Anime A laugh riot and an epic slugfest in one film.
Battle of Gods might personally be one of my favorite DBZ movies of all time. And that is mostly due to several things. One is it that it is good with balancing humor and action.
The story is not that complicated and actually surprisingly chill compared to the other movies. A good portion of the movie takes place at Bulma's birthday party where Vegeta and the others are trying to keep Beerus entertained and have many casual moments that one doesn't normally get to see. Also there is a little subplot with Pilaf and his gang, who recently have been turned to children due to unexpected consequences of wishing to be young again, trying to steal the Dragon Balls. Even though it doesn't really affect the movie it still nice for these three to appear, especially for those who did watch the original Dragonball.
When the action finally does show up, it can be simply breathtaking at times. Unlike other movies which go for style over substance, much of the fighting in this movie are fast melee brawls, and really the only time when energy attacks appear is in the climax of the film. Also the movie has a bit of an unexpected twist compared to the other movies, which I found a bit refreshing.
Beerus easily steals the show. You would think of a character who is a God of Destruction, he would be a super threatening and serious character. While yes, he still is threatening, he is actually very amusing in his mannerisms. He can be polite and sarcastic one minute, to near stark raving mad the next. He does have a couple moments in the film though that I think does ruin his image a bit in hindsight. Namely the way he treated King Vegeta and ordered Frieza to blow up Planet Vegeta anyway. Nevertheless, I feel this arguably makes him a little more complex character. At the very least more complex than any of the other movie villains and will be interesting to see him again in future works in the franchise.
The animation is absolutely gorgeous. Whether it's the subtle facial expressions or the awesome fast moving battles, which honestly might easily be the most fluid and fast battles in the Dragonball franchise.
So overall this movie was a blast to watch, with great pacing, great humor, and great fight scenes. Some fans might not like the more lighthearted nature, but those that can enjoy or tolerate it, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Anime Take the Good with the Bad
First of all, Battle of Gods is a movie which further expands the extensive universe of Dragon Ball. It shows us that Vegeta's brother, Tarble, shown in "Yo! The Return of Son Goku and His Friends!" is canon, much to the pleasure of me and many fans. The movie itself is widely considered canon, because it's been co-authored by Akira Toriyama himself. The movie, in turn, also has caused controversy between fans of GT and haters of GT.
This movie, let me get this out of the way, also shows Toriyama's distaste for the infamous Dragon Ball GT, but in very subtle ways as displayed through careful analysis of the movie. For example, in Dragon Ball GT, Pilaf, Mai and Shu happen to be quite aged. In Battle of Gods, they give special attention to the fact that Pilaf accidentally wished for them to become children.
Many characters were Demoted to Extra, unfortunately, they were beloved characters. Most never got the attention they deserved anyway. 18, Yamcha, Krillin, Piccolo and other characters got maximum 10 seconds of screen time. However, we finally get to see that Marron does in fact know and hang out with Trunks and Goten. We also see the return of Gotenks, and Trunks apparently gets Mai as a girlfriend in the end. Vegeta is both made looked like a pussy, but at the same time shows the quality of Rule of Cool. Many fans hated his dance for Beerus, but at the same time loved Roshi's comment of how he had surpassed Goku.
This mostly unbiased review of Battle of Gods will show the pros and cons of the movie. The pros involve: - Introduction of funny characters Bills and Whis - Show character development through Vegeta's willingness to dance for Bills, and his flashback. - Expansion of the DB Universe after a long time, by Toriyama himself. - Made up for the hated Dragon Ball Evolution - Pilaf and his gang being goofy as usual. - Gorgeous animation, especially in the Goku vs. Bills part. - Introduction of the character of Pan.
This movie is not without flaws, of course, these include: - Complete disregard to Dragon Ball GT - Many characters given no attention - Humans having zero relevance in the movie - Unimpressive design of the Super Saiyan God when viewed from a fan of the previous SSJ's - Vegeta surpassing Goku, then Goku just catching up again. - Bad portrayal of Gohan by him getting a bit tipsy.