This review has very minor spoilers for the movie, so if you’re super spoiler sensitive, stop after the first two paragraphs.

When I first heard about a new Dragon Ball movie coming out, I was wary. The name sounded dumb, the animation in the trailers looked weird, and I wasn’t sure how they could even manage a Dragon Ball movie after the story had already wrapped up after Super. I did not at all expect for this quirky title to give me one of my favorite movie-watching experiences in years.

The first thing that needs to be said about this movie is that you do NOT need to be a Dragon Ball fan to watch it. If your only Dragon Ball experience comes from the new Fortnite season, the Dragon Ball fighting games, or the “But can he beat Goku” memes on the internet, you will be completely fine. There’s a five-minute recap of Dragon Ball’s story in the beginning of the movie that gives you all of the information you need to understand what’s going on. Plus, it’s Dragon Ball. You aren’t expecting the most deep, thought-provoking plot in the world. 

Personally, my experience with Dragon Ball boils down to the first forty episodes of the original, the first arc of Z Kai, and a bit of the Majin Buu arc. During the movie, I missed a few references here and there, but in no way did my lack of knowledge retract from the viewing experience. 

My favorite thing about the movie is how goofy it is. I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard at a movie. Piccolo is a boomer grandpa who doesn’t understand technology and has to babysit everyone else’s kids. Gohan is this nerdy scientist who never leaves his office. Beerus is down atrocious for this green girl from Frieza Force and simps for her the entire movie. Bulma keeps trying to summon Shenron so that she can wish for cosmetic surgery. Krillin continues to get clowned on by the rest of the characters. The antagonists are a young genius obsessed with Oreos and a short mobster-looking guy voiced by Charles Martinet. The entire movie is just fun and light-hearted, even during some of the more intense fights. It’s hard to take things too seriously when the battle forms are called “Orange Piccolo” and “Beast Gohan”. 

What made the movie even more entertaining for me was that despite all the silliness, the animation in the fights is unreal. I did not expect the hybrid style to look even close to as good as it did. Transitions between 2D and 3D were so flawless that I rarely noticed them. The style added a feeling of depth to the fights, and displayed the impact of each devastating attack. It was reminiscent of that one fight in Mob Psycho season two where the squad is facing off against the teleporting guy, but that fight doesn’t come close to the level of animation in this movie. This animation also makes the movie’s transformation scenes insane. These scenes had me visibly pogging from excitement. Everyone around us in the theater was popping off too, which definitely added to the hype. 

Another really refreshing thing about the movie was that it focuses much less on Goku, Vegeta, and Broly. They spend the movie on this other planet training with Whis and Beerus, and while they don’t get much screen time, they still have some funny moments. Instead, the movie gives Gohan the spotlight, mostly because the villain references a Gohan-centered arc from DBZ. Unfortunately, this villain is easily the weakest part of the movie. It’s the only character that looks bad in 3D, and is nowhere near as menacing as the original villain it’s based on. Also, the buildup to the villain makes it seem way stronger than it actually is. It gets one-shot so easily that I was waiting for it to have a second form or something, but nope, it just kinda dies. Regardless, seeing Gohan back in action was still very enjoyable.

One final note about the movie is that even if you don’t like Dragon Ball, you might still have fun with this movie. Dragon Ball’s biggest problem is its pacing, with fights and sequences going on for way too long without anything actually happening. A Goku vs. Vegeta fight is cool…until it goes on for three episodes and then Goku charges the spirit bomb for four more. Thankfully, considering that the movie is only an hour and a half long, events are less drawn-out. The pacing is more akin to a modern anime movie than it is to a 90’s TV show, which results in the movie being much more engaging.

Is Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero the pinnacle of film making and a critical masterpiece? No, not at all. The characters are simple, the plot is basically nonexistent, and the music is what you’d get if you googled “generic anime soundtrack”. But man, if we’re talking entertainment value, this is easily an 11/10 movie. Whether you’re a new anime fan or a total weeb, if you’re looking for some sick fights and hearty laughs, this is definitely one to watch.