Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Two contains the Dragon Ball Z movies, The Tree of Might, and Lord Slug. These two films that are very similar in terms of plot. In both The Tree of Might and Lord Slug an alien menace shows up and tries to change the environment of the earth for their own purposes. In, The Tree of Might this means harvesting the world’s energy. In Lord Slug, the titular villain wants to turn Earth into his own personal spaceship.
Despite this similarity of plot, Lord Slug is the stronger of the two movies on offer. Most of the action in, The Tree of Might focusses around the titular tree. Lord Slug, on the other hand, takes place in different environments, one of which is a small city. The background of the different buildings offers more than the solitary, world ending tree does.
The villains are also better in Lord Slug. Slug’s henchman, Medamatcha, has a creepy design and adds some variety to the villains that aren’t present in The Tree of Might. This quality difference is also true of the main villains. Both villains are evil for the sake of being evil, but Lord Slug makes for a more imposing presence. Furthermore, his transformation and the way that it is countered by the heroes add some variety to the action. For once the heroes have to come up with a way to beat the villain that isn’t just them really hard or cut something off, and it is a welcome change.
That being said, neither movie is more than merely okay. Once again, there is very little to the plot, and both villains are ultimately disposable. Neither movie has a particularly long running time, and their animation isn’t different from the animation of the show at the time. These movies feel like extended episodes with little connection to their series, then actual movie versions of the source material.
Unsurprisingly this collection offers viewers the chance to watch its contents in either the original Japanese or in the English dub. It also has the option for viewers to watch the movies with the English dub, but the Japanese music rather than the US score. This is a little thing, but it gives more choice to how the collection is enjoyed.
Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Two is exactly what the title suggests. It collects two of the movies from Dragon Ball Z’s line up and makes it easier for viewers to watch them in the dub of their choice. The movies aren’t terrible, but they don’t offer much either. This is a purchase for someone who already knows that they want to revisit the films contained within.
DRAGON BALL Z MOVIE COLLECTION TWO / CERT: PG / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: SEAN SCHEMMEL, CHRISTOPHER R. SABAT, SONNY STRAIT, STEPHANIE NADOLNY, CHRIS PATTON, BRICE ARMSTRONG / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 27TH
