Dragonball Evolution – Review

I have been putting my review of Dragonball: Evolution off for awhile now as the main story is severely butchered to the point where everything is unrecognizable to the original anime. The story is told very hasty and they don’t bother to explain anything, so I will try my best to paraphrase. Goku is being trained by Gohan who found him in his yard trying to prepare him for the possible return of Piccolo who is from the planet Namek and according to this movie all Nameks are evil. When Goku turns 18 he has the possibility of changing into a demon named Osaru which is his great ape form. At an hour and thirty minutes, it pretty much has no time to develop characters or anything like that. I have been a fan of Dragonball for years, even reviewed a few of the films on this very site, but after seeing this so called movie I felt apart of my childhood destoryed within a hour and 30 minutes.

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. The special effects are horridly done, there’s so much wire work you could swear they worked in a circus. It is an ABC Family TV movie with a $100 million dollar budget.

The plot is nonsensical,the story cliche ridden and the dialogue is absurd. Hmmm, can I say anything good about this film? When Goku inherits a dragonball from his grandfather, it becomes his mission to track down the remaining dragonballs and save the world from total destruction. This aspect as kind of cool. Chow Yun Fat is in it too. Thats it. If they are going to transfer these type of Anime movies over to the big screen, then they really need to do their home work first before they start making anything. Goku who has been friendly strong and kind in the show has now become a whinny invert school-boy that gets picked on in classes. Chichi has gone through a total personality change as well, from a bossy loud-mouth to an over-friendly popular rich airhead that falls heads over heels for Goku almost instantly.

The only one who leaves a good impression is that Asian girl who plays Chi Chi, Goku’s love interest. It’s a good thing her hotness supersedes her character’s name. Another disappointment is the fight-scenes. Although the climatic showdown between Goku and Piccolo ended on a total letdown, it was just furthur confirmation that this was just another lousy effort on a live-action anime adaptation. Aviod, unless you just HAVE to see this.