Japan 1989 41m Directed by: Daisuke Nishio. Starring: Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa, Hiromi Tsuru, Mayumi Tanaka, Daisuke Gôri, Mayumi Shô, Kôhei Miyauchi, Takeshi Aono, Kenji Utsumi, Akira Kamiya, Kôji Totani, Yukitoshi Hori, Shigeru Chiba. Music by: Shunsuke Kikuchi, Mark Menza.
In order to wish for immortality and avenge his father, Garlic Jr. collects the dragon balls, kidnapping Goku's son Gohan in the process. Goku, Kami, Piccolo, and Krillin unite to rescue Gohan and save the world from being sucked into a dead zone.
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The beginning of the needlessly long line of DBZ movies actually started off fairly smoothly. "The Dead Zone," the first DBZ movie, takes place before the Saiyans even arrive on Earth and before the major plot lines of the series, in a magical time before DBZ movies became a dime a dozen (or even a dime for all 13!).
The Dead Zone, being strictly a martial arts film and not essentially a DBZ movie in feel or tone, isn't necessarily a great feature in its own right, but it comes the closest in visual or tone to being a feature at all. The visuals and animation are a lot smoother, with the actual fight sequences emphasized over, say, the Saiyans powering up and shooting holes through each other. The setting is also appropriate enough and doesn't feel constrictive, and is actually quite appealing to watch. In fact, out of the first six movies (the only ones I've actually seen, heheh...), this may be the most appealing on a visual level (contested possibly by "The World's Strongest," and maybe "The Tree of Might").
Of course, it isn't quite as epic as the rest (after all, Broly eventually shows up and wipes out a galaxy), and fans looking strictly for SS Vegeta or SS2 Goku will be disappointed. The villains are forgettable (and would've been forgotten, if Garlic Jr. hadn't gotten his own saga on the TV show), even if they are a bit surprising (after all, he still had the Dead Zone). The musical score is taken from the juvenile, seldom-heard "Dragon Ball" cartoons, making it feel less like a real DBZ movie and more of a throwback to the original Dragon Ball cartoon.
Highlights: Gohan powering up for possibly the first time ever and F^6&*^ING PWNING THAT M&*%ER F&^$^R! Also, the ending reveals a blatant rip-off of "The Phantom Zone," with Garlic Jr. pounding on his prison from inside a shard of glass.
Final ruling: The first and last real martial arts movie in the DBZ series. If you want some "realistic" fight sequences, along with the history of Garlic Jr. and Gohan, at least give it a screening.
Review by jasonmadrid from the Internet Movie Database.