Review of Dragon Ball Z: The Strongest Guy In The World

Introduction

It`s Dragonball time again, as another animated adventure falls into my lap to be reviewed. The last disc I reviewed was a bit of a laugh, but I had reservations diving into the deep end of a series without little or no introduction. But as this is the second disc, I suppose I`m a little more familiar with the characters, and hopefully I`ll enjoy it more.

The Earth of the future is guarded by an eclectic bunch of superheroes led by the mighty Goku, with powers conferred by the seven crystal Dragonballs. When these balls are brought together, they summon an almighty dragon that has the ability to grant a single wish. This disc, The Strongest Guy In The World begins as those very same balls are being used to summon the dragon. The supplicant uses his wish to release the evil Dr Whello from his icy prison. Dr Whello is an expert in cybernetics who, like evil geniuses since time immemorial wishes to rule the world. Being a disembodied brain is a bit of a drag, so he`s looking for the most powerful guy in the world to donate his body. That would happen to be Goku of course, and he`s got a sentimental attachment to his body. That`s a cue for one of those earth-shattering titanic battles. But this time there is a sting in the tail, as Goku will be up against a familiar face in his battle for supremacy.

Video

The picture is perfectly adequate 4:3 transfer. The image is sharp and colourful and on the whole quiet satisfactory. Naturally the animation isn`t up to the standards of a theatrical production, but certainly isn`t as static as the dismal Pokemon cartoons.

Audio

The sound is a DD 2.0 English mix, with no added bells and whistles and the dialogue is mostly clear and audible. There aren`t any subtitles and the dubbing is horrendous once again.

Features

The disc comes with four chapters and animated menus. There are also a couple of weblinks. Finally there are six digital representations of trading cards, with the Dragonball Z heroes and villains portrayed with their statistics on the flipsides. It`s interesting trivia to be sure, but somewhat difficult to play top trumps with.

Conclusion

Well, it`s my second Dragonball adventure, and I`m beginning to get into the swing of things. The stories are never going to set the world alight, and there seems to be a simple formula to these things. Evil awakens or arrives, deals a setback to our heroes, then is eventually bested in the kind of battle that makes Neo`s final confrontation with Agent Smith in The Matrix Revolutions look like a playground brawl, between five year olds, five-year-old girls that is. There`s plenty of light relief with goofy characters interacting with the kids in Goku`s pack of heroes, and it`s a nice sunny kids teatime cartoon. Not mentioning the uber-violence and the painful deaths suffered by the bad guys.

It`s wholly predictable and derivative stuff, but it`s done with a lot of freshness and energy. It`s not intellectually challenging, and it`s hardly the Simpsons, but that doesn`t matter. This is one of those old shows like Thundercats or He-Man that we rarely see on TV anymore. It`s simple good guys versus bad guys action and remains constant in its own universe. It`s the kind of routine that the best eighties programmes are known for, the kind of seen one, seen them all mentality which can be a comfort at times.

And like all good kids cartoons, it ends with the good guys all together at the end enjoying a good heart laugh, although in this instance it is the most worrying collection of psychotic laughs I have ever heard.

Dragonball, it`s a bit of a laugh really.