PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *cosmological, metaphysical*
Japan continued to make more Dragonball features after COOLER'S REVENGE, but the fifth flick is the last I'll review for now, as it concludes the offerings in a five-pack of DVDs.
Though the titular Cooler is yet another villain original to the animated films, he has strong ties to one of the most celebrated fiends of both the manga and anime serials. In both of those, Goku has a hard time coping with a galactic world-killer named Frieza, responsible for destroying the home planets of both the Saiyans and the Namekians. Frieza, like Goku, has the power to "level up" his power, and the same ability applies to his brother Cooler. Significantly, Cooler comes to Earth to avenge Frieza's defeat and death purely out of family honor, not because he cared anything about his sibling. Oh, and like all the other Dragonball villains, Cooler brings along a coterie of henchmen to furnish opponents for Goku's ensemble of allies, such as Gohan and Piccolo.
This is the first of the DRAGONBALL Z films that doesn't even bother including some contrived scene with the wish-balls and their dragon. But we get a few scenes of Gohan visiting the afterlife in order to bring back a cache of empowering senzu-beans for his dad, even though the quest is really only good for a little comic byplay with a couple of series regulars. Again Goku assumes some version of his Super Saiyan form, and this makes for better battles this time. However, the story's still weak overall. Unlike other original foes, Cooler only seems to perish in the end and is resurrected for a second go-round in the next movie.
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