Few manga films have had as much of an impact as those based on Dragon Ball. Some have even become legendary, with characters as popular as the canon ones. However, not everything has always been a success. We've already mentioned the best ones, now it's time to discuss the six worst films in the Dragon Ball universe.
#1 Dragon Ball Z: The Resurrection of 'F'
Released before the start of Dragon Ball Super, The Resurrection of 'F' attempted to continue the work of Battle of Gods, but did so clumsily. The film was lazy in bringing Frieza back from the grave. It's an admission of failure on the part of Toei, which could have easily continued its momentum by offering something new. Moreover, this return isn't even satisfactory: Gohan isn't respected, Vegeta doesn't defeat Frieza, the fights are average... It would have been better not to do it.
#2 Dragon Ball Z: The Menace of Namek
We take The Fraticide Battle, we replace Thales with Slug and voilà: we get The Menace of Namek. It may seem exaggerated, but it's not that much. The problem with this fourth Dragon Ball Z film is that it recycles tropes that are already running out of steam and makes no effort to surprise us. Proof of this is the whistling Chekhov's gun that leaves no doubt about the heroes' victory. We already know they're not going to lose, so there was no need to add anything. The only surprising element is Goku's "fake Super Saiyan." It makes absolutely no sense, but it's what allows the film to stand out a little from the others.
#3 Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron
The first Dragon Ball film in history, this one has absolutely no interest. It's simply a condensed adaptation of the Pilaf arc in 50 minutes. The only notable difference is the antagonist, who is Gourmet, a tyrannical king who exploits the inhabitants of a village and ravages the landscape to recover precious stones. The film thus offers an interesting ecological discourse, but it remains too thin to not consider it a simple failed copy-paste.
#4 Dragon Ball Z: The Cyborg Offensive
The Dragon Ball films don't shine with their storyline, but here, we reach a level above. The Cyborg Offensive is mainly composed of fights. This is not a problem in itself, but in this specific case, they are much too long. The heroes could easily defeat their opponents in a few seconds just by transforming, but they do so too late. It's clear that Toei lacked ideas for using cyborgs and simply surfed on the current arc of the anime. This was already the case before, but here, it's even more glaring, especially since the animation clearly leaves something to be desired, showing that even there the studio made no effort.
#5 Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Broly
Broly is the most popular character in the Dragon Ball movies. Given his popularity, his return was inevitable. Unfortunately, it's a total failure. The film had good intentions by highlighting Gohan, Goten, and Trunks, but when he comes into contact with the two children, the villain is ridiculed. Broly loses everything that made him an exceptional character. He's literally pissed on, that's saying something. To make matters worse, it's thanks to Goku that the trio manages to defeat Broly. His intervention in The Mercenaries of Space was also surprising, but at least it made sense. #6 Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly
Destroying the character once wasn't enough; it had to be done a second time. After getting pissed on in the previous film, Broly becomes a huge turd here. This alone makes Bio-Broly the worst Dragon Ball film in history, well, if you don't count the live-action adaptations. Because yes, even this feature film is better than Dragon Ball Evolution.
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