationally. In the US, the film was the first Japanese film to be screened in IMAX 3D and was also screened in Japan at ten 4DX theaters. The $5 million animated film went on to gross over $62.8 million in the box office making it a major box office success in 2015.
And the film was released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation.
The film begins with Frieza’s army featuring Commander Sorbet knowing how bad things are without their leader. But with their Intel which shows that Bulma was not the only human that has the technology to find Dragon Balls, Commander Sorbet and his crew go to Earth in hopes of reviving Frieza by finding Pulaf, Mai and Shu who are in the process of collecting Dragon Balls.
As Sorbet uses the Dragon Ball to revive Frieza, Frieza is briefed on how powerful Son Goku has become, even beating Majin Boo, that he will trained to become even more powerful and will exact his revenge.
As news has traveled throughout space, Jaco the Galactic Patrolman travels to Earth to warn Bulma that Frieza has returned. But Goku and Vegeta are gone and are training on Beerus’ planet with Whis. Which leaves Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Master Roshi, Tien Shinhan and Jaco to take on Frieza and his soldiers.
As the Z Warriors are not powerful enough to take on Frieza, Bulma sends a distress message to Goku and Vegeta, but are both men ready to take on this newly trained Frieza?
VIDEO & AUDIO
It’s important to note that if you want the best video and audio quality of “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'”, the Blu-ray is the way to go. As for the DVD, picture quality is very good (as the best it can get on DVD). Colors are vibrant, the English and Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack features crisp and clear dialogue and music, while there are good use of the surround channels on both soundtracks.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are no special features that came with “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'”.
I happened to be in Japan during the promotion of “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'” and there was no doubt, a lot of excitement for the movie. The battle between Goku and Frieza was one of the biggest anime battles of all time and while there have been many battles showcased on the “Dragon Ball Z” anime series.
I watched the Goku vs. Frieza arc when it first was broadcasted in Japan and was also reading the Japanese “Shonen Jump”, so I was really into these characters and storyline at that time.
So, I have to say that when I found out that Frieza was being revived, while it does make sense, part of me was hoping that the storyline of Frieza’s death would be left alone. As we saw how the storyline in relation to Frieza was played out with his older brother Cooler, for the fifth and sixth movies, there was part of me that wanted to see the Frieza storyline to be left in the past and new villains to be focused on from here on in.
With “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'”, Frieza has been revived and after hearing of how Goku has gotten popular, Frieza decides to train for the first time in his life and has now become even stronger and can achieve “Golden Frieza” mode. And now, a more powerful Goku and Vegeta must take on an even more powerful Frieza, but can they do it?
As a “Dragon Ball” fan, one of the positives of this latest film is to see all Z Warriors making their appearance but one of the biggest surprises for me was to see the Galactic Patrolman, JACO in the film. Having read Akira Toriyama’s JACO one-shot manga (as the manga series shows a relation to Bulma’s family, moreso with her older sister, Tights), it was wonderful to finally seeing this character animated and utilized in a “Dragon Ball Z” film.
But of course, when you have a story that focuses on Frieza, one can expect an intense battle and for the most part, the storyline doesn’t disappoint when it comes to action. But part of the excitement in the past, is that Goku and friends are often pushed to the extreme because the situation is quite dire and we see an intense buildup with many episodes in order to have the ultimate battle between Goku and an antagonist. With a film, there is no true buildup, it’s just a fight and then it’s all over in 95 minutes.
Not to say that it’s bad without the buildup but that’s what made the battles between Goku vs. Piccolo, Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, Majin Boo so exciting! Otherwise, the animated “Dragon Ball Z” films are often quick, popcorn action animated films and are not as satisfying as its TV series counterpart.
When it comes to DBZ animated films, my barometer of best story is the fifth film, “Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan” and have felt the Broly-related DBZ films were so much fun to watch, as didn’t feel rushed.
With “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F'”, the animated film tries to incorporate so many characters and this ongoing bickering between Goku and Vegeta was a bit much. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the animated film and really, to have Frieza as the main antagonist for a DBZ film is huge. So, I had no doubt in my mind that with the resurrection of Frieza, Toei Animation were no doubt wanting to go big with an international release. And for the most part, it paid off as the film did remarkably well in box offices worldwide.
As for the DVD, as mentioned, you will definitely want to go with the Blu-ray release if you want the best video and audio quality. But on DVD, picture quality is good as it can get on DVD. Colors are vibrant and the voice acting for both Japanese and English soundtracks are well-done! The only drag about this DVD release is the lack of special features (aside from FUnimation trailers).
Overall, “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'” manages to maintain the “Dragon Ball Z” animated film via popcorn action consistency. With a story focused on all-out action and the usual comedy, featuring the return of the Z Warriors taking on a more powerful Frieza, “Dragon Ball Z” fans will be no doubt be excited for this animated film!
If you are a DBZ fan, “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘f'” is recommended!
