Product Details

• Actors: Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001HN69AE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,435 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Co-produced by Hong Kong legend Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle), Dragonball Evolution is an agreeable if low-wattage live action adaptation of the iconic manga and anime series Dragon Ball. Director James Wong fuses the series’ fantasy-based characters and devices with a somewhat lackluster storyline involving average teen Goku (Justin Chatwin), who breaks from his wholesale pining for classmate Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung) to that he’s at the center of an intergalactic search for the all-powerful Dragonballs by evil warlord Piccolo (Buffy’s James Marsters). With the help of master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat, who backburners his stoic screen image in favor of some God of Gamblers/Once a Thief-level hamminess), Goku develops his fighting skills to take on Piccolo and save the Earth. The film’s abundance of martial arts should please younger and less discerning viewers, but its hackneyed dialogue and sluggish pace (especially in the fight scenes, which stutter where they should flow) may disappoint longtime fans of the book and television adaptations. The CGI effects, which labor mightily to reproduce the source material’s eye-popping look, also fall short, though the cast is game, especially Marsters and Chow. -- Paul Gaita

Stills from Dragonball: Evolution (Click for larger image)

Product Description

Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Release Date: 28-JUL-2009
Media Type: Blu-Ray

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT Dragonball at all!!!, May 22, 2009

By 

D. Matthew - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Everything in this movie is RUSHED RUSHED RUSHED!!!

All the characters are REDUCED to stereotyical americanized cliches!
Goku is a emo whiner and trade the Ki blast of light energy for airbending puffs of smoke.
Bulma is a gung-ho type that screams Lara Croft.
Roshi turned less of his usual perverted self into more bashful.
Yamcha is a surfer dude like moron.
And Piccolo is a Star wars Sith!
Oozaru is 8ft instead of 80ft!! (I walked out of the theater angry because of that)
And all the actors reek!

The fighting is sloppy. The writing is garbage. The Directing is beyond terrible.
There are many rip-offs (Spiderman,Star Wars,Avatar TLA,Matrix)
This has the name Dragonball on it but don't expect anything of the sort! It's a DISCRACE!!! Who ever gives 5 stars likes cheesy crappy movies.

AVOID THIS FILM at all costs it's a big waste of money!!!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what it seems, July 30, 2009

By 

D. J. DeMent "Krillinfan" (Richland Center, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Well, to put it lightly, don't let the title (or rating) fool you, because this is not at all like the series it's based on. To be blunt, the only thing it has in common is the names. The spirit of the series, the morals it taught have been sacrificed in favor of a much more generalized and sexed-up Hollywood message.

The character personalities have all been altered to the point that they are barely, if at all, recognizable. In fact, if you didn't hear the characters names, even WITH familiarity of the series, you wouldn't know who half of them are supposed to be. Goku has gone from a carefree, pure-hearted, happy-go-lucky guy to a brooding teen that only cares about fitting in and getting lucky with the ladies, as well as sometimes wanting to hurt those who scorn him. Bulma has gone from the rich girl heiress with a genius IQ hunting Dragon Balls to wish for a boyfriend to a gun-toting Tomb Raider copycat who wants to harness the Dragon Balls' suspected energy to make money off of it. Chi-Chi has been changed into a shallow rich girl that completely ignores Goku until she sees he has special powers. Roshi's perverted personality has been toned down, and while that may be a sigh of relief for some parents, it's been toned down to such a ridiculous level that he seems more like a pubescent 13 year old than anything else, and he's been altered from the 200 year old master that witnessed Piccolo's destruction firsthand, as well as his master's sacrifice to seal him away to a middle-aged slacker that is a skeptic that Piccolo ever even existed. Yamcha has gone from a stealthy desert bandit and expert fighter to a fool with a small IQ who digs holes in the desert and waits for people to fall in so that he can pull them out... for a price, of course. Then there's Piccolo himself, who went from believing himself to be the King of Demons to being a Warlord on the planet Namek (that may not bother those not in the know so much, but it's a gross inaccuracy) and all menace that his character puts out was lost in this film.

Now other notable changes include: the need of a Dragon Temple to use the Dragon Balls, as well as a ritual dance to summon the Dragon, missing characters important to the story, such as Goku's best friend Krillin, who he grew up with (while training under Roshi, might I add), Korin, the master that gae Goku the strength to beat Piccolo, and Tien, Goku's former rival who joined him to get revenge for the death of his friend.

Now if that isn't enough to bother you, for a PG rating, the movie is anything but appropriate fare for children. Sexual imagery in some of Goku's fantasies about Chi-Chi, Bulma and Yamcha wink and make thinly veiled jokes when they believe Goku and Chi-Chi had sex, Goku and Chi-Chi are seen intensley making out more than once, and all ladies in this film, especially Piccolo's assassin, wear greatly clevage-bearing shirts/suits throughout the film.

All in all, this movie isn't really appropriate for kids on a theme level, it's too dull and disjointed for adults due to some HORRID acting and sloppy editing and directing, and it's CERTAINLY not aimed at fans, unless their goal was to offend them. My recommendation: save your money and wait for Season 1 of the original Dragon Ball to come out on DVD in September. Trust me, it's ten times as entertaning.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dragonball De-Evolution, May 27, 2009

By 

Jarrett Kennedy (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I would not buy this movie, even if you don't know much about Dragonball or Z. This movie is a very poor adaptation, FOX went with a low budget for the film, they changed Goku's behavior around 180 degrees. It is a bit entertaining but that surely dies out real fast. The special effects weren't very good either. Save your money for a better movie then this, you'd just be wasting it on this pitiful of an excuse so called Dragonball movie. Oh and don't be fooled by the added Z-Edition, it's nothing special.