(Photo Credit: Dragon Ball Super Film Partners)
There are a ton of Dragon Ball movies, but not all of them are great. While some of the films are among the best stories in the franchise, there’s more than one stinker. Most fans view these as a supplement to the anime series, but they actually make an excellent gateway for new fans. After all, it’s a lot easier to commit to 2 hours for a movie than 200 hours for a TV series. We’ll list our favorite films in the Dragon Ball franchise below.
Best Dragon Ball Movies as of 2026
You’ll notice a rough balance between the ’90s films and some of the newer ones. While Curse of the Blood Rubies was the first animated film, it’s generally considered just an okay entry. Although the Dragon Ball Z era represents the franchise’s heyday, Dragon Ball experienced a major renaissance with the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Super. The franchise has been hugely popular for decades, but these works helped propel it to new heights and reach new audiences.
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (1990)
If we’re looking for a character-driven story, Bardock: Father of Goku is maybe one of the best of them all. Though technically a TV special, we’ll add it to the lineup for its value. Based on the title, you might guess this movie places Bardock, ehm, Goku’s father, at the center of the narrative as he foresees the destruction of the Saiyan race. Even though he knows death is coming, he knows what it means to sacrifice for the good and hope of the future. This one deals one of the hardest blows in DBZ history. Plus, the final fight against Frieza is one for the books.
The Tree of Might (1990)
This one’s a great nostalgia film, and I’m a sucker for that keen sting of years gone by. The main villain is someone who resembles Goku but embodies everything Goku isn’t. Turles, a rogue Saiyan, plans to plant a tree that harnesses ultimate power. If you eat the fruit, you get the power. But as the tree drains Earth’s life force, Goku and the Z Fighters step in to stop Turles. Unfortunately, our villain has the power of the tree fueling him.
That kind of villainy is fun, though maybe not the most clever premise by today’s standards. However, this one is one of the best Dragon Ball movies because of how it feels so classically DBZ, making it hard not to love. The naysayers will say the ending is rushed and undoes everything that came before it, but I’ll have to disagree. Watch it yourself and find out — good writing, good characters, solid arc.
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (1993)
Often regarded as one of the darkest entries in the Dragon Ball Z canon, The History of Trunks presents a bleak, alternate future in which Goku has died from illness (yes, Goku is dead!), leaving Earth without its strongest defender. In the absence of the Z Fighters, the planet falls into ruin under the relentless attacks of two biologically engineered androids, whose unchecked power reduces entire cities to wastelands and pushes humanity to the brink of extinction.
Pulled straight from the manga, the story follows a young Trunks, one of the last remaining fighters, as he trains under the guidance of Gohan, who is now a battle-scarred survivor and the final protector of Earth. While we’ll watch just about any DBZ movie anytime, this is the one that probably packs the hardest emotional gut punch. But it’s just so, so good.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993)
This one is a polarizing pick. If you find yourself on any fan thread, it’ll either be “this movie sucks!” or “this movie is amazing!” You’ll less often find a response that doesn’t land firmly on either side of the debate. Regardless of where it falls in those forums, the movie is important as the original introduction of Broly, one of the franchise’s most recognizable villains. This film resonated so much with fans that it led to sequels, video game appearances, and was reworked into the canon.
So, for the purpose of significance alone, we’ll add this to the list. As perhaps an overly obvious personal bias, we also enjoy this film quite a bit. The story follows Goku and the Z Fighters as they are invited to a distant planet by the Saiyan Paragus, who claims to have established a new Saiyan kingdom. They meet his son Broly, a seemingly reserved warrior with immense power. Not only as indicated by his insane muscles — how does the guy style that epic hair with arms like that?! As tensions rise, we learn that Broly is the Legendary Super Saiyan, an uncontrollable force of destruction driven by deep-seated rage. This gets unleashed, and Broly targets Goku and the gang in an all-out showdown.
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995)
We’ll put this one into the underrated category. Does this film completely stand the test of time? Sure, it’s debatable, but we land hard on the side of this being one of the best. The last of the Z films before Battle of the Gods, Wrath of the Dragon, sometimes gets overlooked in the long line of DBZ films, which is disappointing because it’s generally just a fun one to go back and watch. It’s one where we get some of the best examples of the characters’ personalities. Taipon is great, the fights take place in the city, and Goku has a move that goes down in Dragon Ball history. There’s just a lot that can be said about this film that puts it on our best-of list.
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995)
The movie takes place in the Other World, where a teenage ogre (or oni, in Japanese) accidentally causes a machine to explode in the afterlife’s soul-cleansing station. This triggers a massive rupture between the worlds of the living and the dead, letting souls flood back to Earth. And out of that chaos emerges Janemba, a reality-warping demon and one of the coolest villains in all of Dragon Ball. Goku, already dead and hanging out in the Other World, steps up to stop him. But Janemba’s power is growing, and Goku’s going to need some backup.
As one of the best Dragon Ball movies, Fusion Reborn is like, action on action. Directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, this one gives us some of the best-animated fights in the series. We get epic team-ups and supernatural chaos, with just enough lore to give it some importance. All around, it’s a blast to watch and is another 90s Dragon Ball classic.
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (1996)
This one finds its way onto our list less for the story itself and more for the elements that make up the film. It’s one of the most stunning in terms of animation, under the direction of Shigeyasu Yamauchi. Functionally, The Path to Power retells events of the past through the Red Ribbon Saga, condensing the first arcs into a tight 90 minutes.
This question comes up: Would it be reasonable to watch this to catch up on the previous 13 films? No, because even though Path to Power condenses Goku’s adventures into one film, you’re missing out on a lot. Functionally, the film serves as a condensed retelling of Goku’s early adventures, mostly drawing from the Red Ribbon Army saga. It streamlines key events and characters from the original series into a single feature, but it would be impossible to really cram everything into one movie.
While it may seem like a potential entry point for newcomers or a shortcut through earlier storylines, the film does not fully replace the depth or progression of the original arcs. Don’t think of treating this film as your Wikipedia summary. However, you can bask in the film’s style, which ultimately feels like a celebration of everything we love about Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013)
Fast forward to 2013, when Battle of Gods marked the relaunch of the franchise and laid the groundwork for Dragon Ball Super. Directed by Masahiro Hosoda, with a story by Akira Toriyama and a screenplay by Yūsuke Watanabe, this film gave us the most hype Dragon Ball Z had seen in years.
Set a few years after the defeat of Majin Buu, Battle of Gods follows Goku as he faces Beerus, the God of Destruction, who awakens from a long slumber in search of a legendary warrior known as the Super Saiyan God. When Beerus arrives on Earth, Goku must undergo a special Saiyan ritual to unlock this divine form. What follows is a battle that shakes the planet and opens the door to an even larger universe. While the premise sounds pretty serious, the movie is not. It’s a lot of fun, and the newer animation style is a nice step forward while still honoring anime’s history.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018)
Created in 2018, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the 20th film in the franchise and the first to carry the Super title, taking place after Dragon Ball Z. A reboot of Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), it’s directed by Tatsuya Nagamine and written by Akira Toriyama, with animation from Toei Animation. Hands down, this features some of the best animation in anime history — maybe ever?
The movie reimagines the character Broly, a Saiyan warrior with unspeakable power. Typically, he has been depicted as a villain. He had appeared before in non-canon Dragon Ball Z movies, but this version finally brings him into the official Dragon Ball Super timeline. The story picks up shortly after the Tournament of Power. Goku and Vegeta are off training when Frieza returns, this time with a mighty new Saiyan (for newcomers, that’s an exceptionally powerful, nearly extinct extraterrestrial warrior race) at his side. What starts as a straightforward battle turns into a full-on war for survival. And we get some of the absolute best fight scenes in anime movie history here.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022)
The sequel to Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Super Hero, was released in 2022. Fun fact: its release was delayed by a few months due to a cyberattack at Toei Animation Studios. The second Super film was the first to use CGI animation. If you’re skeptical about it, so were we. However, we were ultimately blown away by the visuals. This film was fantastic and became the second-highest-grossing Dragon Ball film to date.
Directed by Tetsuro Kodama with a script and story from Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero puts Piccolo and Gohan front and center to face a new threat: the revived Red Ribbon Army. This time, they’ve created two powerful androids and a monstrous secret weapon. When Pan is kidnapped and the Earth is in danger, Gohan must tap back into his true potential. This film is so good. Though definitely modernized, it feels like a love letter to longtime fans.
How we chose the best Dragon Ball movies
No, seriously, how do we choose? There are plenty to pick from, and most of them are genuinely satisfying — aside from the previously mentioned live-action trainwreck. But hey, watch that one anyway just for kicks. Generally speaking, we tried our best to include a range of Dragon Ball movies while also considering each movie’s impact on the franchise. We also factored in the evolution of animation styles over time, character depictions, writing, and, of course, the best fight sequences.