» Review Summary
Dragonball Evolution Review
Short Version: A complete waste of time at the theater, not just for Dragonball fans, but for fans of action adventure in general. We already know what the fanboys think, but I decided to give this a shot anyways.
Release: April 10th 2009
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Director: James Wong
Score: 2/10
» Review
Dragonball Evolution Review
Thanks for checking out our Dragonball Evolution review.
THE GENERAL IDEA
Goku sets out on a mission to find the remaining legendary Dragonballs at his adoptive grandfather Gohan’s dying request. Joined by Master Roshi and Bulma, he encounters the evil Lord Piccolo who is also looking for the Dragonballs to take over the world. Legend tells that collecting all eight Dragonballs will grant the collector one perfect wish. Its a pretty basic story. They both want the power to accomplish something great, but the badguy wants it for bad, and the goodguy wants it to stop the badguy.
THE GOOD
Ouch. How do I spell this out. It’s like getting an ugly sweater from your favourite aunt. Here I am expected to write something good about this and I have to do it without trying to sound like I am just being nice.
Honestly, some moments of the action was pretty decent, and the visuals on the tech were pretty well done. The Jetson’s fold-a-bike was awfully nifty and it sure beat the hell out of a floating cloud. Marsters’ Piccolo was menacing and evil. If I didn’t already know I wouldn’t have guessed that it was Marsters playing him.
Other than that I can honestly say they did a good job attempting to please the fans and give them what they wanted while still making the necessary adaptions to the big screen. Not that I feel they accomplished that, but they did make an effort to try.
THE BAD
The limited amount of things I had to say were good about the movie just means I could spend all day talking about what was bad.
Emmy Rossum, easily my favourite of all the actors on this screen was just dry and emotionless. Her attempts to portray a cold tough chick gunslinging treasure hunter just came across as flat and unappealing (two things I would never think could be associated with Rossum). This girl has a smile that can light up a room and it just wasn’t used nearly enough. And Chow Yun-Fat is usually much better than this, and I can’t believe they talked him into all that silly dialouge. Embarrassing.
But most of all I found this movie to be purely un-enjoyable just because it was un-enjoyable. Fans will be quick to label every last inconsistency with the cartoon or manga to try and cut down this production. Hell they even make up stuff that doesn’t matter to cut it down. But fact remains that even just looking at this film from a pure action adventure flick, the movie falls short.
There was no suspense, tension or worry ever presented. Even the teen angsty crush seemed empty. I was never on the edge of my seat wondering if the hero will prevail - even though you know that’s a foregone conclusion, building a sense of impending doom would be nice.
I judged this movie as a movie, not that it was an adaptation. I tried to enjoy it as a stand alone film that didn’t require you to have previous knowledge of the franchise.
Perhaps it relied TOO much on its fanbase which appeared to be its target audience, despite how the trailers indicating this would be a small departure from the cartoon and deliver solid action and adventure.
OVERALL
All Dragonball continuity complaints aside, this movie just doesn’t make for a good adventure film at all. Some action in very small glimpses. Some really decent visuals. Poor everything else. I was originally all up for seeing this, but after some preview footage, I lost all hope. I don’t think it sucks for the reasons the fanboys are hating on it for, I think it just sucks. Period.
I was expecting a popcorn flick, but all I enjoyed was my popcorn.
With its staggering $25m already gathered in overseas markets, and its estimated $6million in North American markets, I would be utterly shocked if this $50million budgeted film gets the sequel they apparently already wrote for it. It just might if they figure they can lure people into the more popular Dragonball Z storyline?
Overall I give Dragonball Evolution a 2 out of 10.
Wow. I’m surprised. I thought it would get a 1.
I didn’t completely dislike it. It had some very brief isolated moments. Just mostly disliked it.
The casting director and actors in this movie
scratch that everyone in making this movie should be made accountable for destroying any possible franchise for the movie.
1/10 this movie had so much promise but a bad script and lousy casting in Goku killed the movie.
Well Akira Toriyama gave it his thumbs up, and he wrote the original content this is adapted from.
I don’t know that direction or different actors could have changed the story. I suppose you figure Goku should be Asian right?
In no way what so ever would I be disappointed because Goku is not asian, he an Alien and if aliens happen to look like asians well I would start looking at my girl friend differently.
Justin Chatwin flat out sucked the way he said kameahmeah was unconvincing. The movie holds so much promise but it just flat out failed. And Yamcha dude since when did he become a valley boy?
This movie had to many flaws
Did you want someone asian to play goku? Cause if here/read one more person say he shouldn’t be white I will flip out. He is an alien that looks white for god sakes!
I retract my comment on the grounds I didnt keep reading I just got caught up in every other comment I have seen that said he should be asian and I apologize.
personally I would give it a 7/10, it was fun for me but to short.
I think th sequel will happen its already made 42 mill world wide
I’m inclined to disagree with you. A sequel won’t happen any time soon, if at all.
Your numbers are a little off. As of right now, April 13, the flick is a hair shy of $30 million worldwide. Opening #8 in the States at $4,650,000. That doesn’t seem like a strong number to me. ;-)
Shit this just fucked my day up.
Why couldnt they juts make this RIGHT!?
Define “right”.
In the last few months I have heard every last fanboy voice his concerns on this and they all figured they could do it better. I don’t know that it could have been better, but I wish it was.
This is what I would have liked to see in a Dragon Ball movie, as in, this would be my definition of right. In my opinion
In the cartoon he was a kid, I think that IF DONE RIGHT this could have worked in the big screen, a furious, violent, angry, short tempered, savage, badass 7 year old kid beating the shit out of people, or they can use Justin Chatwin…doesnt matter.
No stupid lines, no goofy shit, no flying Jeeps, no stupid ass dialogue. Sure, some humor, but not the stupid kind used in this movie.
Badguys: Piccolo and Raditz
Good guys: Bulma, Goku, Yamcha, The dude with 3 eyes and Chow Yun-Fat
The fighting NOT to be the STUPID ASS Bruce Lee ropes fighting!!!! UGH!!! Are we still in the 90s?! This isnt Mortal Combat
Do you remember the last fight scene in the 3rd Matrix movie? Okay, that would have been perfect for this movie. Not this rope crap…and no high school fights either, thats stupid.
The fights that arent titanically global and supermanish (like the matrix one) can be done with rope..but not this shitty style they used…maybe they could do something like what Guillermo del toro did inm Hellboy 2 when Hellboy fought Prince Nuada…now THAT was a good use of the ropes…that was amazing
The following is optional:
In the cartoon Sayans have tails, which means that you turn into a werewolf/gorilla when the moon comes out…until you cut your tail off.
So I think that would have been cool…some werewolf/gorilla morphing..like in Van Helsing…But not huge Godzilla monsters..just about 10 feet tall
“STUPID ASS Bruce Lee ropes fighting!!!! UGH!!! Are we still in the 90s?!”
wait, what?
bruce lee was a martial arts movie god. the makers could have only hoped for fighting of that caliber in DBE, and bruce died in the 70’s
Yes. I know that.
But its one thing to have that in HIS movies (which i love) and another to have it in Dragon Ball.
So its Ok to have those Bruce Lee wire fights in Bruce Lee films but not in Dragonball.
Then you say the fighting should have been more like Matrix 3?
Pot? Kettle? Pick a colour.
Yes. Thats exactly what im saying. That last fight scene in the last matrix movie between neo and smith was VERY dragonball-ish
“So youre saying its okay to have dancing in Footloose but not Spiderman 3?! You cant get everything!”
No…Bruce Lee movies are different then Dragonball movies. Normal awesome martial arts human and superman-like aliens destroying planets
You asked me what I thought was the “right” way to do it so I responded, you dont have to pounce on my opinion like that after you just asked for it dude
And yes, I love Bruce Lee…but its just not the same. But thats just me…
And I specifically said in my comment that rope fighting would be great in this movie…but not this cheap one that looked like crap…I mentioned Hellboy 2 and how they did it amazingly
They dont get to the planet destroying superhumans until Z but theres still supernatural fighting in dragonball….for the rest, just do the rope stuff…but do it RIGHT.
I hated this movie and I hate bringing it up again…but the 2ND matrix movie had that AWESOME stairs fight when Neo fought like 45 guys and there were swords on the wall…that was cool….
Footloose is about dancing. Spiderman isnt.
Your comparison is not about something that doesn’t belong. Dragonball is supposed to have martial arts, so does Bruce Lee, so does Matrix. There is a logical comparison there.
I didn’t pounce on your opinion. I challenged your logic when you contradicted yourself.
Right, thats where I (respectfully) disagree
sorta
Bruce Lee movies are…the same as Dragon Ball SOMETIMES…but not when they have flying scenes with piccolo throwing goku 1000 in the air and then appearing behind him again and kicking him towards the ground
The ones that are sort of…realistic..or the “Bruce Lee” ones I think could have been done a little bit better, thats all. Like the high school ones (which shouldnt be there int he first place) and the training ones.
I cant get over how awesome they did this in that last fight scene in Hellboy 2 with Prince Nuada
Although that sword fight with Nuada should have been extended to like…50 minutes….that was so insane…
thought it would ATLEAST get a 0
I personaly would much rather see them Adapt Dragonball Z. That was the show I was obsessed with.
Yeah, only I would do it CG style.
Well, this is totally sick. It’s disgusting.
I had hopes. I really did. But now they are going to utterly butcher a perfectly fabulous franchise and there is nothing I can do but stand back and watch.
I seriously think I’m about to throw up. Excuse me.
The Easter Bunny truly laid an egg.
LMAO!
That is…by far…..THE shortest comment youve ever posted
xD
Well I understand that the film couldn’t be just like the cartoon or manga. However, I do feel this movie has the same problem that the last Street Fighter movie. They changed so much from its orginal source material that to fans its not even the same thing that fans have enjoyed. Yoda said it best, ” Do or do not their is no try.” So seems like the film makers just didnt make a good Dragon Ball movie in fans perception. Rodney says it just wasn’t a good film as a film. That means both parties are right. Close this chapter and lets work on X-men 4, oh sorry X-men Origin: Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Dead Pool, Frost, Sabertooth.
LOL!!!!! “The easter bunny truly laid an egg”
I’m surprise people can go around saying “dragonballs” all the time without laughing. Call me immature, but I just saying.
What did you guys think of the eternal dragon? personally I would have liked it to have been as long as the one in the cartoon. Oh and what do you guys think of Hugh Jackman as vegeta? (not that its ever going to happen)
vegeta is like 5′5 and Jackman is 6′2 the size does not add up
the same applies for wolverine either though he did a very good job at it
I am still trying to get over how popular a show could be with villains named mostly after vegetables.
good observation
Thanks for the news. Not really a big fan of DB, but really like DBZ. This review just saved me a couple of bucks. I notice they didn’t say anything about Goku being an alien. Is that true? Did they make him a human for the movie?
The acting and dialogues are kill this off. Enough said!!
So I might as well look forward to spongebob live-action.
The idea of making Dragonball Z into a life action movie, by itself is amazing.
CG, I say.
I personally don’t understand how people who are not fans can criticize fans of a franchise for wanting a movie that stays true to the thing they love.
Sure, some fans do take their bitching too far but is it really so wrong to not want the Hollywood machine to bastardize something they adore? It seems to have become almost a pass-time to bitch about fanboys but it’s something they love being adapted, can’t they be upset when the directors and such take away everything they love about a franchise and replace it with trash to appease the masses? It just seems wrong.
So if they adapt a movie to be different in any way than the franchise that it was based on, its “bastardizing”, but if they do the exact same thing and you happen to like it like that, then its a stroke of genius.
Batman, Bond, X-Men, Superman, Blade, Twilight. All franchises that saw adaptations of the original works, but no one complains that they were ruined “because they changed something” those all seem to be deserving of a fresh set of eyes.
Spiderman didn’t have mechanical webshooters… but the movie was fine, so its forgivable. But if they made a bad Spidey film those webshooters would have been the harbingers of doom!!!
DOOM I SAY!!!
I see where Rod is going with this. Adapting and popular franchise to a diffrent media is a tricky thing. It needs to be faithful to its roots but not so much that it would turn movie fans away. Its like Batman and Robin/Batman Returns vs Batman Begins. Its just difficult to hit that sweet spot where it can please the majority of the audience.
the xmen movies sucked and other than number 2 spiderman movies sucked as well, and i dont know where you have been rodney but the fans were in an uproar before and after (to a much lesser extent) when spiderman 1 came out…
Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to say that any changes are bad. Obviously, something like this needs changes for adaptation but (unless I’m crazy) there is a difference between making small changes and stripping a franchise to it’s core components and then adding Hollywood “magic”. Take away what absolutely won’t work. Don’t take away whatever you feel doesn’t make a cool, action-packed Popcorn Flick.
Emmy deserves better.
Out of curiosity, did they digitally tint Piccolo green in this movie? The first trailer had him white. Then fans shit bricks online. Then I saw another trailer where he was green.
Well…Well…Well looks like I was RIGHT all along. hmmmmmmmmm
AndyS, you were never “right”
You said it DID suck, and my only arguement was that you didn’t know it would. You were GUESSING.
And you never got it, and you still don’t.
why defend this junk…i actually read the series via manga the week they came out from a KUNIKUNYA bookstore in san jose..same place that had every episode of every show on vhs tape dubbed so u could rent for $1..needless to say having over 20,000 tapes of bootleg tv shows will get u in trouble…but anyways at the time i was 12 years old and it was 91…throughout the years i learned how to decipher and read most of the 2 basic forms of writing….and about 500 kanji symbols…well what was awesome at the age of 12 doesnt mean it will make a good movie for people in there late 20’s (which is where most of the fanbase is at)….i new before seeing any of the clips this would suck…why…cause there is basically no way you can make a story off the manga and sell it in america…lil human looking alien with wild hair turning into a monkey fighting and learning from a pedophile old man etc…i dont understand how db fans would think it would be decent….hahah sucka’s
lol the guy who said jackman wouldnt be good as vegeta cause his hieght…get over that cause there most likely not gonna nab some super loked out jocky to play any of these toon characters….lol
I was gonna see this for James Marsters, but after seeing the trailer, i see it could have been just anyone playing the villain.
I liked James Marsters as Piccolo was the only thing I really enjoyed about Dragonball. Marsters looked great in the green make-up and pointy ears. The character wasn’t on screen for long, but when he was, things didn’t seem all too bad. You could tell from interviews, that Marsters was very passionate about Dragonball. It’s just a shame that the studio didn’t share that passion.
Emmy Rossum was another person who did a good job for what she had to work with in my eyes. But like Piccolo, she only got to shine in one or two scenes. That’s the thing, it wasn’t that the actors were miscast(besides Joon Park), it was the piss poor script that felt rushed.
They are the only things I liked.
The film begins with an 18 year old Goku who training with his Grandpa Gohan. This is not how it went down in the Manga, right? Dragonball was about Goku as a young boy, not a teenager, and his Grandpa was already dead. But you know what? This didn’t bother me one bit. Having a kid playing Goku throughout this whole film would have annoyed me. Gohan dying by hands of Piccolo gave Goku motivation to take this evil Namek down. Somethings don’t work in live action and sometimes you got to change things, but still hold the spirit of the source material at the same time. That being said, at least 20 minutes of the film should have revolved around a young Goku getting up to all sorts of adventures with his Grandpa. This way you would get some kid Goku in there and at the same time you’d be building a relationship between Goku and Gohan. But instead, they spend 20 Minutes with Goku hanging out in school, getting bullied and going to lame parties. I hated Goku in this film, he pissed me off, he was everything that Goku was not. Goku in the Manga/Anime was a playful, humble, but was very confident in himself and took things serious when he needed to be. In this film, Goku is boring, very monotone and plays off as a poor mans Peter Parker
I hate how the whole film felt like I was watching it on DVD and someone was hitting the skip scenes button on a remote. For example one scene just suddenly jumps to a material arts tournament where Chi Chi is fighting Mai(works for Piccolo. Again, there is not explanation why she is), where the hell did this scene come from? There is no more mention of the tournament again. The whole film is like that, it just throws things at you without any explanation.
2/10 also
It was painful. Will I ever regain my eyesight?
LOL, I’m surprised even bothered to go see it to review it. Thanks for braving it for us though.
I knew this movie was going to suck all along. No one behind it had any real passion for what the DragonBall series really is.
Plus I read an early review for it about 2 months ago on Anime News Network and they too said it was a disaster.
I kind of grew up with DragonBall Z, pains me to see this movie and the first movie based on a main stream anime at that, fail so miserably. Well here’s hoping that Battle Angel and Ghost in the Shell will both be 100 times better…
I hope ‘they’ do justice to BA and GITS. Totally in love with GITS (the original); opening scenes were brilliant, IMHO. I wasn’t as impressed with part 2.
I don’t even think this movie should have been named Dragonball. Apart from the actual dragonballs and the character names almost nothing is the same.
True, it is an adaptation. But even adaptations are supposed to bear some resemblance to the original source! This film is almost nothing like the anime or the manga.
I mean, what the heck? Movie Goku spends time worrying about things like getting a girlfriend, wearing good looking clothes, styling his hair, and being popular with others.
The whole point of Goku’s character was how carefree he was! That’s what made him Goku!
I understand that some things had to be changed for the adaptation. But you don’t change such a big part of the main character like they did here because then it’s not even the same character!
Did they change Peter Parker from being a nerd in Spider-Man? Did they change Tony Stark being a play-boy in Iron Man? Did they change Wolverine from being a lone wolf in X-men? And the list goes on!
If a movie Batman killed people and was cheerful and used guns and his parents were revealed to be killed by a drunk driver, fans would be up in arms!
It is obvious that this film is directed toward young children. Children who have never really even seen the show because it came before their time.
That’s just my complaints about it’s failure as an adaptation. The movie failed as a movie as well.
i agree.
it’s an adaptation which is that confusing in which part they should adopt.
and they just totally do randoms in putting whos in the film and whos not.
Big Diss..NO KRILLIN.it’s like no Robin, No Ron Weasley, just no Sidekick, come on guys, when they say it’s a good point when u delete the main character’s sideK and add a random person with random reason/motive and just anything random lke Mai?
Duh,the director was THAT creative ha,LOL.
Yeah, leaving out a major character is not a “minor adaption”.
Krillin was a minor sidekick comic relief character with NO story or plot whatsoever.
You compare him to the importance of Robin, but the current Batman films do fine without him.
Krillin was not required, and dare I say the film is “better” for not having just stuffed every member of his peanut gallery in it on top of all the other flaws.
You make it sound like the whole film would be redeemed if only they included this unimportant sidekick.
character’s like Krillin arent in the movie because the movie is set before they are introduced
Hey. Krillin was more important to the plot than Yamcha ever was.
Yamcha, Bulma, Roshi, and Chi-Chi all faded into the background of the series. Krillin never really did so.
Krillin may not have been the best fighter out there, but he was always around and he deserved to have a supporting role in the movie.
And despite your personal feelings for Krillin, the character is useless and has no story. However brief, the other supporting cast still had a story. Krillin was nothing but background noise and comic relief.
That’s why I don’t like Dragonball Z.
I liked Dragonball as a kid, I think it was the first anime I watched. Years later, now that I know that it was loosely based off of Journey to the West, I appreciate it more. It wasn’t a perfect adaptation by any means, but the nod here and there was nice, and there was a general story to follow.
They tacked on the ‘Z’ to the title at the point where they dropped the attempt at adapting the original novel altogether. The first story arc was all I really needed to see; the rest were largely made of the same stuff. Bad guy shows up, good guys die, good guys get stronger, good guys get revived, Goku kills the bad guy. Repeat. Years later, there’s little redeeming value to me. I want my time back.
As for the Krillin problem-he was the foil, the sidekick. He made it sort of a buddy pic, which could have been a lot better than the halfassed attempt at something resembling romance.
I knew this would be a disaster the moment they anounced it.
I found the movie shit. There were so many inconsistencis with the toon (e.g. Goku was the wrong age and he didnt have a tail)
I give it a zero and of ten. Makes two dragonball movies are awful. What a waste of film and money. I hope not make part two.
I fear only Rodney can talk sense into these people. :(
http://dbthemovie.com/2009/04/13/dragonball-evolution-flops-domestically/#comments
What is wrong with just giving the fans what we want? Do they think that if they KEEP it the SAME as in the anime it would turn us off from seeing the film? NOT! Now the true fans are going to wait even longer for someone to wait out this disaster of a movie to blow over to make a real Dragonball movie without changing things to adapt it to the big screen. This story is already adapted to the big screen, it’s just up to someone(a real fan)needs to step in and make the anime come alive.
Dude, a “real fan” did write this. The creator of Dragonball wrote this and gave his approval to the screen play.
So while all you fanboys are crying about how they “let” this movie go for a shit, remember that the master and creator of the Dragonball stories APPROVED this script.
I just watched the movie and i only have one thing to say “bullshit”. Real bullshit. Da worst movie i’ve ever seen.
I cried when they stood outside the cinema :(
The Boxoffice and DVD sales would incline to disagree with that assessment.
The XMen movies were great, and well received. And despite everyone complaining about how bad Spidey3 was, they still ran out to see it repeatedly and bought the Dvd. Hardcore fanboys will always complain.
I think that’s an over simplification of the situation. A point was made earlier about “fanboys” deserving to be upset about their characters being changed in a movie adaptation. To an extent, I can agree with that.
To make a gross generalization such as this is a little on the silly side.
This, being your: “The XMen movies were great, and well received. And despite everyone complaining about how bad Spidey3 was, they still ran out to see it repeatedly and bought the Dvd. Hardcore fanboys will always complain.” comment.
The X-Men movies were horrible. From a “fanboy” perspective anyway. I walked out of the first one sad. The second one sad. And the fifty minute mark of three, angry. And from your statement, it’s safe to say that quite a few of the “fanboys” didn’t complain. The Origins movie coming out featuring Wolverine will be nothing short of an abortion. I doubt everyone will be pitching a bitch about it.
People didn’t like DBE for whatever reason. More power to them.
The incredibly verbose point attempting to be made here: Way to be inappropriately condescending and assuming. You should get that checked.
They didn`t leave out any major characters. Some of the minor useless comic relief characters were not necessary but surely not considered major.
I am a die hard X-Men fanboy since Fall of the Mutants and I have been collecting comics for over 25 years. I love the XMen films, and though the third was the weakest, I dont hate it by any imagination.
People like me didn’t like DBE because it was a horrible film. You can point at all the inconsistencies with the toon all you want, but even if they got them “right” it still would have sucked. The acting was horrible, most of the action was bad (it had moments) and there was no sense of adventure. The whole movie was “what’s next” and a bunch of fanservice tributes that just made it all akward.
What about Krillin?
What about him. He wasn’t in this part of Goku’s story and he was completely unnecessary to the film adaptation. He is just a comic relief sidekick with no story of his own.