With the success of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball property hitting big at home, after three seasons Toei Animation felt the series was prime for some movie making as well. For some reason, the first film Dragon Ball Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986) didn't come out until then, instead within the year. Not to mention that rule stuck for this second film to come out. It's hard to say why that's the case instead of annually for every season in other animes that came out after it. That's not the only thing though, this second production also has the same concept as the last film. Instead of creating a film that fits in the timeline of the series, it sticks to recapping events from prior seasons but in a different way. It's really unclear as to why this is a thing for this franchise.
The narrative to this retelling of events follows Goku (Ceyli Delgadillo) and Krillin (Laurie Steele) finding Master Roshi (Mike McFarland) in hopes of being trained by him. Rather than doing that right away, he tells them the story of a princess in the devil's castle and asks them to bring the princess back to him. Only then would he train them. Along the way Yamcha (Chris Sabat), Bulma (Leslie Alexander), Puar (Monika Antonelli) and Oolong (Bradford Jackson) follow the two to what's called the Devil's hand. This particular entry was written by Keiji Terui who worked on the show prior going back to season one. Directing was the same person as before which was Daisuke Nishio. As an entry to the start of Dragon Ball movies, this second entry is not staying consistent in the groundwork that the first film laid.
Unlike the first movie which covered almost all of the first Dragon Ball season, this story is very much a summation of the first three episodes of the second season. It's a disappointing as at least the first film felt like it was trying to cover its bases, but this is one just doesn't cut it. There's also some continuity issues with this feature if one is sticking to the Dragon Ball film timelines instead of the show. This is the first film where Goku turns into his ape form, yet one of the characters says "not again". Since these films are supposed to be an alternative timeline to the show, this line makes no sense. At least if the production company is going to go in a certain direction with their films, at least be on target with what's happened so far.
Now to be fair, perhaps this was only an issue in the English dub but that still should have been checked with being set for the west. The acting is also very subpar surprisingly for the voice actors on board. Leslie Alexander as the new Bulma is still no close match to Tiffany Vollmer. The same also goes for Ceyli Delgadillo as Goku, who is by no means close to Stephanie Nadolny's version. Even stranger is that Chris Sabat as Yamcha doesn't sound like he's sure of what his character should sound like either. And it's not like he didn't know as he was voicing Yamcha in the show before this film was even released. Bradford Jackson and Laurie Steele seem to do okay though. It's interesting too because Leslie Alexander was in Red Dead Redemption II.
Visually the animation is still appealing to look at. The animation director for this feature was Minoru Maeda who also worked on the film before it. The colors all look sharp and solid, while the character designs are correct with their depictions in the show. Cinematography is a question here with credit being given to Motoaki Ikegami as like the last film. The music though is as solid as it could be with Shunsuke Kikuchi's themes sprinkled throughout the film. There are a few themes the recur that seem out of place but this might be due to the dub mixing used in the west, which still should have came out better. Can't knock the film score because that's one of the few things that remains on point. Without Kikuchi's score, it may not even be as recognizable.
This entry is not as well put together as the first film for some reason. Music and animation are consistent in their quality but everything seems to be off base for no reason. The story doesn't recall what's supposed to have happened from the last film with continuity errors and the acting sounds like a demo reel for some performers.
