Battle Of Gods English Free
Play Battle of the Gods. The Olympian gods have emerged as the new force in Greece and they are out to end the reign of the Titans, giants of unbelievable strength. Led by Zeus, the likes of Poseidon, Chaos, Uranus and Hestia are waging a real war against Titan leader Atlas and his army that includes Gaia, Chronus, Rhea and Coeus.
Ultimately Battle of Gods is entirely a movie for long-established fans, as it has too many in-jokes that those not familiar with wide swaths of the franchise would get. It is not a stellar. The fight scenes in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods are tremendous. Each punch and kick has a great sense of power behind it, and the way the camera swerves and glides in new 3D angles makes each. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is the first new Dragon Ball Z film in over 17 years. The story and characters within the film were created by the creator of the series, Akira Toriyama. This is by far the best Dragon Ball Z film yet and is honestly a love letter to fans.
Synopsis: | |
A few years after the defeat of Kid Buu, two great events on opposite sides of the universe shake the Dragon Ball multiverse to its foundations. One is the awakening of Beerus, God of Destruction, who arises after a mere 39 years (instead of the usual 50) because of a prophecy that he would encounter an “arch-rival” around this time. Upon learning that Freeza has been slain, Beerus decides to take his manager Whis (“beer” and “whiskey,” you see) and go check out the Super-Saiyan who defeated him, in part because of rumors he had once heard about a supposed Super-Saiyan God. Meanwhile on Earth, Bulma throws a birthday party the way only the richest woman in the world could: with Dragon Balls as the top of many expensive prizes for a bingo contest. Not even the infiltration of an old enemy can stop the fun – that is, of course, until Beerus shows up, after having soundly trounced Goku, who was training on Lord Kai's world. What will Vegeta do to protect his family against Beerus? Can he and the others hold out until Goku arrives, and even then, can they find a way to power up enough to thwart Beerus? Or will Beerus be too distracted by chowing down on Earth delicacies to care? | |
Review: |
Battle of Gods is the 18th movie in the Dragon Ballfranchise but the first new movie since 1996. It is also the first movie in the franchise whose content is considered canon, as original manga-ka Akira Toriyama was reportedly heavily involved and its story can specifically be placed between chapters 517 and 518 of the manga – in other words, about four and a half years into the ten year time skip between episodes 288 and 289 of Dragon Ball Z. (The timing of this can be pinned down precisely because this is the point, chronologically speaking, where Videl first reveals that she is pregnant with Pan.) The vast majority of surviving long-time franchise cast members make at least token appearances, including the reappearance of a villain and his cronies who date back to the original Dragon Ball anime, with the only entirely new characters of consequence being Beerus and Whis. Although advertisements for the movie make it out as one of the typical apocalyptic battle affairs that Dragon Ball Z was well-known for, in execution the emphasis is actually on the franchise's goofy side, to the point that it saps some of the gravitas from the climactic Goku-Beerus battle. Though a being whose very name includes the words “God of Destruction” and who has both Vegeta and even the Kais terrified of him, Beerus lacks the sense of menace that he should have to be a proper DBZ villain; even Majin Buu was more intimidating. He simply engages in too many antics that border on slapstick and reacts too comically to certain situations to be taken completely seriously. Perhaps this was intentional, as his ultimate motives actually seem to be quite different from those of typical DBZ villains and his character is certainly more laid-back than that of a Freeza, Cell, or Buu. Whether intentional or not, though, prospective viewers should definitely expect a more light-hearted affair heavy on jokes, pratfalls, and general silliness (the God of Destruction and Buu tussle over pudding at one point, for instance) and more sparse on action. That isn't to say that there is not a fair amount of high-powered action to be had, but in that regard the movie is less than extraordinary. Despite the souped-up animation, the fight scenes show nothing that has not been seen countless times before in DBZ installments, and Beerus demonstrates no tricks beyond what any other DBZ Play the wizard of oz game. villain has pulled. Sure, Goku finds yet another tier of power-up (with the help of the other Saiyans), but even that does not particularly impress as being all that different from lower levels. The climactic battle does eventually generate a fair amount of tension, but even then it comes nowhere near the epic level of the final showdowns with Freeza or Cell. No, the entertainment value here is more in the comedy, in the allusions to events past in the Dragon Ballfranchise, and in the smaller touches. Seeing the way Trunks and Goten interact is always a joy, especially when Trunks seems to have an unlikely new girlfriend, or in the way the guests at Bulma's party utterly fail to take a hostage situation seriously (much to the dismay of the hostage-takers), or how Beerus and Whis get completely enamored with Earth cuisine. Vegeta is an especially bright star here, both in the pride-sacrificing depths he goes to in order to take Beerus's mind off of destroying Earth and, in perhaps the movie's highlight scene, the fire he gets in him when Bulma is endangered. A new generation makes its official entrance (sort of) and little treats like how even Piccolo can get into the bingo game, or how Lord Kai's planet ended up so small, abound. These are the aspects that make the movie memorable, not the fights. Animation production once again goes to Toei Animation, who seemed to be trying to give the franchise an updated production aesthetic while still retaining the original look and feel. The result is a movie which looks like a spruced-up TV episode. For its fight scenes it uses all sorts of fancy CG-enhanced perspective-shifting shots to give the sense of a mobile camera (somewhat like what Attack on Titan did in certain highlight scenes), but as often as not that gimmickry actually makes the fights harder to follow. Battle auras are more commonly done with CG enhancements, too, which between that and the way character designs are handled sometimes creates stark contrasts between character animation and background art. Despite the flaws, though, the animation is still a decided upgrade from the TV series episodes. Long-established character designs vary from those in DBZ only in appropriate aging (or de-aging in certain cases), while the design of Beerus is supposedly based on a Cornish Rex cat. Background art and graphic content conform to TV series standards; if you would not hesitate to show the TV series to younger viewers then you should not hesitate to show them the movie, either. The musical score for the movie does nothing particularly remarkable. The Japanese dub, which was not available for review, uses a couple of new voice actors in supporting roles, but the English dub cast is entirely carried over from Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball Kai, with voice actors for Funimation's dubs of Dragon Ball and DBZ being used in places where characters either will not appear in Kai or have yet to appear there. Jason Douglas, who voiced King Cold in DBZ but is probably better-known for roles like Bandoh in Elfen Lied, Doug in Kurau: Phantom Memory, or Gildarts in Fairy Tail, fits nicely as the somewhat mercurial Beerus and Ian Sinclair (Dandy in Space Dandy) works just fine as the more level-headed Whis. Essentially, if one never had issue with the English dub for the TV series then the dub for this movie should not be an issue, either. Ultimately Battle of Gods is entirely a movie for long-established fans, as it has too many in-jokes that those not familiar with wide swaths of the franchise would get. It is not a stellar addition to the franchise but is a worthwhile and at least moderately entertaining one, provided that one does not go into it expecting an action magnum opus. |
Grade: | |
Overall (dub) : B- Animation : B Music : B- + Quite funny at times, Vegeta has some shining moments, several nice tidbits for long-time fans. − Animation/background integration is not smooth in places, battle scenes can be hard to follow, fights show nothing really new. | |
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Synopsis: | |
After years of planet-shattering conflict, Earth has finally entered an era of peace, and the heroes of Dragonball are enjoying some much-needed rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, that peace is doomed to be short-lived, as the awakening of God of Destruction Beerus promises to herald a new age of, well, destruction. Beerus has been dreaming of a fight with a mythical Super Saiyan God, and unless he gets his wish, it's very likely the Earth itself will be the first casualty of a new era of death and destruction. | |
Review: |
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods is a work that turns back the clock in a couple of ways. The first, most obvious one is that it leaps back in the timeline - the film takes place right at the end of Dragon Ball Z, in a happy post-Buu neutral. The movie assumes you're already perfectly familiar with the Dragon Ball cast - there's an amusing minute-and-a-half recap that's essentially a highlight reel of Goku playing whack-a-mole with the show's villains, but you'll be lost if you aren't already familiar with Dragon Ball's extended family of characters. This isn't a standalone narrative, it's a reunion tour. How to beat roulette in casino. All the major faces get a moment or two to shine, there's plenty of gags between the main cast, and most of the film's running time actually consists of people hanging out at Bulma's birthday party. Which leads into the film's second element of clock-turning - the overall mood of the piece. Battle of the Gods marks the first time Akira Toriyama has been involved in the franchise in a very long time, and his presence is clearly felt in the tone of the film. The story here feels more Dragon Ball than Z - a lighthearted adventure with a beloved cast, with far more time spent on gags than action. “Bulma has a party and then Goku fights a guy” is definitely a less snappy title than “Battle of the Gods,” but that's pretty much what you're getting here. And even the first titular God, Beerus, is more of an endearing frenemy than a Cell-like menace. Beerus actually manages to steal the show in Battle of the Gods - if anyone has to destroy the earth, I'd prefer it be an endearingly lazy and prideful god like this guy. His vague space-Egyptian aesthetic is really just an excuse to make a villain who's an actual cat - from his physical mannerisms (constant yawning, licking his “paws”) to his desires (an even mix of naps and food) and even his overall personality (brittle, proud, self-serious but constantly making a fool of himself), Beerus embodies everything that makes cats endearing. In contrast to more tonally serious villains like Cell or even Vegeta, Beerus is introduced by waking from a nap, walking off a floating platform, and then falling down only when he realizes he's standing in midair. That roadrunner gag pretty much sets the tone for his character - he'll destroy the earth, sure, but only because he never got to try the pudding. The film's plot is about as minimalist as you can get, and really just acts as a vehicle for the film's gags and fight scenes. Bulma's throwing a birthday party, everyone's having fun together, suddenly Beerus wakes up, decides he wants to fight a Super Saiyan God, and so rushes around the universe interrogating saiyans until someone at Bulma's party makes him angry and he decides to destroy the earth. That setup allows for plenty of both joking and fighting - the highlights in a movie like this are things like Vegeta making a fool of himself in order to keep Beerus happy at the party, or Piccolo cursing earthling bingo because he didn't win any prizes. It's light and fluffy even with Beerus's threats hanging overhead, and though the extended edition's pacing drags at times, little of the content feels wholly superfluous. The early stuff is engaging enough that when the fights come, they seem like a pleasant surprise, not a reward for your suffering. And don't worry, Battle of the Gods definitely has plenty of fighting. In spite of its cultural ubiquity, Dragon Ball Z's fight scenes weren't generally very good. There was the issue of pacing, of course, but the lack of animation often meant they felt like watching people play a videogame you weren't any good at, and thus required someone else to explain everything for you. Toei have gone all-out for Battle of the Gods, and so that problem is completely erased here. The fights are fast-paced but easy to follow, making them dramatically satisfying purely as an exchange of beams and blows. Both Goku and Vegeta get their moments in the sun, and when the final confrontation between Goku and Beerus arrives, the film stretches its visual muscles with mixed but generally positive results. Dragon Ball Z has never been a particularly beautiful show, and Battle of the Gods doesn't really change this. Its designs are clean and iconic, and the introduction of Beerus allows for some lovely celestial backgrounds, but the film generally sticks to the visual aesthetic of the original show. The fight scenes feature a few standout moments of beautiful animation, and the effects animation in particular is worth noting - there's a great sense of flow and volume to the beams, clouds, and rubble of conflict. Unfortunately, the film's CG integration is much less graceful. Though the fights rarely resort to actually using CG models for the characters, there are a number of sequences where the characters either interact with CG backgrounds or simply fly through them, and there's a clear and jarring disconnect between the traditionally animated characters and their CG-animated environments. It's like a somewhat less drastic version of the old “driving in a car” film trick, where characters in a foreground vehicle would be transposed against a projected background. This is fortunately only used for a couple major sequences, but it's definitely a distraction from what are supposed to be some of the film's most dramatic moments. The score is more consistent, featuring the same alternation of subdued gag-ready tracks and guitar-driven action music you're accustomed to. The Big Animation setpiece in Goku and Beerus's final fight is matched with a suitable pop-rock insert song, and the sound effects still zoom and whoosh as they always have. As someone who grew up with Dragon Ball Z in English, the dub here actually sounds more natural and charismatically written than usual. There's sometimes a bit of a disconnect between the more pratfall-friendly animation and modernized dialogue (“Fine, I'll suck it up and go”), but the script overall matches the lovingly irreverent tone of the film itself, meaning I'd recommend sticking with whichever voice track you're accustomed to. The extended edition doesn't come with any physical extras, though there are a couple of nice behind-the-scenes features starring the English voice actors. Overall, Battle of the Gods delivers exactly what it promises - a fun afternoon with old friends and a few crazy fights to spice up the party. It's good to see you again, Dragon Ball. |
Grade: | |
Overall (dub) : B Story : C+ Art : B + Handily achieves its own modest goals, offering plenty of classic Dragonball gags and battles. − Lacks any real dramatic tension or ambition; wonky CG undercuts some of the action setpieces. | |
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