DRAGON BALL

Essentially a sum up of the first season of Dragonball.

Dragonball is one of the greatest shows ever created!

A good start to the Dragon Ball Z films, but it needed to be longer.

The fight scenes in this one are friggin cool...to bad the villain in the movie is lame as hell.

It's very good but they needed go into Turles' backstory more. Why does he look like Goku? Great action and I'm glad the movie used the entire Z team.

The weakest of animated Dragonball movies. The english dub music is atrocious.

Lame movie, especially the English version with French-Canadian bad guy!

One of the best of the 13 Dragonball Z movies. It's got a neat story, funny humor and cool action.

One of the best DBZ movies, however the fights are too one sided.

The best of the 13 DBZ movies. This movie can actually fit into the storyline of the series. Great action sequences.

The best of the 13 DBZ movies. This movie can actually fit into the storyline of the series. Great action sequences.

Underrated DBZ movie that's a lot of fun; plus it's just funny. Broly has been run into the ground now.

I think the writer played some Zelda before penning this. Very cool Dragonball movie with a neat story and superb action sequences.

A well done special about Trunks. Great animation and action. The english music is great.

They didn't exactly butcher it...but they camped it up to the max. The special effects are horribly cheesy, the dubbing is so godawful it's hilarious. The movie also combined Emperor Pilaf and King Piccolo into King Horn...wait they did butcher it.

They didn't exactly butcher it...but they camped it up to the max. The special effects are horribly cheesy, the dubbing is so godawful it's hilarious. The movie also combined Emperor Pilaf and King Piccolo into King Horn...wait they did butcher it.

I grew up with Dragonball. Star Wars, Dragonball Z and Final Fantasy were my religion.

Everyday after school, I would turn on the TV and watch Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network. I became a Dragonball nut. So when the news of a live action film came up I became excited as anything. My attitudes for this movie have been switching from optimistic to pessimistic for about a year now. I e tried to remain positive about the movie yet every new screenshot I saw was worrying me. But it didn matter; come April 10, 2009, I was going to see Dragonball: Evolution.

If you are familiar with the mythology and lore or Dragonball and Dragonball Z, the movie is barrows heavily from the Pilaf Saga, while adding elements of The World Tournament and Piccolo Saga, and that a lot to cover in the films 80 min run time. Trust me, it doesn work.

2000 years ago Lord Piccolo and Oozaru, nearly destroyed the Earth, until a band of mystics trapped him in a containment vessel using a technique called the Ma Fu Ba, and Oozaru disappeared.

Cut to the "present" Goku an orphan live his adoptive grandfather Gohan, and is picked on in high school. For his 18th birthday Goku is given a Dragonball and told that while alone it can do anything, but if all seven are gathered then the dragon Shen-Long will grant the possessor one perfect wish. During this time, Piccolo is released from his prison and is determined to find the Dragonballs to exact his revenge. After Goku grandfather is killed by Piccolo, he sets off on a journey with Bulma and Master Muten Roshi to find the Dragonballs before Piccolo does.

Dragonball is such a mythic story, but the movie waters it down and most of the additions are questionable. Goku being in High School is one of them. By placing Goku in high school, he looses all of his childlike innocence and naivety. In the manga and anime, Goku had never met a girl until Bulma, in the movie he already about to shoot his load for Chi-Chi and having day dreams about her eating strawberries in the field.
I wonder what the subtext of that day dream was. ;)

Several things are also never really explained, a big thing is how did Piccolo escape confinement? There is no scene explaining how escaped or explanation for how he escaped. The opening explains he was sealed away and the next scene we see him in, he already in his ship searching for the Dragonballs with his henchmen Mai, whom is also never explained. Why is she even there? She offers nothing to the story.

Also it is never explained what Piccolo is after with the Dragonballs. In the manga and anime, Lord Piccolo want his youth restored and actor James Marsters confirmed this in interviews however this is never explained in the movie.

Goku origin story is altered a bit. He is still sent to earth to destroy it as a baby, but it seems that he is the reincarnation of Oozaru the Destroyer. Now for those who don know an Oozaru is the form a Saiyan (Goku race in the manga and anime) takes when they look at the full moon (if they have a tail). In the movie, it is prophesized that when the moon eclipses the sun, Goku is destined become Oozaru. Also instead of being 50 ft in the manga and anime, Oozaru is about 9 ft. That not really a complaint; I just giving the difference between the manga and movie.

Some of the sets in the movie also looked pretty fake, we're talking 1960 Star Trek fake. I never once bought the underground lava sequence.

The story of Dragonball has a deep and epic mythology to it and to condense it all into 83 minutes of fantasy cliche is absurd and somewhat insulting. I figured that the movie would only tap on the footnotes of Dragonball, but the movie gives its audience even less than that.

I not going to totally dog on this movie, there are some redeeming qualities. Piccolo redesigned look is awesome, the final battle, however short is still pretty cool, and the addition of the Dragon Temple is probably the most welcome change. There also a scene at the beginning that made me smile and really showed more of Goku from the anime. Goku is attacked by several high school bullies and instead of fighting them, dodges their moves and has them beat up each other. There are other moments where Goku classic character shines through, just not enough.

The cast for the most part did a decent job for what little they had to work with. Justin Chatwin was okay as Goku and James Marsters did the best he could as Lord Piccolo. Seeing Goku perform the Kamehameha was also epic. While the dialog might not be anything special, it is certainly better than anything Funimation (the company that dubs the English version) ever wrote.

I also glad the movie chose to use the original Japanese names of people, beings and techniques like Shen-Long instead of Shenron and Ma Fu Ba instead of Demon Containment Wave. Goku entire name, Son Goku is also mentioned.

The one thing this movie did perfectly was the music. Brian Tyler really enhanced the movie and made the simple story even more epic.

All in all, the movie was a disappointment and certainly not an evolution of the multi-billion dollar franchise. The movie budget was 45 million dollars which is 55 million short of what it needed to be. I would like to see a sequel because there is PLENTY of room for improvement and several things need explaining if the Saiyans are to be introduced. It not an abomination but its still bad and nowhere near good as it SHOULD have been. Next time Fox, make a 2 hour, big budget epic.