ANI-MOVIES, *Dragonball Super: Broly

Being the first DBZ movie under the Super label, this was meant as a follow up to the Dragonball Super anime series, although whether its officially canon is slightly up in the air. The character of Broly was featured in three other Dragonball films, but none of them have been in the same continuity, and more of an expanded universe, which is what Dragonball GT eventually came to be accepted as. This movie introduces the "legendary Super-Saiyan" into the established timeline, but fitting all the events previously covered in Dragonball Super. Unlike the previous theatrical Dragonball releases, this was co-produced with 20th Century Fox Japan along with Toei.

The first part of the movie retcons alot of the origins of the Saiyan race, which apparently excludes Goku's father Bardock getting psychic powers allowing him to see Planet Vegeta's destruction. Paragus, a prideful Saiyan, resents his unpredictably powerful son Broly being exiled to a far off planet by King Vegeta, and chases after him just as Frieza nukes their homeworld. Jump a few decades, sometime after the Universal Survivor Arc, Frieza is alive again after helping save his own universe, and sends some of his low level flunkies to get the Dragonballs on Earth, all so he can wish himself to be taller. Meanwhile, a pair of Frieza Force minions rescue Paragus and Broly from their outcast to join Frieza's team. All this activity gets Goku and Vegeta's attention as the last Dragonball in the North Pole, where Frieza sicks Broly on Vegeta. After a major tussle between the Saiyan prince and outcast, Goku steps in, but Broly beats him two even in his Super-Saiyan Blue form. Goku and Vegeta teleport away and try to perform fusion, all while Broly stomps the tar out of Frieza in his gold form for a solid hour. Now combined to be "Gogeta", the 2-in-1 Saiyan nearly ends Broly, while turning the Arctic into a volcanic wasteland. Broly was fortunate to make friends with his original rescuers who use the Dragonballs to wish him back to his home planet. Goku seems to not have any problem with this as he teleports their later on with some supplies from Earth, hoping to sometime spar with Broly again just because he enjoys the challenge.

Again, it's not confirmed if this movie is officially part of the Dragonball canon, or if it ties into the Super Dragonball Heroes internet series. It does make for a good retrospective of the established Dragonball history, plus establishes a new status quo concerning Earth's heroes and Frieza's reborn empire. The fight scenes are bombastically invigorating, with probably the greatest superpowered melee shots ever done for an anime. The dub keeps the majority of actors from the previous TV dubs, so there's no real shake up in the localization. The film achieved a major success in America, largely due to it getting a direct theatrical run in U.S. theaters, which helped it not only become the highest grossing anime movie in the franchise, but one of the biggest anime blockbusters of all time.