Dragonball - Movie 1: Die Legende von Shenlong

"Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies" is Dragon Ball's first movie. The movie is a retelling of the beginning of Dragon Ball but this time it replaces the villain Pilaf with a new character named King Gurumes. Gurumes is a king cursed with an insatiable hunger, a hunger that he tries to satisfy through eating blood rubies. He wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish the hunger away, which is an interesting motivation for the villain. Arguably his wish is more noble than that of our heroes.

The main downside to this movie is how much it just repeats from the series. It adds very little to make itself stand on its own. If you have seen the series, there isn't much here to recommend. It is just interesting to see a different telling of the story. Almost as if you are stepping into an alternate universe of Dragon Ball. Maybe these are the events that happen in Universe 6 after Beerus wishes Earth back in their universe.

If you are using this movie as a replacement for the Pilaf Saga of the series, the main thing you will miss, outside intro of Pilaf, Mai and Shoo, is the introduction of Goku's future wife Chi Chi. Instead we have the "Snow" looking red head of this movie, Penny.

On its own, the movie is fun and charming just like the original series, but it doesn't do enough for me to place it above the series. And if you have seen the series, there isn't much of a point in watching it at all. But if like the King, you find yourself with an insatiable hunger for Dragon Ball content, this will tide you over.

Just recently I've begun to watch the entire series from the first episode with English subtitles. The Japanese version is by far much better than the English version of the series because of the lack of censorship on it.

This being said, having to watch "Curse of the Blood Rubies" with an English dub was a little painful for me. Don't get me wrong! The dub in Dragon Ball and this movie are very good, but they just don't compare to the way it's originally meant to be heard and seen.

If you're new to the Dragon Ball franchise, this movie is a great place to pick up if you don't feel like watching the first saga of the series. Though the story is different in MANY aspects, it can sum up a ton of episodes in a very short period of time if you want to just jump into the action of the series.

All of the main characters are introduced with the exception of Emperor Pilaf and his goons, whom are in the first saga. In place of Pilaf, you'll be meeting King Gurumes. The way the characters meet is a bit different, but you'll end up in about the same place with either the series or this movie.

Blood Rubies is a bit more "cutesy" than the original Dragon Ball series in my opinion, and seems to be a bit more aimed at a younger audience than the series itself is. That doesn't mean it's a bad movie though, but anyone coming in directly from the series may find themselves a tad disappointed.

Overall I recommend this movie to anyone who's interested in the Dragon Ball series, regardless if you've seen the first saga or not. It's a fun animation, and though a bit slow in some parts, will keep you interested until the end.

An alternate storyline of the origins in the Dragonball series. The plot and characters are the same. The story is the only thing made different for this movie. Bulma, a girl searching for the seven dragon balls has come across Goku who owns one of them. After they got acquainted with each other, they decided to set off on a journey to search for the other dragon balls.

On the way there are plenty of new friends who have their own reasons for searching the dragon balls. And soon enter a kingdom which is facing it's own depression. Lead by a Gourmeth who has been cursed by the Blood Rubies which changed his personality. Gourmeth is also trying to collect all 7 dragon balls for his own reason. Will Goku save the Kingdom and cure Gourmeth's curse? The introduction and flow of this movie is very different compared to the TV series. And features several characters you won't see anywhere else. Despite it being only being less than an hour, and containing some similar moments from the earlier part of the TV series. Curse of the Blood Rubies is good for Dragonball's first movie.

Even One Piece has a lot of alternate movies made of the series.

I only saw the edited version of this movie. And yet to see the uncut version of it, which is the only uncut Dragonball movie to not have an Uncut DVD. And might be seeing one sometime.

It's been a really long time since the first time I watched this movie. I was still on school, back in the mid 90s.

This alternate re-telling of the Dragon Ball first episodes kept the original spirit of the story, and seems more appropriate for younger audiences.

It is a classic I have on my old VHS collection, that I'm looking forward to replace with DVD-Blu Ray release. A must have for every Dragon Ball fan.

There's even a live action remake of this movie, made in Taiwan! Don't miss that one!

This the first movie released during the Japanese TV run of Dragon Ball. Basically, this movie is a re-telling of how the main characters (Goku, Bulma, Oolong, Yamcha, Puar, and Master Roshi) of Dragon Ball meet. In the movie, however, as they meet, they help a farmer's daughter named Penny save her village from its wicked king, Gurumes, who's seeking the Dragon Balls to wish for lots of food to eat to satisfy his hunger. The movie re-creates some rather hilarious sequences from the Pilaf Saga episodes of Dragon Ball, giving it a generally family-friendly atmosphere. In the U.S., this movie, re-titled "Curse Of The Blood Rubies", was released on syndicated TV as a 2-part series pilot, but the editing and dubbing was done well enough that much of the movie mirrors its original Japanese counterpart.

GRADE: 4 out of 5 stars