Released in Japan in 1989, we didn't get it in America until 1997 with Pioneer doing the dub, then getting the Uncut version in 2005 with the Funimation dub. This movie takes place before the Saiyan saga and the original anime series. So, this fits between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z with Goku and Piccolo still being rivals and Gohan being 4 years old. This is the early days of the series, so a lot of the favorite characters and powers are not here, but I am putting in a spoiler warning right now. If you haven't seen it, where have you been for the last twenty years?
The Pros- The action is that of the classic series. It is fun to watch, but simple. I enjoy that in older anime. While newer anime is super flashy in the action, it is nice to go back and watch a classic action anime and see the simplicity. It may not have all the characters, but it does have the big three that helped make the entire series; Goku, Piccolo, and Gohan. The early days of the series and the Saiyan Saga did focus on these three the most, and putting them in this movie as the focus was the best they could have done with this movie. I did watch the Funimation Dub and the voice acting is actually good. They fit the characters and you get that idea really well especially when Goku and Piccolo are talking to each other during the fit. You still feel the tension between them and that is thanks to the voice actors. The movie's voice actors do have a good look to them and they feel like they really would fit in the series, by how they look. I mean they did bring back Garlic Jr. for a filler season between the Frieza Saga and the Android Saga, so someone in development like him. Since it is the uncut version, we do get more that was cut from the Pioneer version we originally got and fills in a couple plot holes as well, making the uncut version feel more like a complete story and it is the better version overall.
The Cons- The villains may look cool, but they aren't interesting outside of that. The three henchmen are all stupid (they really lack intelligence) and Garlic Jr's only motive is... He's just evil. We get some things about his father, but it doesn't justify it at all. He's just evil. While the dub is well voice acted, it also feels edited at the same time. Partly because they don't say certain things on purpose. For example, Gohan eats a fermented fruit and instead of saying it's fermented, the villain just says, "It'll make you weird." Not the best way to put that. It can feel unnatural at times and those moments can be distracting. I'm going to be blunt, the same scene where Gohan (4 years old) eats a fermented fruit and it leads to the most pointed scene I have ever seen in all of the Dragon Ball Z movies. It doesn't serve any purpose other than the joke that, the kid is drunk. Do the Japanese really find something like that funny? The movie actually doesn't have much action in it. It is pretty slow in that regard. It has a fight at the beginning and on big scene at the end. Other films can have this problem, but this is one of the slowest ones. It is only 50 minutes long, and it feels like it drags itself... Kind of like the entire series (Prove me wrong).
Final Thoughts: This isn't the best Dragon Ball Z movie, but it isn't the worst either. It is kind of a fair way to introduce people to the series because it has the same good and bad things in the Dragon Ball Z series, and it is before things started getting over the top and crazy with all the characters and the action, so it is a good introduction. If you are younger, you would probably enjoy it more even with the dub. Any die hard anime fan would probably recommend watching it with the subtitles, but I will leave that to the person and not on recommendations. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out, but know that it is technically a prequel to the show.
