Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope (TV Mini Series) Pilot (2014) User Reviews

The best live action adaptation of Dragon Ball

[lilmatieboy · 9/10 · 24 February 2015]

DBZ: Light of Hope - Pilot is a fan made live action web series of the Dragon Ball Z TV special "The History of Trunks". Robot Underdog have created what I believe is the best live action adaptation of the Dragon Ball series.

The Dragon Ball series includes some incredibly entertaining fast paced action and Light of Hope was able to replicate that beautifully. The creators were able to capture the ferocious action with excellent use of special effects and camera work. The costumes were spot on and didn't look goofy, they suited the dark tone that this short was trying to achieve. The actors did a good job, there was some cheesy dialog but nothing that detracted from the experience.

The editing was excellent, as I said before, the action is fast and that's all thanks to some excellent editing. The sound editing, however, did need some tweaking. Some sounds were out of place and other sounds were a bit exaggerated, nothing too awful but it was noticeable. Something has to be said about the soundtrack, it was awesome. There were some incredible edge-of-your-seat music and there was also some really touching music such as the one playing while Trunks was talking to Bulma. It's some great stuff and I hope the soundtrack is released separately.

Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope is a fantastic achievement and the creators should be proud of what they've made here. They were able to create a fantastic adaptation of Dragon Ball with a small budget, something that Dragon Ball Evolution couldn't even do. I highly recommend this, Dragon Ball fans will love it.

Great fan film but lacks studio quality

[maxaslagolis · 7/10 · 26 February 2015]

I'll start this of by proclaiming myself as an incredibly avid Dragonball Z fanboy, therefor I was dying for this fan film to come out, and was hoping beyond hope that It was going to be fantastic. After seeing the film I smiled a good bit, it was a pretty good film but It didn't live up to what I had seen in my head. The film's greatest strengths are it's faithfulness to the source material and it's brilliant casting. All the members of the cast are perfect for their roles and you can tell that they genuinely cared about the characters they are portraying. The film also nailed the grimness of world from the animated film its based upon, Dragonball Z: History of Trunks. While I do enjoy the film for what it is and who it's for it isn't on it's own merit a brilliant film. As a hardcore DBZ fan I can completely understand whats going, who everybody is and why it's happening, but those who are either no fans or even super fans may get lost in the story for the film tends to run very fast; it feels choppy as if someone just took highlights from a full length feature film. The film also suffered from sub par sound engineering, though the sound effects we hear sound great it feels as though half of them are missing with sounds such as explosion impacts and environmental noises often being omitted, which was really off putting and even made the visual effects feel quite weak, as though the blast from the fighters were little lasers instead of powerful beams of explosive ki. I enjoyed the film and would recommend it to any DBZ fan but to anyone outside the fandom it would just be a crazed mess.

The best live-action tribute!

[hribeiro8 · 10/10 · 24 February 2015]

The best dragon ball z live-action tribute! This is so far the best live-action tribute to the dragon ball z original series! This shows that a good cast and great directors can do much better than others did with so much more funds. The great visual effects are well balanced with a strongly guided stunts team. The cast plays their role in perfection. I would pay to see this in theaters anytime! Please keep the good work! Since ever that fans from 80's and 90's were expecting for live-action adaptations of dragon ball and this team did the job. Can't wait to see more dragon ball z series adaptations. Congratulations!

Excellent vibe. I feel the same way as the first time I saw Dragon Ball Z

[hybridss · 10/10 · 16 March 2015]

Action! This is what we've been looking for, this has everything that no other live action films could capture. The heart of true DBZ fans. Light of Hope, thats the perfect name for this series. It has captured my imagination. A bit a of bad acting in some dialogs, but nothing that the blast firing action didn't make up for. Cant wait until the next episodes and until the actors find comfort in their characters.

"The best live action DBZ film"

-Thanks Robotunderdog

"We will kindly donate to you, aslong as you keep it up"

Hybrid351

batter than evolution, but it doesn't match the original series

[fresprinc · 5/10 · 4 April 2015]

I know this is a fan project with low budget, but still you don't have to put Madonna to play the main character: Gohan. And the story is way too rushed. It is still way better than db:evolution but it can't compare to the original series. I really hope dragonball gets the movie it deserves and from the beginning when Goku is just a child and in the sequel they can make DBZ. I don't want to see super saiyan in the first 2-3 minutes of the movie. I would like to see it at the end when you connect with the main character and it should take time to transform like 5-10 minutes just transforming, it is what gives people goosebumps.

Street fighter: assassin's fist is a fan project too but they made one hell of a good job. They have found a good cast to match the original series-games characters, put in the music from the games, I really felt the real vibe of street fighter.

As a dragonball fan I really hope it gets its well deserved movie. Sorry but this is not it.

P.S. SORRY FOR MY English.