User Reviews

Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle is the second movie released under the Dragon Ball brand, and unlike the previous movie (Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies), this one is surprisingly well written.

STORY: The plot centres on Goku and Krillin as Master Roshi tasks them with adventuring to Devil's Hand, in order to retrieve the "Sleeping Princess" for Roshi's....purposes. Along the way they must free Bulma due to the main antagonist, Count Lucifer, planning to use her blood to power a machine that will destroy the Sun, allowing for demons to run throughout the Earth. After transforming into a Great Ape to free himself from being captured, Goku fires a Kamehameha at the machine, destroying it and freeing Bulma. Despite the Sleeping Princess simply being a gemstone, Goku and Krillin instead take Launch, a thief also wanting her hands on the Sleeping Princess, back to Roshi, where they both get their training.

PROS: This movie is full of the sharp writing and hilarious physical comedy that the Tournament Saga that the movie is set in is known for. The premise is also a lot darker than Dragon Ball tends to venture, at least in this point of the series, which is a welcome change of pace. It's also quite nice to see Launch get a bit of a spotlight as she was ignored for the majority of Dragon Ball and even more so for Dragon Ball Z.

CONS: Unfortunately, Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle is not perfect, it lacks the original FUNimation voice actors the series is known for, as this was one of the studio's first works, and the actors that are here such as Yamcha, Master Roshi and Krillin sound a little off. The change in voices is especially noticeable in Goku and Bulma who sound nothing like their anime counterpart. Another issue with the movie are the fight sequences; Dragon Ball is known for it's impressive fights however the ones in this movie fail to live up to the others. The combat feels sluggish and floaty, even for the characters which are meant to be heavier which leads to the fights feeling awkward and weird. Despite this they can still sometimes be engaging due to the martial arts focus Dragon Ball goes for, in comparison to Dragon Ball Z's Ki blast focused combat.

VERDICT: Despite the negatives I would say that Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle is worth a watch for fans of the original series due to the sharp writing alone. The movie does feel a little off sometimes, both visually and in the voice acting but overall, this is a movie that I was pleasantly surprised with, considering the subpar quality of Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies.

Then This is the second film dedicated to the first Dragon Ball series released in 1987 Then the meditation begins After the events of the previous film that the muted master orders Goku to be Krillin they must go and get the sleeping princess from the devil's castle So thisfilm unlike the previous film is not one of the best of the Dragon Ball films because the plot is a bit of a non-Saints mouthpiece or that the master who has to go and get a sleeping beauty this does not seem like a good plot for Dragon Ball to me Then the bad guys are all beingscreature of darkness is here yes there are very few characters who fight the bad guys there is only and not even these bad guys I didn't like and then the main bad guy Lucifer because he is a vampire he is a bad guy who didn't really leave me anything interesting is put there just there and that's itAnd then its purpose is not very interesting and then a great discovery turns out Sleeping Beauty wasn't really a princess But it was a diamond I would like to know that it's called that Well because it has the ability to operate a machine that is used to put the sun to sleep and then you were amoment that was truly a totally useless moment. That is, Goku's transformation from a gigantic ape, that was truly a more useless part. That is, it's a film that just makes me say only, but it's not really very, very bad compared to the others, it's something that's needed Forplease Dragon Ball fans of the original series to conclude the vote 6-

Sometimes it's easy to forget how utterly wacky, whimsical and unpredictable the earth from Dragon Ball used to be, especially if you are only familiar with the more action-packed sequel.

It wasn't only the talking animals, the dinosaurs or the flying cars, the setting as a whole felt like some sort of magical place where civilization was reduced only to a couple of cities (And even those cities had their own wackiness) with the rest of the world had a certain "magical land" vibe where anything could happen.

For example, here we have a haunted castle guarded by monsters, where supposedly an enchanted princess was imprisoned. Sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale...Of course, this being Dragon Ball, genre conventions are parodied and expectations get subverted in an amusing manner, while at the same time keeping a sense of childlike wonder which makes this very enjoyable to watch from beginning to end.

A fun, original addition to the Dragon Ball world, which makes me miss that "magical" vibe the series used to have. There is still some of it in the recent installments (Even in the atrocious Dragon Ball Super) but it doesn't have the same innocent charm.

Maybe the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima will restore that early whimsical magic.

"Doragon bôru: Majinjô no nemuri hime" or "Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle" (and there are many more known titles) is a Dragon Ball movie from 1987. So with all the negative aspects you can mention about the franchise, there is no denying how long-living the franchise already is. This little film here will have its 30th anniversary next year. I personally am far from a fan of the franchise, so my opinion is definitely very subjective. Still I must say, this did not get me interested in the franchise at all. I am glad it runs for under 45 minutes, because this way there is some nice focus. Or is there really? Maybe it is just short and equally all over the place and unrestricted, but not in a positive way. I did not care for any of the characters really at all and this is a major deal-breaker. Thumbs down. Watch something else instead.