The
Dragon Ball
movies are an inconsistent mixed bag. They range from beautifully animated, emotional films filled with charm to lazily thrown-together products with nothing of value to offer besides animation slightly beyond what the television series offers. Due to how long the franchise has been going on for, and how new ones continue to be released, the first impression these films make aren’t always the ones that stick.
Many
Dragon Ball
movies are enjoyable on a first viewing, but lose their luster on a second watch. This can either be because their flaws become more obvious, their story isn’t gripping enough to make a second viewing worthwhile, or a new addition to the series can make their existence redundant. These aren’t the worst
Dragon Ball
films, but they definitely shouldn’t be considered among the best.
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies Is a Sloppy Re-Telling of the Pilaf Saga
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies’ Original Plot Isn’t Too Interesting
The first ever
Dragon Ball
movie,
Curse of the Blood Rubies
is
decent on a first viewing
.
It offers a recap of the Pilaf Saga’s highlights
, while also telling its own original story about Pansy and Gurumes. While it has some atmospheric art and music, and the climax perfectly captures the film’s themes, it’s ultimately held back by its premise.
There are numerous ways to enjoy the events of the Pilaf Saga, and
Dragon Ball:
Curse of the Blood Rubies
simply isn’t the best way to do so. It rushes through the material, wasting its potential and making a mess in the process. Adequate as Pansy’s tale is, it definitely isn’t enough to carry the rest of the film.
Dragon Ball: Mystic Journey is an entertaining experience that starts strong but crumbles towards the conclusion.
The overall “Dragon Ball” mystical adventure feels weaker than the sum of its individual scenes.
The final one from the initial group
Dragon Ball
movies,
Mystical Adventure
it is utterly delightful. For much of its duration, it excels brilliantly.
merging and reinterpreting components from both the Red Ribbon Army saga and the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament storyline
, while incorporating its own unique narrative. Despite getting many things right, it unfortunately doesn’t manage to conclude effectively.
In its third act,
Dragon Ball:
Mystical Adventure
feels a lot like
Curse of the Scarlet Rubies
Although it adeptly establishes all its plotlines and tensions, the movie runs short on time, leading to a series of rushed and unfulfilling conclusions. Despite featuring numerous impressive moments, this unfortunately prevents the film from fully standing on its own.
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might is just as generic as many of the subsequent movies that follow it.
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might fails to make good use of its most distinctive features.
The third installment in the series,
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might
is accountable for starting the equation that most of
DBZ
movies closely follow
It marks the beginning of numerous movies featuring a standard, universal antagonist attacking Earth, accompanied by an array of eccentric sidekicks, where the Z-Fighters prove incapable until Goku comes to the rescue. Initially, this movie might seem decent upon initial viewing; however, watching subsequent films that mimic its plot makes revisiting it quite difficult.
The biggest disappointment of
The Tree of Might
It had the capability to set itself apart from its follow-ups, yet it failed to do so. The inclusion of characters like Tien Shenhan, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu in the film is appealing, but they remain inactive. Additionally, Icarus’ presence here pales in comparison to his role elsewhere.
Lord Slug
Even Turles, the ultimate “villainous Goku” character, is just too uninteresting to evoke engagement.
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge is visually appealing but lacks depth.
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge offers nothing beyond exciting action sequences.
The fifth
DBZ
movie,
Cooler’s Revenge
, follows a predictable pattern but executes it effectively. The plot is straightforward,
Just watching Cooler assault Earth and get halted by Goku.
, yet its combat is excellent, and its artwork and animations are stunning. For fans deeply invested in the television show’s style of action, this stands out as an easy recommendation.
the best
Dragon Ball
films
of its era.
Stylish as
Cooler’s Revenge
Indeed, art and action can only propel a film so far. Besides those who have a penchant for it,
DBZ
for its action exclusively, it has no value to anyone. Since its release in the ’90s, there have been a plethora of better-animated
Dragon Ball
movies with much better fights.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan Pales in Comparison to Its Remake
Dragon Ball Super: Broly Outshines Its Preceding Installment
The eighth
DBZ
movie,
Broly – TheLegendary Super Saiyan
, is leagues better than the five films that directly preceded it. It has a longer runtime, which it uses to tell a semblance of an actual story, and it cleverly expands upon the lore of the series.
Broly – TheLegendary Super Saiyan
‘s art and animation are phenomenal, and
One of the finest action scenes from the shonen anime genre during that time period is Broly’s thrashing of the Z-Fighters.
Nevertheless, despite all its correct elements, it remains an average movie and one that has become obsolete now.
Without question,
Dragon Ball Super: Broly
is the best
Dragon Ball
The movie of all time. In each and every category a film can be evaluated against, it outshines its source of inspiration.
Broly – TheLegendary Ultra Saiyan
, emerging from the water, with the additional advantage of staying true to the source material. Having encountered this much more effective implementation of the ’90s movies’ concepts, returning to previous versions seems impossible now.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming Dumps Its Storyline for an Inferior Action Sequence
Videl, Goten, and Trunks’ Initial Tale Merited Its Own Film
The tenth
DBZ
movie,
Broly – Second Coming
, is a highly underrated entry in the series. From the start,
teaming up Goten and Trunks with Videl makes for a unique and hilarious dynamic
This exclusive content cannot be discovered elsewhere, and the storyline they get entangled in throughout their Dragon Ball quest is utterly captivating. Despite the movie losing some momentum in its latter part, it manages to recover impressively with its conclusion, highlighted by the memorable Family Kamehameha scene.
As delightful as the initial part of
Broly – Second Coming
On a second viewing, a fan realizes that the plot fails to go anywhere significant. Knowing this, there’s little reason to endure Broly’s subpar confrontation with Goten, Trunks, and Videl, or his inconsequential battle with Gohan. Without Broly in the film, it might well have become one of the greatest entries in the series.
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly fails to maintain concentration on its strongest aspects.
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly Dives Downward as Soon as Its Main Antagonist Shows Up
The eleventh
DBZ
movie,
Bio-Broly
is frequently mentioned as the poorest installment in the series. Although this assertion is entirely incorrect, and it’s quite libelous to suggest such a thing,
same category as
Super Android 13
and
The Return of Cooler
, it certainly doesn’t justify repeated viewings. Although the initial sections of the movie are enjoyable,
It’s all downhill after Broly makes his appearance.
.
In yet another installment, Broly’s appearance once again disrupts the enjoyable and unconventional group dynamic by substituting all appeal with monotonous action sequences. This time, viewers have to sit through scenes where he acts more like an enormous ooze creature than anything else.
Bio-Broly
Is worthy of a one-time viewing for all the enjoyable moments featuring Goten, Trunks, Android 18, and Mr. Satan, but it doesn’t warrant repeated watchings.
Dragon Ball: The Journey to Power Adds No Fresh Elements to the Series
Dragon Ball: The Journey to Power is an aesthetically pleasing film but fails to maintain long-term appeal.
In terms of overall execution,
The Path to Power
is better than nearly every single
Dragon Ball
and
Dragon Ball Z
film
. The blend of late ’90s movie-quality animation with the series’ original art style is positively stunning, and it finds ways to make its re-telling of events from the Pilaf and Red Ribbon Army Sagas feel fresh. Still, it can’t escape the same pitfalls as the other recap movies when it comes to how re-watchable it is.
The earliest parts of
Dragon Ball
‘s story have been re-packaged so many times, and
The Path to Power
isn’t the best way to experience them due to how it rushes things. Moments like Goku playing with Android 8 and Goku’s power-up against Staff Officer Black are incredible, but they also can’t change how incomplete the story is. There are few better ways to introduce someone to
Dragon Ball
than this movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth coming back to.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ Was Highly Overrated at the Time of its Initial Release
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ is just as poor as any of the 1990s Dragon Ball Z movies.
Dragon Ball Z
‘s final theatrical release,
Resurrection ‘F’
It received acclaim from audiences upon its debut for being one of the finest films in the series, and it was notably lauded for having a genuine cinematic feel. In reality,
It’s actually fairly weak.
DBZ
films, barely better than the likes of
Lord Slug
. It only tricked people the way it did because, on a first viewing, it’s all too easy to be dazzled by the movie’s extremely high production values, flashy transformations, and fan-service.
On a second viewing, it’s clear that
Resurrection ‘F’
has a paper-thin story, weak characters, no tension, and zero creativity. Looking back on it in 2025, it’s even possible to see how it’s subtly responsible for many of the issues that plague
Dragon Ball Super
. For those who’ve never seen the movie, it isn’t even worth a single viewing.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Had All the Right Ideas to Be a Better Film Than It Is
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Has an Unnecessarily Forced Climax
As the most recent
Dragon Ball Super
movie,
Super Hero
isn’t bad at all
. It’s visually stupendous,
it has a distinct identity as a film about Gohan, Piccolo, and Pan
, and its first two-thirds are filled with creativity and heart. It’s just unfortunate that, on a second viewing, one knows from the start that its third act is a total train wreck.
For its climax,
Dragon Ball Super:
Super Hero
Discards the concept of originality by recycling Gohan’s legendary showdown with Cell. The concluding fight against Cell Max is so cringe-worthy that even introducing a fresh transformation for Gohan feels abrupt and misplaced, particularly since Piccolo should be the central figure. Given that Piccolo doesn’t get his proper closure, revisiting this movie serves little purpose.