Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Three is the first of the Dragon Ball Z movie collections thus far to be based on a specific theme. This set collects both movies in which Frieza’s brother, Cooler is the main threat. In Cooler’s Revenge said brother seeks to kill Goku in retaliation for Frieza’s death, and in Return of Cooler he is a robot, kind of.
The first of these movies is notable for attempting to do a little more with its villain than previous movies had done. Unlike those movies, Cooler’s Revenge has something in the way of an important lesson for its central villain to learn. The movie also manages to raise the stakes by putting Goku out of commission early on in the fight so that other members of the cast have a chance to shine.
However, the movie does little to stand out beyond these elements. Cooler’s Revenge is exactly what can be expected from the Dragon Ball Z movies of its time. It is essentially an extra-long episode. There are a couple of fun moments, such as Chi-Chi’s reaction to Goku telling Gohan to finish his homework. The action is fine, and there are a couple of well-choreographed fights.
The second movie on offer, Return of Cooler is much the same. It is the first Dragon Ball Z movie in the series to be set mostly off of Earth. Instead, it takes place largely on Namek. Anyone who missed the lush green environments from the Namek saga should enjoy seeing them return here. This movie shakes things up further with replacing the usual collection of oddball henchmen with robots, lots of robots. Cooler himself makes for a more menacing antagonist in this form, thanks to certain abilities granted by his new robot body.
There aren’t any special features to speak of this time apart from some trailers. Once again viewers have the option to pick between Japanese audio, English audio, and English audio with Japanese music. Between the two English language versions, the option to play with the original Japanese music is the better choice. That is not to say that the Japanese music is better, it is simply integrated much more skillfully with the dialogue. The Japanese music serves as a fitting background to the dialogue. The US music, on the other hand, tends to play over the dialogue. In some spots, it becomes hard to hear what characters are saying because the US music is drowning them out.
Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Three is a good purchase, but not an essential one. Both movies have little details to them which help them to stand out as movies but on the whole, they are still only okay in terms of quality.
Extras: Trailers
DRAGON BALL Z MOVIE COLLECTION THREE / CERT: 12 / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / WRITERS:
VARIOUS / STARRING: SEAN SCHEMMEL, ANDREW CHANDLER, STEPHANIE NADOLNY, SONNY STRAIT, CHRISTOPHER R. SABAT / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 26TH
