“Looks like this is going to be tougher than we thought.”

The much anticipated follow up to the “Dragon Ball Super” series, “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”, has finally arrived. Ever since the series ended last March, “Dragon Ball” fans have been waiting patiently to see what will happen next to Goku and the rest of the Z fighters. When creators announced in July that the next project in the franchise would be a movie featuring Broly, many fans were skeptical. While he is a fan favorite, many consider his past movies to be some of the worst things in the “Dragon Ball” franchise. Is the film a worthy successor to the series or does it fall flat on its face?

After being exiled from Planet Vegeta to a remote, desolate planet for over thirty years, Saiyan Paragus (Dameon Clarke) and his son Broly (Vic Mignogna) want revenge on the Vegeta family. When they are discovered by galactic dictator Frieza (Christopher Ayres), he leads them to earth, knowing that they may be able to help him defeat his arch nemeses, Goku (Sean Schemmel) and Vegeta (Christopher Sabat). Once they arrive on Earth, it becomes clear that Broly has more power than anyone realized; enough to potentially destroy the universe.

While this plot may seem very confusing and convoluted, it is very easy to follow onscreen. The story does exactly what it needs to do: it gives the characters a good reason to fight.

The first thing of note about “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” is how beautiful it is. The animation is a big step up from the series and looks fantastic. The fight scenes in particular are smoothly animated and are simply a joy to watch. The film dedicates most of its runtime to fighting, which is exactly what “Dragon Ball” excels at.

Speaking of fight scenes, this film has some of the best choreographed fights in anime. The combination of fantastical super moves and real-life martial arts technique make for some of the most fun fight scenes you’ll see in any movie.

The film is, aside from one or two background characters, very well voice-acted. Sean Schemmel, Christopher Sabat and Vic Mignogna give fantastic performances as Goku, Vegeta and Broly respectively.

While any fan of anime or animation could go into this movie without any knowledge of “Dragon Ball” and have a great experience, big fans of the franchise will have the best time. The film not only makes fan favorites like Broly and Gogeta finally canon, it also has tons of in jokes and references that will be sure to bring a smile to the face of any fan.

The film isn’t perfect, however. While the story is serviceable, it didn’t add very much to the overall “Dragon Ball” story. The music played during some of the fight scenes is also incredibly cheesy, making it hard to enjoy some of the most climactic parts of the film.

Despite these flaws, seeing “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” in theaters was a fantastic experience. The energy in the room was electric; I don’t think I’ve ever heard people cheer this loudly in a movie theater before.

If you are a fan of anime, animation, or action movies, I can’t recommend “Dragon Ball Super: Broly” enough.