Movie Review: Dragonball Evolution

Dragonball Evolution

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Dune Entertainment, Star Overseas, Ingenious Film Partners, Big Screen Productions, World Film Magic, USA, Hong Kong, UK, 2009.

In ancient times Warlord Piccolo (James Marsters) and his pal Oozaru (Ian Whyte) almost destroyed Earth. Powerful spell Ma Fu Ba was created to capture Piccolo in a jar. Now Piccolo has escaped but it is never told how.

Goku (Justin Chatwin) is bullied at school. Great, the cheerful monkey boy from the manga and anime is now an angsty teen. Grandpa Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) teaches him martial arts and mystical skills. Grandpa gives him Dragonball for his 18th birthday present. Tough luck, Piccolo and his henchwoman Mai (Eriko Tamura) are searching for the Dragonballs.

Goku

Dragonball

Chi Chi

Pretty girl Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) invites Goku to house party. Meanwhile Piccolo comes to kill Gohan. Before dying, Gohan sends Goku to find Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat). He must find all seven Dragonballs before the next solar eclipse. Then he could make a wish to make Piccolo go away. But first Bulma (Emmy Rossum) comes to hunt for Dragonball-thief and mistakes Goku for the thief. After the mistake is resolved the pair teams up. Bulma has small capsules that turn into motorcycles.

Piccolo and Mai

Bulma

Also Yamcha (Joon Park) joins the heroes.Chi Chi reveals to be a martial arts master also. Then it is training, Dragonball hunt and finally Goku offers Piccolo and his henchmen knuckle sandwiches. The final fight starts promisingly but is annoyingly short.

Master Roshi

Goku's energy blast

There are some attempts to comedy, but with lackluster results. Battles have Dragonball-trademark energy blasts and flying in the air. Still they look like routine wire-fu, without much originality. Chow Yun-Fat was the most fun thing in the movie as a slightly dirty sensei. As the manga and the anime were long and epic the movie tries to quickly run-through the story. Things happen that confuse anyone who does not know at least something about the original source material. Briefly introduced characters from the original story join the quest immediately and the characters have no time to develop. Paradoxically it means that this bad movie is too short. 

There are some references to originals (Goku's spiky hair, huge appetite etc.) but it all feels almost a spoof. The generic story does not offer many surprises and will make fans of the manga and anime angry. The hilarity of the original is lost.

Most importantly: There was pig guy in the anime but there are no pig guys in the movie, disappointed!

Rating: Very bad

Starring: Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, James Marsters, Joon Park, Eriko Tamura, Randall Duk Kim, Ernie Hudson, Texas Battle, Megumi Seki, Ian Whyte, Richard Blake, Jon Valera, Rafael Valdez, Mike Wilson, Freddy Bouciegues, Shavon Kirksey, Julian Sedgwick, Luis Arrieta, Gabriela de la Garza, Rich E. Cordobes

Director: James Wong