Like my last review on "Pink: Water Bandit, Rain Bandit," we get another extremely solid, very funny adventure short out of an old Akira Toriyama one-shot manga. This one's longer, actually feature-length at 47 minutes, and drags a bit accordingly; the first half is more talky than I'd like, and the world is a bit less vibrant than the likes of "Pink" or either of Toriyama's mainworks (Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, if you somehow don't know). Still, when this gets going, it GETS GOING. If I recall correctly, "Dragon of Konpei Island" as a manga was essentially the prototype pilot episode for what would becomeDragon Ball, and you get a whole lot of similarities here. Martial arts super kids, a smart young lady, an evil eccentric army out looking for a prized orb... it's very Dragon Ball-esque. And, thanks to an bubble economy-level budget, even this direct-to-video movie has some incredibly impressive fight scenes. They're fun to watch and very dynamic; very good stuff.

I wouldn't say this is anything "super special you gotta watch it," but if this is in your wheelhouse, you'll have a good time.