Dragon Ball - Mystical Adventure [DVD]

Although I have this on DVD, I ordered this so I could make a music video for this movie with the song that played during the credits, Dragon Ball Legend. Forget what I said about Path To Power being one of my all-time favorites. It's really in my top 15, and only because the last 20 minutes provide a better resolution to the Red Ribbon Army Saga than we got in the anime. This movie is a huge improvement overall. It's easily one of my top 5 Dragon Ball/Z/GT movies ever.

Despite Funimation's less-than-flawless record on the dub of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, this English version is pulled off quite nicely. For those who don't know, this is Dragon Ball movie #3 (which first appeared in Japanese theaters in 1988), which is in essence a very compacted retelling of the 21st Tenka'ichi Budoukai, Red Ribbon saga and the 22nd Tenka'ichi Budoukai, squished into about 50 minutes and with a bunch of different events than the main timeline. That's not to say it's not good, though.Ceyli Delgadillo (the voice of Dende in the English version of DBZ) voices Goku, and does pretty well. The only downside is that she is much too soft-spoken to play the loud, brash Son Goku, which results in a lot of her lines sounding forced. Though I initially had thought that Stephanie Nadolny (young Gohan's VA in DBZ dub seasons 3 and 4) wouldn't have done as good a job in the role as Goku, had she been cast instead, the new Dragon Ball series dub has shown otherwise, so... I guess I would have preferred her voicing the main character. Other than that, the voices were cast quite well. For those of you who are fans of Akira Toriyama's other big hit, "Dr. Slump," there is a cameo of Arale and Gat-chan, which FUNi manages to pull of near flawlessly, especially considering no backstory is given and few DBZ fans (except some of the hardcore otaku) have heard of it.A nice perk throughout the whole movie is that they use the original music, right down to the opening theme, "Makafushigi Adventure", and the closing theme (for this movie, anyway) "Dragon Ball Densetsu". It's a refreshing change of pace from the Levy or Faulconer crap that we're subjected to on a daily basis on the English version of DBZ. At times, the music's a bit quiet, but it's still audible, and nowhere near as quiet as it is in the dubs of, say Sailor Moon S or Super S.This video does have some problems. For one thing, the names of its main villains have been changed. Tsurusen'nin (the Crane Hermit, who trained with Roshi under Master Mutaito) has been changed to "Master Shen". Although "Master Roshi" was derived from "Muten Roushi" ("Martial Arts God, Venerable Teacher"), "Master Shen" appears to have been pulled out of someone's...well, you get the idea. Of course, this also spoils the "shen"/"Kami" (God) pun that's present in the 23rd Budoukai (which FUNimation got around by changing the _real_ Shen's name to "Hero"). Also, T'ao Paipai (a skilled assassin who is hired by the Red Ribbon Army in the series) has been changed to "General Tao" (although this was changed to the somewhat more-accurate "Mercenary Tao" for the series dub). His signature attack, the Dodon-pa, comes through fine the first time, but after that, he calls it the "dodon ray". Of course, Tenshinhan/Tien's attack, the Kikou-hou, has been changed to "Tri-beam", but that was expected. General Blue also makes a brief appearance in the movie, and the thing about him is that he was VERY effeminate (possibly gay) in the original, with a hilarious, girlish laugh. The English voice for this movie is much more masculine, and not as funny (again, this was rectified in the series dub).There is one odd visual thing that happens at the end of the movie, as well. When the credits come up, they come up half-screen, on a blue background, where only half of the action can be seen. After seeing the DVD, it is clear that this was done to cover up the Japanese credits, but I think Funimation could have done it differently...apparently, they felt so too, because since this tape came out, every other dubbed DB and DBZ movie release has had the original credits shrink down to size so none of the image is lost.Anyway, it's a good job, but I still got the DVD to hear Masako Nozawa (her name is synonymous with Son Goku... and Gohan... and Goten). I noticed a few things, though... the animation of the opening is altered slightly in the dub (to eliminate the Japanese opening credits) and for some strange reason, the dub's title card is missing from the DVD, even though it was present on the tape. The Japanese one is present, so I'm not sure exactly what happened.So... if you have the choice, get the DVD, but the tapes are good for at least a rental.

This was the first feature film based on the original DB series that I watched, and it literally blew me away! Dragonball Z is always touted as being faster than Dragonball, yet this movie is more frenetic than any battle against Cell, Cooler, Frieza, Lord Slug, Majin Buu, or any other part of the DBZ story. Speaking of story, this story doesn't quite fit into the original DB storyline (since when is Chiaotzu the emperor? and since when is Master Shen and the Red Ribbon Army working for Chiaotzu? And for gosh sake, why is Emperor Pilaf working for the red Ribbon Army!?). Ah, but who cares? We get to see Goku and Krillin kick some serious butt here, plus appearances from almost every great villain in the series. It's a little too frenetic, but it's still a lot of fun. Plus, we get to see Tien and Chiaotzu's friendship unfold. But the best scene of all is when Bulma and Launch pose as nuns on a pilgrimage as they try to sneak into the palace to steal the dragonballs. If you have no idea who these characters are, I suggest you introduce yourself to Dragonball through one of the sagas, but preferably not through this or the other features. Same goes for my other DB/DBZ reviews, because I'm not going to summarize the entire series for you (check the Dragonball web site for that). Anyway, this is a great story for all you fans of Goku and his friends. Kamehameha!

What's on this DVD? Dragon Ball Movie 3: Mystical Adventure.The cover of this DVD is realy nice. FUNimation usually restrict themselfs to a simple screencapture, but this one had more work put into it. As always, it includes the splash with the 'Includes two versions...'. Let's open the DVD. Again, no insert. A little card with the chapters, would be nice. Oh well, you aren't buying it for that ofcourse, but it would still be nice. The DVD itself has the same picture as the cover.As we insert the DVD, the FBI warning comes op, followed by the FUNimation logo. The menu is simple, yet pretty. We see a picture of Tsuru-sennin (Kame-sennin's rival, and former trainer of Tenshinhan and Chouzu) looking at his giant Dragon Ball Radar. But -get this- FUNi actualy used the Japanese music in the menus! Nice. You can immeadiatly play the film, or first select a language, or scene. There's also extra's. Well, extra's...It's just some commercials for FUNimations other Dragon Ball products. Come on, this can be better.Let's play the film. I reccomend you select the original Japanese version, for it has the best acting, dialouge and music. The picture quality is great. And I do mean GREAT. For something this old, it cannot get better. Not one rainbow or flickering. Great job, FUNi. The Japanese audio is in MONO, so don't expect the best quality. Still, it's good enough, and after a while, you won't notice. The DUB audio is in Stereo.Again, Steve "Daimao" Simmons translations of the Japanese versions are great. The only problem with the subtitles is that they sometimes move a bit fast, so be prepared to read fast.Pro's:-Great video quality-Japanese version, with great translationCon's:-Extra'sVideo: 10/10Audio: 8/10Extra's: 1/10Final score(Not an average): 9/10. If you want to see Dragon Ball in all it's glory, get this.