I had no idea that there were any Dragon Ball: Z movies, let alone one which was initially released as DB:Z The Movie! I can see why they retitled it to the Dead Zone (well… I can see why they retitled it; the name is a bit of a dud overall), though, as this is a weird nothingness of a film.
Chronologically, it acts as a bridge between the original Dragon Ball series and Dragon Ball: Z proper. In that regard, it technically does a bunch of heavy lifting: we see Piccolo show true restraint and even a hint of honour for the first time; Piccolo and Goku fight on the same side for the first time; Kami actually fights for once; it introduces the Serpents and Garlic Jr., all of whom return for an entire Saga in DB: Z; and we get introduced to Gohan, which really doesn’t get much fanfare at all. In fact, whilst I’ve always thought that even DB: Z doesn’t do a great job of being like “hey, Goku has a son and he’s freakin’ strong”, I will say that Dead Zone makes the main show look positively detailed when it comes to his introduction 😂
Okay, so we get some major plot moments in the grander universe, but what about the movie’s plot itself? Well, that’s barely existent. In fact, whilst this was released as a film, it’s really just a slightly longer regular episode, and yet they try to squeeze an entire season’s worth of plot into it. We get a whole new villain — Garlic Jr. — with a pretty complex and interwoven backstory — his father was the other contender to become the Guardian of Earth, alongside Kami, but is actually a member of a secretive and malicious alien race with strong Judeao-Christian roots — and several incredibly strong henchman. Between them, they actually manage what just about every other villain tries and fails to do, chiefly unite the Dragon Balls and make a wish for immortality. And so the stage is set for a showdown between Piccolo, Goku, Krillin, Kami, and a literally immortal Garlic Jr. who, even without his trump card of simply not being able to die, is already powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Earth’s finest.
So how do you squeeze all of that into barely two episodes of run time? Well, you have the villain create a deus ex machina for his own defeat… yeah 😅 For reasons that are never entirely clear, Junior decide to “open a portal to a Dead Zone” and tries to suck Goku and gang into it. They could have explained this by making Garlic less powerful and therefore the sorcery becomes a last-ditch attempt not to be subdued, but he can clearly fight everyone else pretty well and, unlike them, he won’t get tired or wear down over time — but I guess we didn’t have long enough to wait for that! So instead he opens up this portal and, surprise surprise, Gohan knocks him into it, whereupon he seems to lose control and closes it, sealing himself off in a pocket dimension for all eternity 🤷♂️ My dude, this was literally the only way you could be defeated so what were you thinking?
I don’t know, I would say “this should have been a Saga”, but it’s a weak rehash of other plotlines with no real overarching purpose. Garlic Junior looks like an Emperor Pilaf clone; his henchman look distinctly like the Elven forces that we still haven’t got back to; and every other major plot point is covered again in the Saiyan Saga, but better, anyway. I guess it’s worth watching if you’re either a completionist (sigh, that’s me) or you want some more context to the Garlic Junior Saga overall, but for most people the quick recap in the initial episode of that season will suffice.
PS: Once again, Crunchyroll UK only has the Japanese subtitled version and only via Prime (such a weird system), so I ended up watching the alternate dub version on Archive.org. Weird that they have it, to be honest, but useful.