After all the hubbub over Dragonball Z and its various releases, it's rather easy to forget the series that started it all: Dragonball. Luckily, FUNimation hasn't forgotten and has given us a taste of the classic with three of the four movies in a thinpak boxset.

Since FUNimation is advertising this as the first movie, despite it being made almost a decade after the others, I might as well start with The Path to Power. This retelling of the original Dragonball was created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the franchise. The story's the same as always: A young girl named Bulma rides around tracking the mystical Dragon balls only to meet up with a young, super-strong boy named Goku. The two then eventually decide to travel together, searching for the other Dragon balls and meeting new allies along the way including a shape shifting pig named Oolong, Yamcha the Desert Bandit and his sidekick Puar, fighting expert Master Roshi, and Roshi's pet Turtle. But Bulmer’s not the only one with Dragon balls in her eyes. The Red Ribbon Army is after them as well, and they're much more ruthless about acquiring them. Now, it's up to Goku to storm Muscle Tower and the Red Ribbon Army Stronghold in order to reclaim the other Dragon balls and rescue his friends from certain doom.

I have to say that, out of all the movies, specials, OAVs, and whatnot from the Dragonball universe, this is probably my favorite by far. The whimsical nature of the original Dragonball combined with the updated designs and stellar action from Dragonball Z (or, to be more accurate, Dragonball GT, since this was made in the middle of the third series) combine to create a true classic that's highly underrated. It doesn't bring much new material, as the vast majority of the movie is simply scenes from the original anime retold, but the way it all comes together refreshes things enough that even fans who have the entire series memorized will still find the movie fun. It helps that the classic jokes, such as Oolong burning himself with his hot soup or Yamcha freaking out over Bulma, are still funny no matter what decade it is. And the scene where Bulma tries to get Roshi's Dragonball is easily one of the Top 10 greatest scenes in the entire franchise. Combine that with a Red Ribbon Army that looks so much more together than the series version, and you get a tale that successfully combines the mystical aspects of the original with the sci-fi aspects of Z and GT.

Unfortunately, the damn thing's just too short. One would think, given Dragon ball's tendency to run less than an hour, that an 80-minute runtime would be enough to cram everything in, but it isn't, though it's not far off. Much of the movie is actually paced rather well and has a real good flow to it, but the two big fight scenes (Goku infiltrating Muscle Tower and his fight with Black) seem to go by far too fast. This all seems to stem from Android 8. Whenever he's on screen (except for his snow fight with Goku), things seem to move at a rapid pace and the movie doesn't get a chance to breathe. This is evident even during the credits, as Shenron is summoned and then the credits roll after the wish is granted. I would have liked to have seen some kind of epilogue instead of random splash images to give the movie an overall better ending. It would've also been nice if Dr. Gero made an appearance, even as a non-speaking cameo.

Along with being the best Dragonball feature, it also has the best animation. Everything's been given a glossy makeover with extremely fluid animation that puts every single one of the DBZ movies to shame. The highlight of the visuals is easily Goku's assault on the Red Ribbon Army stronghold. It starts out with Goku on Nimbus doing his usual aerial acrobatics and then beating up the foot soldiers using his staff, and it's simply a joy to watch. The only weak spot is a certain part where Goku is being chased through the trees and the background's loop cycle is extremely obvious. The only other downside is the color palette. Instead of the bright and colorful world we're used to seeing in Dragonball and Dragonball Z, we end up with a rather muted color scheme (complete with green and tan skies) that just doesn't pop. Part of it is from the influence of Dragonball GT, and part of it may be the studio itself, as many of the later Z

Source Toon Zone.