Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! Review
You forgot this existed didn’t you?
The Return of Son Goku and Friends is a short film special, roughly thirty-three minutes in length. Though an exciting watch, it doesn’t offer an improvement on the series. It falls into the Dragon Ball’ bracket of unpopular movies that are wholly forgettable, right next to Bio-Broly and A Hero’s Legacy. I honestly doubt the audience majority remembers it. It doesn’t have any standout qualities and its significance is trivial. And after watching the movie, I couldn’t help but wonder: what was the point?
The special is essentially a lengthened episode with a self-contained story. It is a light-hearted one-time story, the plot being fairly simple. After the Kid Buu saga, Earth has returned to its typical status quo, being peace. Two years later however, Hercule is celebrating that day, which he takes full credit for, by opening his new hotel.
The day is cut short when Vegeta’s forgotten brother, Tarble arrives on Earth seeking his help against the resurgent of Frieza’s army, Avo and Cado, who have attacked his planet.
The movie, I felt, was inhibited by the villains. As they pose no real threat, the stakes aren’t high. They are underwhelming. There is a moment of dramatic irony because we, the audience know they will lose before they appear. Goku even shows pity at everyone’s desire to fight them, remarking it would be unfair. This was a deliberate intent. The narrator defines Avo and Cado’s tale as a “sad villain’s story.” Their problem was timing. They belong in the Frieza saga, not in the aftermath of the Kid Buu saga.
Goten and Trunks headline the fight this time. But even this is bogged by the stakes. The children, reserving their true powers, are still capable of holding their own. They unnecessarily tolerate being pelted by different strategies when they could win the fight quite easily. In the end, Goku takes over and wins the fight with one punch. By the story’s epilogue, Avo and Cado become good. Hercule’s hotel is destroyed as a result of the fight, his comeuppance.
Another area lacking is characterisation. Vegeta’s stunted brother Tarble doesn’t add much to the plot, and is basically a damsel in distress. It is ironic, him being the forgotten brother as the movie also forgets his presence. He almost parallels Goku’s brother, Raditz. The story is essentially a single episode so too much can’t be expected.
Avo and Cado were also lacking in context, development and motivation.
The movie is also overcrowded with characters. I didn’t even know until the end that King Kai and Elder Kai were in it. But despite its length, some of the characters do get a moment to shine.
It is on account of the movies problems that it is forgotten, but it probably doesn’t deserve to be. It is a decent movie, surpassing several in the Dragon Ball film series.