Continuity mistake: Mai puts the blood sample in the vial holding the blade with the thumbpad underneath the metal in the closeup, on the external part in the shots before and after. (00:49:55)
Continuity mistake: Chi Chi after her fight runs to hug Goku. Right by him there's a guy in a brown gi; he's so close that in the shots from behind Justin Chatwin you can still see that ugly gi in frame. All of a sudden though, once Goku asks "What's this?" referring to Chi Chi's scratch caused by Mai, Brown Gi Guy, so conspicuous earlier in his standing, is now sitting, out of the way. He is up and seen in the act of sitting at the next shot from behind. (00:50:10)
Continuity mistake: When Bulma and Yamcha are bonding, right at the beginning they go up some stairs. There are some extras that are descending, and are pretty characteristic; one has a blue hat, one a white fisherman hat and a yellow shirt, and the third a white tunic with a peculiar pattern. Yamcha and Bulma talk a bit, and while they do, there's a brief cut to one of the salesmen downstairs. And guess what? Walking down the stairs by him there's the aforementioned trio of extras, walking down that same flight of stairs as before. (00:50:30)
Continuity mistake: When the fake Chi Chi points the gun at Goku, her hair suddenly is all the way in front of her arm/shoulder, in a noticeable difference with the previous take. (00:59:25)
Continuity mistake: In the temple, while Muten Roshi and Yamcha are by Goku, Bulma and sifu Norris are by Chi Chi. She moves a bit then is unconscious, in the background. Her arms go limp with the palms up. As Roshi inhales. Chi Chi is lying with the palm down. Later in the scene the arm is back on her lap and slipped down the shot that follows. (00:59:55 - 01:01:00)
Continuity mistake: When Goku is called back to life with the Kamehameha, he screams. You can see, next to Justin Chatwin's head, master Roshi's knee. Couple shots later, both Chow Yun-Fat and Chatwin let go and drop on the floor, but the knee is still where and as it was in the new close-up. (01:00:00)
Continuity mistake: After he's been shot, Goku is lying on the ground with his eyes closed; they are open during the rest of the scene once the shot with Muten saying "He's alive" ends. (01:00:00)
Other mistake: Goku turns into Oozaru, and his uniform opens up. Goku reverts to his normal self.and he is also nicely tied back up, sash back in its place, undershirt, etc. Instantly. (01:06:00 - 01:09:00)
Continuity mistake: When Goku calls forth Shenron, Chow Yun-Fat is lying in a different spot on the ground between the wide shots and the close-up (look at the rock by his ear). (01:13:15)
Factual error: Despite the film building to a climax during a total solar eclipse, which requires a New Moon, the film constantly shows a Full Moon, which never changes phase over the weeks the film takes place.
Plot hole: Bulma tells Goku about "the little machine I invented. This can detect and locate the signature wavelengths emitted by the Dragonballs." Literally a minute earlier she was not aware of the existence of other dragonballs (which she called by another name she never uses again). She does not live far, since the theft happened only a few hours before, so if she believed already that other "Prometheus spheres" existed, how would she have never detected Gohan's sphere so close nearby when she built that radar of hers? Unless her radar has a ridiculously short range, and then it wouldn't be useful at all during the rest of the movie either.
Other mistake: Piccolo kills Gohan using a Vader-esque power to choke the opponent, and crushes the wooden part of his house on top of him (a very large part, some mistake it with the whole house) with a display of great telekinesis that takes him seemingly no effort. Throughout the movie, he never shows this kind of power and control over objects or people ever again.
Other mistake: The history in the world of this movie does not have to follow our own (after all, in Toriyama's creations we have dinosaurs roaming the Earth, and talking animals), however the opening narration talks about how "thousands of years ago" Piccolo bringing our "peaceful planet" and "the HUMAN RACE, on the BRINK OF ANNIHILATION." The movie is set in 2010-ish (Goku has a poster of the "Pazu United" football team, year 2010), and turns out from later dialogue that Piccolo is coming back after 2,000 years. The implausibility of a nearly world-ending global catastrophe happening barely 2,000 years ago and being completely erased from history (nobody remembers Piccolo and everybody laughs off the notion of an invasion around that time) is astonishing, but even admitting that, the opening crawl briefly shows warriors in full plate armor, definitely out of place for circa the first century AD. Everything about the narration leads to a very far back mythical pre-historic past, so when later it turns out it's" just" 2,000 years ago, it makes no sense.
