Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

When the God of Destruction Beerus is awakened from a 37 year slumber, he learns from his "assistant" Whis that Freeza was defeated by a Saiyan. Surprised by this revelation, he watches images of the fight and learns of the Saiyan ability to generate large amounts of charkura to become a Super Saiyan.  Remembering a prophesy, he summons his Oracle Fish who exactly 39 years ago fortold of a mighty "Super Saiyan God" who will appear before him. That "god" is Goku.

Beerus and Whis first meet Goku on Master Kai's world where the headstrong Saiyan was more then happy to take on Beerus. However, Goku was defeated (at level 3 Super Saiyan) with just two punches. Beerus is not impressed and travels directly to Earth to see if the four remaining Saiyans are actually the true Super Saiyan God.

He arrives at Bulma's birthday party where most of the characters from the Z-universe were attending and having fun. Vegeta learns via telepathy from Master Kai what happened to Goku and rushes to try to keep Beerus from destorying the Earth by keeping him happy at the party. Needless to say, these type of scenerios is where the "comedy" in the series is usually played out. Vegeta is doing well despite his wife being wayyy to "spirited" and his son Trunks hitting on a girl who appears to be his age but is actually 41 (from a previous story). She is there with two others trying to steal the Dragon Balls. When their plan is revealed, the girl takes Trunks hostage which causes Goku's son Gohan (drunk himself), to spring into action as his alter-ego Sayian Man. He thinks it's all kid play and then after blocking five bullets (one landing on Beerus' head), he realizes they weren't playing.

Things became escalated when Beerus wanted to try a pudding cup. However, they were all in the possion of the previous main villian, Majin Boo. Boo refuses to share which causes Beerus to become angry and he starts laying the smackdown on everyone. The Z-Warriors and their previous adversaries step in only to be taken out by Beerus in a matter of seconds. Bulma is not too happy with Beerus' behavior and lets him know it. He responses by slapping her across the face. Vegeta, despite his gruff persona, doesn't take kindly to ANYONE slapping his wife and proceeded to get about 16-17 good hits in before he himself is taken out by Beerus. Goku finally shows up and has a plan. He learns of the Super Sayian God by summoning the Dragon from the Dragon Balls who tells him that five Sayians must generate their powers into a sixth one in order for a Super Sayian God to appear. This leads to a major spoiler as how the "sixth" Sayian is found.

Goku receives the powers of the Super Saiyan God and much to fans delight, the mother of all DBZ battles explodes onto the big screen. 

I'll say it once and I'll say it again. Nothing beats seeing anime on the big screen! However for most people, that usually involves the occasional Studio Ghibi project which unless it's a Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, can be something of a let down. Dragon Ball Z has always been a mixed farce of both comedy and action. I will admit you will need to have watched all 200+ episodes to know who is who and their background but given DBZ's popularity here in America, there were more then enough fans on hand who have done just that. What may have been the bigger surprise then what we learn from Vidal (Gohan's wife) was the fact the Tuesday Night premiere actually had sold out shows across the country. While I saw this movie in Dallas, I had friends in my hometown of Chattanooga telling me how the main theater showing this had sold out 30 minutes before showtime. The fans who were turned away had to drive to the next theater which was eight miles up the road. This movie was definitely for anyone who either grew up watching Dragon Ball Z or watched it in college. It was like seeing old friends you hadn't seen in years. The only difference was we as Americans were now getting to enjoy it the same way the Japanese have for years. Even though the comedy was well-timed and spot-on, the action is what a lot of fans turned out for. The battle between Goku and Beeus was well beyond epic. While a lot of earth was scarred in the process (the fans felt sorry for Master Ki's world), it wasn't as bad as the violence porn in Man of Steel. And say what you want about anime voice acting, everyone participating was on their A-game. To be honest, I've been lucky to see a lot of anime films on the big screen. By far, this was the most fun I ever had at a movie adaptation of a TV show since the first Full Metal Alchemist movie. A lot of that though had to do with the legions of fans coming out on a Tuesday Night. The fangirl squeels regarding Vidal's secret was a pleasant sound (Hint: "The Force is strong with this child"-quote from my friend's friend who I was sitting next to).

In closing, I hope this support by fans allows Funimation to finally put out more of the movie adaptations of our favorite anime TV shows for big screen engagements. This also goes for a certain "company" in San Francisco (think the letter "V").