Movie Review: Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge (1991) directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto
Kakarott was rocketed to Earth from the dying planet Vegeta as an infant. To conquer Earth. Shortly after arriving, the young Saiyan warrior was injured and suffered brain damage that left him without the memories he’d been implanted with to make him loyal to his race. He was adopted by the kindly martial artist Son Gohan as a grandson under the name of Son Goku. Due to the near extinction of the Saiyans, no one came to check on Kakarott for decades, and Son Goku grew up to become Earth’s most powerful protector. Recently, Goku and his allies came into contact with Emperor Frieza, the alien overlord who’d destroyed Vegeta, and defeated him. But it turns out that even the evil Frieza is not without connections….
Dragon Ball was an enormously popular manga series by Akira Toriyama that ran from 1984-1995, starting with characters loosely inspired by the classic Journey to the West story. The anime adaptation changed its title to Dragon Ball Z when it started adapting the adventures of Son Goku as an adult. The scale of the series became much larger when it was revealed that Goku was an alien rather than some kind of one-off mutant as he’d always assumed. The few remaining other members of his species were hostile, and eventually turned out to having been tricked into working for their worst enemy.
This short movie kicks off a few months after the defeat of Frieza, as his never before mentioned brother Cooler hears a tale about Son Goku’s defeat of the villain that’s short on details. While Cooler had no liking or respect for his brother, this loss has besmirched the family honor. So Cooler and his three Armored Squad minions head for Earth to wipe out the last of the Saiyans.
As it happens, Son Goku has gone camping with his son Gohan (named after adoptive grandfather), best buddy Krillin, comic relief pig person Oolong, and family pet Icarus the Haiya Dragon. Thus they’re in the remote wilderness when Cooler and company come calling. Goku is badly wounded by a shot in the back, and a fair amount of the runtime is our heroes lying low until he can be healed. A late appearance by former enemy turned ally Piccolo (also an alien) helps out, but it’s not until Goku is able to fight at full strength that the tide turns.
There are also brief appearances by other favorite characters just to show they’re still around.
While Cooler’s personality is a good contrast to Frieza’s, the very basic plotline and short (47 minutes) runtime of the movie means it doesn’t get a lot of exploration. (He gets a better showing in the “I survived!” sequel The Return of Cooler.) There is a flashback at the beginning that places Cooler in a position to kill Kakarott as a baby that helps make it feel a little more personal. This feels more like an oversized filler episode of the television show than a movie event. (This was meant to be a double feature with another Toei-produced anime film.)
There’s some cool superbeing fighting action, so will appeal to Dragon Ball fans, but you might want to hold out for the edition that includes both Cooler movies.
