Search - Dragonball: Evolution on DVD

Dragonball Evolution is Easily one of the worst films I have

Geoffrey Blagdan | 05/24/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Since 2002, me and many other Dragonball fans around the world have feverishly anticipated the release of a live action adaptation of one of the most beloved anime franchises the world over.

The idea of a live action Dragonball movie brings so much potential to the table, and really changes the perspective of film making in bringing an anime to life, and bringing fantasy to life in a whole new way. This should have been something we have never seen before, it should have been aw-inspiring, captivating, and capturing the very essence of the Dragonball series that so many people have grown up with and come to expect.

Sadly, Dragonball Evolution is perhaps one of the worst movies I have ever laid my eyes on. Not only is this movie a wretched failure from a "fan" point of view since I am a fan of the material, but also as someone who loves and watches movies, and pays attention to Hollywood.

Within the last two years, we have seen some truely great films including. The Dark Knight, Iron Man, No Country for Old Men, Transformers, There Will Be Blood, Slumdog Millionaire, and many many more that would take up too much of this review.

With Dragonball Evolution, it takes all of the high calbur oscar-worthy/winning acting, and high grade special effects and production values, and pretty much takes it out with one destructive "air-bending" Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha(a little inside joke on the movie).

The movie is so out of touch with its source material, this movie can hardly be called "Dragonball". Outside of name-sake(or Marque value) such as Dragonballs, Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Shenlong, Ma-fu-ba(sealing technique for Piccolo), Piccolo, Grampa Gohan, Mai, Chi Chi, Master Roshi, Oozaru, and the Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha. This movie has next to nothing to do with the original story and characters.

Even if I was not a fan of the Dragoball series, and did'nt know what it was, I still would have found this movie attrociously bad.

The movie has so many problems, it's hard to list them all, because some just don't make any sense, or they are so confusing, it's really hard to put any of the movie into a coherent perspective.

I'll start with the performances of the actors. Simply put, Abysmal. They deliver pointless dialogue, have pointless scenes, no chemistry outside of boy-like-girl love interest, and lets you know you're watching a bad movie and nothing else. The actors are either un-interesting, extremely campy, or the dialogue is so horrendous you just cringe at it.

You would think with an actor like Chow Yun Fat on board, this movie would have some deceny to it. But sadly no, his performance may be one of the worst of his career. Goku(Justin Chatwin) is beyond un-compelling. He's just anger inducing to see him portray Goku in such poor character. Lusting after girls affections, wanting popularity, picked on by bullies for no reasonable explanation. Gag me with a spoon.

The story makes little sense. 2,000 years ago, Piccolo with his disciple the "Oozaru"(that's right, not even calling him a "Saiyan") tried to destroy/take over the world but was thwarted by monks and Piccolo was sealed away. Without any explanation, Piccolo is free from his prison, has Mai(his hench-woman) at his side(who by the way has no back story to explain how/why she's with him), he's in an air-ship. And we are given no explanation throughout the film on his full intentions, or anything else relating to his character. Also, he has the shortest amount of screentime of the movie, totaling 5 scenes.

Meanwhile Goku is turing 18, gets a dragonball from Gohan, and Goku is somehow involved this cliched prophecy with an eclipse that relates to Piccolo wanting to destroy/take over the world for no reason what so ever.

Later on with the final battle of the film is where the continuity of the film throws its hands in the air and walks away from the movie. Piccolo is somehow able to control the "Oozaru" side of Goku, and that Goku is the "Oozaru" from 2,000 years ago who served Piccolo. There's absolutely no explanation at all as to how Piccolo is manipulating Gokus transformation, or how he even knows that he's a Sayain. Or if Goku is the Oozaru, then what the hell is going on? And if Goku is 18, then how was he alive 2000 years ago serving Piccolo? It's a total mind meltdown.

The movie is just full of continuity problems that plague the film from the main plot, to the character sub-plots that amount to absolutely nothing and have no sort of resolution. The special effects are horridly done, there's so much wire work you could swear they worked in a circus. And it's just a completely un-interesting film.

The acting is laughable and completely unbelieveable in any sense, the fighting and special effects are poorly done and look unconvincing, and overall boring. The story and plots are poorly written, confusing, and even leave a fan of the series like myself, completely lost in the continuity issues that plague this film.

This is easily one of the worst films FOX Studios has ever produced based on a major worldwide franchise. Do not buy this movie, it is a waste of time, and a complete disgrace to the series many fans know and love. But this is also an insult to people wanting to see a good movie, you're going to have to look elsewhere because this movie has no entertainment value to speak of.

Overall, this movie is about as cliche as you can possibly get by ripping off of better movies like Spiderman and the Matrix, but also being totally un-original, and just making no sense what so ever with its story, characters, and relating to the Dragonball series."

Dragonball Evolution Worst Movie EVER!

S. Granata | 05/27/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Dragonball for years. I have the anime from Dragonball to Dragonball GT. But after seeing this so called movie I felt apart of my childhood destoryed within a hour and 30 minutes. So where do I begin? Well first, the Story was a mess there was little to nothing about Dragonball in it, and the pace felt rushed. There was no time for any plot development, or character development. Basically You meet Goku, then Bulma, Roshi, Yamacha and then final battle. So you can't get to know the characters, and understand why they are on this quest to collect all 7 Dragonballs before Piccolo. Also, it felt Fox was using other material from other famous movies and cartoon shows. Films like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, ans some materical from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Plus the movie never explain som important factors, for example, how does Piccolo escape his imprisonment, how does he hook up with Mai, How can Mai shape shift, Why does Piccolo need the Dragonball and so on. Second problem with this movie is the actors. Poorly casted, and they poorly portray their characters. For example; Justin Chatwin makes Goku sound and act like Robbie (played by Chatwin) in War of the Worlds. He does want to take on this mission to save the world, complains all the time and tries to hit on girls. Please if you have see the manga or anime you know Goku isn't like that at all. He stand for good and justice and all the heroic stuff; many Main characters stand for. Thrid, the speical effects look like some thing for the late 80s or early 90s. I can tell you used guide wires and the Kai or engery waves looked fake. I mean come on Look at Iron Man when Tony shots the glass in his lab they looked more realist then what you see in this movie. To rap this review up after watching Dragonball Evolution you don't feel they put any effort in this movie, they don't want to please the fans, or get people who don't know what Dragonball is into the series, no Fox did it to make a qucik Buck. So I say Skip It."

Well, Chow Yun-Fat is in it, anyway...

Benjamin J Burgraff | Las Vegas | 09/22/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Being unfamiliar with the graphic novels, anime, or video games that have made the Dragonball saga a world-wide sensation, I viewed "Dragonball: Evolution" with an open mind, hoping to see the kind of frenetic martial arts, magic, and humor I had enjoyed in "Mortal Kombat", a few years back. Well..."Mortal Kombat" this ain't, and despite the presence of legendary "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star, Chow Yun-Fat (who must have needed the paycheck), I can't recommend this turkey to anyone over the age of 4!

The plot is confusing; thousands (or 2,000) years ago, an insane demon lord, Piccolo (if somebody named me that, I'd be pretty mad, too), and his evil right-hand demon, Ozaru, nearly destroyed the world, until he was bound within the earth by seven sorcerors who gave their lives creating the mystical Dragonball orbs that focused their energies. Now, with a 'blood moon' total solar eclipse approaching, Piccolo (an unrecognizable James Marsters) is somehow free (how he accomplished that isn't explained), and gathering up the Dragonballs (which, together, according to legend, will allow the possessor the fulfillment of one 'perfect' wish). He plans to use it to release Ozaru, and finish what he started, before (uh, if any wish would be granted, why not simply WISH the job to be finished?)

Meanwhile, in true "Karate Kid" fashion, young Goku (Justin Chatwin) is being trained by his Asian grandfather (Randall Duk Kim) martial arts, and harnassing The Force (oops, I mean, his Ki). Goku's past is unknown to him (to be revealed on his 18th birthday), and to celebrate the birthday, Grandpa gives him a Dragonball (which flashes images of Ozaru to him). Of course, Goku cannot display his formidable skills to his high school classmates (even the hot Asian girl he secretly likes, Chi Chi, played by pretty Jamie Chung). With the violent death of the old man, Goku learns of Piccolo's quest, and races to gather all the Dragonballs, himself, joined by greedy Bulma (Emmy Rossum, who must have needed the paycheck, also), a thief, Yamcha (Joon Park), and happy-go-lucky Master, Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat). The story goes downhill, from here...First the Dragonballs are all-important, then they're not, then Chi Chi is revealed as a martial arts expert, who isn't very formidible, then (with very unimpressive CGI), Goku's 'secret' is revealed, but it turns out IT isn't that essential, anyway. The story keeps building to less-than-overwhelming climaxes, with a finale that had me wondering why I'd stuck with the film so long!

The Special Features are so-so (the gag reel is funny, an interview with Justin Chatwin doesn't really provide much more insight than a Google search, and a 'Making of' featurette of the Chi Chi vs. Chi Chi fight scene is informative, although the scene isn't the lynchpin of the movie that it is implied as).

"Dragonball: Evolution" is a poor movie...skip it, you won't be missing anything!"

Surgeon General Warning: You should not watch this movie if

T Dot | NJ | 01/11/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Dragonball Evolution is the worst movie ever. I would have rated it Zero, except this site won't let you do that.

It is not a Dragonball movie. It simply has Dragonball in the name, like that Final Fantasy Spirits Without or whatever. If Dragonball Evolution is a movie adaptation of the Dragonball anime/manga, than "Time Cop" must be the live action adaptation of the Jungle Book.

You may lose sight in your left ear if you watch this movie, I know, that may not make much sense, but it is true. It's like a 2 hour episode of Power Rangers, except far less entertaining. It is an ABC Family TV movie with a $100 million dollar budget. It is often mistakenly categorized as "Sci Fi" or "Fantasy", it is really a Drama loosely based on the true story of Koko, the gorilla who can talk with sign language.

If I had to rate this movie on special effects purely, I'd give it 4 stars.
- Half star is for the outdated computer graphics, Yamcha's blonde highlights, the 6 foot man in a gorilla suit, and the christmas light bulbs in the Dragonballs.
- Half star for the Capsules, and bullet time at the castle, that actually was pretty well done. And the girl that plays Chi Chi is hot.
- Three stars for the innovative "smell" technique only found in this movie: you actually can smell sweaty butt cheeks coming out of your sound system. I know! This movie is that bad!

There is actually one movie that comes close to being worse than Dragonball Evolution. It is called "Paranormal Activity". Except that Paranormal Activity does not meet the text-book definition of a "movie", it is simply what can only be described as "moving pictures". Sometimes experts refer to it as an "un-animated feature". So therefore Dragonball Evolution is considered the worst movie ever."