Movie Review - DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO...

Several hours ago, I watched the latest Dragon Ball film, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, at AMC theaters.

Just like the previous Dragon Ball flicks that were released in North American theaters (such as 2015's Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and 2018's Dragon Ball Super: Broly), Super Hero was a blast to watch!

The opening scene was pretty heavy on exposition (for folks like me who didn't watch the original Dragon Ball TV show and knew nothing about the Red Ribbon Army), but once we're informed about the nefarious plot hatched by Red Ribbon commander Magenta and his right-hand man Carmine, the story starts to take off in Super Hero.

With Goku, Vegeta and Broly still off-world training (a plot continuation from Dragon Ball Super: Broly), it's up to Piccolo to find out what the Red Ribbon Army is up to after Magenta sends one of his new androids, Gamma 2, to try to neutralize him.

With Gamma 2 obviously failing in his attempt on the Namekian's life, Piccolo discovers that Magenta is not only building androids to eliminate Piccolo, Gohan (Goku's son for the totally-uninitiated reading this review) and the Capsule Corporation—run by Bulma, Vegeta's wife—but he is also developing an updated version of Cell...the creature that Gohan defeated after Dragon Ball Z's Frieza Saga, and whom I didn't know was also a creation of the Red Ribbon Army until I saw this movie! (I only watched a few episodes of the Cell Saga when it aired on the Cartoon Network over 20 years ago, FYI.)

Numerous plot developments after this discovery leads to a final battle between the updated Cell (known as Cell Max) and Piccolo (who became Orange Piccolo thanks to Shenron, the Eternal Dragon earlier in the film), Gohan, his younger brother Goten, Trunks, Krillin and his wife Android 18.

I won't spoil how this climactic battle ends, but it's a nice parallel to how the original Cell was defeated in his Dragon Ball Z saga years earlier.

The final scene of Super Hero hints at another Dragon Ball feature film lurking on the horizon—with Pan, the daughter of Gohan—showing that she's on the path to becoming a great Saiyan warrior like her father, Grandpa Goku, Goten, Trunks and Vegeta before her. I can't wait for that next installment!

Two final notes:

1.) Dr. Hedo, the mastermind who helped Magenta build Cell Max and Gamma 2 (as well as his twin android Gamma 1), looks suspiciously like Gru from the Despicable Me and Minions movies...

And

2.) Gohan's final transformation in the climax of Super Hero reminds me of Ultra Saiyan Spar (below)—a character that I created in college over 20 years ago! Click here to read my fanfic about this Dragon Ball SF (as in Strike Force) character!