thelastdinosaur, imdb non fan user gives the plot holes

I have never seen a full episode of Dragonball or Dragonball Z. I am taking this movie as entirely standalone. And man, it's terrible.

The following is a list of major flaws in the plot (spoiler alert, btw. They are out of order because even I can't piece together the stupid plot):

1) Piccolo is seen destroying knights and Medieval stereotypes "2,000 years ago." Two thousand years ago, the most advanced civilization in the world equipped its soldiers with leather body vests and bronze and perhaps some iron swords and shields, not full suits of iron armor.

2) It took 7 ultra-powerful monks to seal away Piccolo for 2,000 years...and he just "escapes." The movie never elaborates on this major plot point by describing this escape.

3) The movie's timeline is three days, two nights long. Keep this in mind while watching it. All the romances, training, and plot devices take place over mere hours.

4) Piccolo picks up numerous Dragonballs, supposedly spread around the entire world, in a day. He has no visible means of detection or tracking, yet he even finds a Dragonball buried in a lake without expending any effort whatsoever.

5) I'll expand on my previous point by raising a question: why does Piccolo visit Goku's house at all? Piccolo walks in, beats on Goku's grandfather for a bit, announces "it's not here" without even searching for the Dragonball, and then procedes to drop the roof on his foe. Piccolo never searches for Goku after this. He knows that Goku's grandfather had it, or at least the house contained it at one point (all of this is inferred, by the way, as the movie never explains how Piccolo knows where the Dragonballs are hidden), but he doesn't even question where it might be when he can't find it in the house. I feel that even this short description cannot explain how bizarre the scene was. Watch the movie and wait for this scene, and I guarantee that it will leave you confused.

6) Piccolo is seen nuking a very out-of-place villiage. This villiage has wooden structures, no modern technology, and inhabitants that wear leather and cloth clothing...yet, this scene does not take place in the past or even in a different country: the villiage is shown to be right in the middle of a very modern, futuristic looking city. I have absolutely no idea how or why.

7) Speaking of Piccolo's nuking power, for the first 30 minutes of the movie he is a complete juggernaut: he can crush people, vaporize lakes, and of course threatened to destroy the entire planet 2,000 years ago...yet, towards the end of the movie, he is shown throwing wimpy red lightbeams around. I mean, this wuss who goes down in one shot once threatened to conquer the whole planet? Really?

And why does Piccolo want to conquer the planet, anyway? Piccolo's motivation is never clear. At the beginning, Piccolo wants to destroy the world. Then he wants the Dragonballs to get revenge by destroying the world. Then he wants to enslave and rule the world. Then he wants to destroy it again. Very indecisive.

9) How did that bandit dig that ENORMOUS hole?

10) Why is there a VOLCANO in said hole?

11) The "tournament" characters refer to is at best a minor plot element. It is brought up by several characters, making the audience assume that it's a big deal (and I know it was in the series). But it isn't. It occupies about 1 minute of actual screentime, with minor characters participating.

12) Who is Piccolo's accomplice? She is never once addressed by name. Why is she there? What is her motivation?

13) During the "party" scene, two accounts of assualt with a deadly weapon occur, at least 6 people are injured, and thousands of dollars of property is damaged. Yet, after the whole "fight" is over...the casual party continues as normal.

14) How did Chi-chi (if that's how you spell her dumb name) find out about Goku's grandfather's fate? She discovered his existence THE NIGHT OF his death, she never met him, has never been to his house, and lives nowhere near him. Goku buries him alone near the secluded forest home without informing anyone about the occurence. How the hell does anyone find out about something like that?

15) Goku's grandfather prepares him by telling him "trust who you are on the inside," rather than, "Hey kid, on your 18th birthday during an eclipse, you're going to turn into a wolf-demon under the control of a satanic overlord with the capability of destroying the world. Head's up."

16) Whoops, forgot an error back at that volcano scene. Goku has to jump across a lake of lava on a bridge of corpses (rated: PG) to get to the other side. Yet just under a minute later, all his cohorts are right behind him. The corpses had already dissolved in the lava. How exactly did everyone get there?

17) Where the hell does Piccolo get that flying machine/genetic cloning machine/headquarters? How much free time does the guy have?

18) The final wish granted by the 7 combined Dragonballs is to bring Master Roshi back to life. Goku forgets his grandfather, the man who raised him for 18 years and trained him to be the man he is today entirely, and desides to resurrect some guy he met yesterday. Fantastic.

19) At the end of the movie, the main characters decide that they have to get the Dragonballs again. Um, why? Evil is vanquished, everyone is happy.

That's all I can think of for now, but I think 19 is enough to convince you all that this movie is the Swiss cheese of plot.

thelastdinosaur wrote:15) Goku's grandfather prepares him by telling him "trust who you are on the inside," rather than, "Hey kid, on your 18th birthday during an eclipse, you're going to turn into a wolf-demon under the control of a satanic overlord with the capability of destroying the world. Head's up."

Tlaloc wrote:[url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1098327/board/nest/135388201]

7) Speaking of Piccolo's nuking power, for the first 30 minutes of the movie he is a complete juggernaut: he can crush people, vaporize lakes, and of course threatened to destroy the entire planet 2,000 years ago...yet, towards the end of the movie, he is shown throwing wimpy red lightbeams around. I mean, this wuss who goes down in one shot once threatened to conquer the whole planet? Really?


18) The final wish granted by the 7 combined Dragonballs is to bring Master Roshi back to life. Goku forgets his grandfather, the man who raised him for 18 years and trained him to be the man he is today entirely, and desides to resurrect some guy he met yesterday. Fantastic.