DragonBall Z: The Tree of Might is a 1990 Japanese anime directed by Daisuke Nishio, starring Masako Nozawa, Ian James Corlett, Saffron Henderson, Toshio Furukawa, Scott McNeil, and Ward Perry.  Serving as the third installment in the DragonBall Z film series, the story follows Goku and the Z fighters who must stop space pirates who plant a tree capable of consuming all of the energy on the planet.

Plot: The plot is pretty interesting and adds something new to the series.  Invaders come to Earth seeking to drain the life from the planet using the mysterious Tree of Might.  The story goes at a pretty good pace and the suspense of the mysterious tree is pretty sound.  One of the storylines revolves around the leader of the group being a Saiyan.  Although it is a good concept there is no explanation nor exposition. The fact that the story is straight forward with nothing else going just makes it bland.  It would’ve been better had there been a side story where the other Z Fighters or other supporting characters are in the tree trying to figure out a way to destroy it from the inside while Goku and/or the Z Fighters hold off the bad guys. (3 out of 5)

Characters: The characters are pretty cool.  The Z Fighters are the Z Fighters and It’s great seeing them in their prime and getting into the game. The main protagonist is Goku, a saiyan warrior who is Earth’s champion against evil doers, as well as his son, Gohan, and friends Krillin, Piccolo, Chaozu, and Tien.   Nearly everyone has a good moment. 

Turles is a good antagonist but the writing misses the mark with his character. Why in the hell does Turles look like Goku? What does it have to contribute to the story? Turles is one of those villains that’s introduced in the films but definitely could’ve been added to the series to actually give it more depth.  The guy actually has a lot of personality. Would’ve liked to have seen more camaraderie with the henchmen Rasin, Lakasei, Daiz, Cacao, and Amond. They were cool but flat as hell with little to nothing interesting to them outside of their designs and abilities. Each of them have their own feel that not only makes them uniquely individual but opposites to the Z fighters.  However, their lack of exposition and motivation does hinder them. (3 out of 5)

Animation:  The animation style isn’t bad.  Some might consider it low budget or even dated but it has a stylized enough look to make it appealing.  The character designs look pretty cool, especially the variations of their armors.  The Tree of Might design makes it look daunting and massive as hell (It’s understandably why their ki blast had no effect). (3 out of 5)

Score:  The score is pretty solid, more specifically the voice performances.  Ward Perry does a fantastic job as Turles, giving him a memorable performance. (3 out of 5)

Writing: There are some parts of the script that should’ve been ironed out better.  The inclusion of all the Z fighters in the film is completely underutilized.  Especially since Goku wiped the floor with the henchmen totally negating anything that the other Z fighters did.  Also, there is a serious lack of exposition.  There should’ve been backstory developed for Turles.  Why is he doing the things he does?  It would make sense if he were using the tree to gain enough power to kill Frieza for the destruction of his homeworld.  The could’ve made it more inclusive to the series.  Why do his men follow him? And where did they get the Tree of Might?

The writing on some level should’ve gave some backstory as to why Turles looks like Goku aside fron the fact that he is a low class saiyan (which literally makes no sense and is a pathetic attempt to shroud the character in mystery). The story could’ve easily played out that Turles and his men were elite soldiers under Frieza but defected when they discovered that Frieza was responsible for Planet Vegeta’s destruction. And their reasoning for getting the Tree of Might seeds is to gain enough power to kill him, even at the cost of other planets.

And of course, Turles should be some kin to Goku. Don’t give a damn if it is his distant cousin or uncle. Should’ve done a better job of trying to recruit Goku.  But for fans of some of the original DragonBall Z cast (including Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha) will be disappointed at how little screen time they actually get.  Everything seems geared towards Goku basically saving everyone because they can’t keep up. Aside from those issues the film handles the action well and pacing is pretty good. The action scenes are pretty sweet. They’re fast paced, intense; everything we love about DragonBall Z. ( 3 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end,

DragonBall Z: The Tree of Might is one of the better DBZ films. Yes, it suffers from many of the DBZ film tropes.  Villains with no exposition, an overly simplistic story, and useless characters.  But it does have a certain charm with its characters, story, voice performances, and action sequences. 

DragonBall Z: The Tree of Might gets 3 out of 5.