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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)
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Product Description
Based on one of the most popular Japanese manga series of all time, Dragonball: Evolution follows a young warrior on an epic adventure to discover his destiny...and save the world from the forces of darkness. For his eighteenth birthday, mild-mannered Goku is given a mystical Dragonball, one of only seven in existence, which combine to grant a perfect wish to whoever possesses them. But an ancient warlord named Piccolo has escaped eternal imprisonment and is on his own quest to gather the Dragonballs. Goku must enlist the help of his friends - and the power of his evolving martial arts skills - to defeat Piccolo before it's too late! Packed with spectacular visual effects, high-flying action, and over an hour of hard-hitting extras, Dragonball: Evolution Z-Edition brings the legend to life like never before!
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
73 of 82 people found the following review helpful
By S. Granata
Format:DVD
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.
51 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By D. Matthew
Format: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!!!!!
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!!!!!
59 of 72 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dragonball Evolution is Easily one of the worst films I have ever seen.
May 24, 2009
Format:DVD
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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
you couldn't pay me to watch again
The worst movie I've ever seen, real fans of either the shows or manga will hate this. Everything is so wrong, the creators clearly just did not care. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Michael S. Bradley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exactly what we expected!!!
Just like the animates, this movie follows them to the "T"!! Action packed and not a boring moment!! KOOL FLICK!!!!
Published 8 days ago by Laura Garcia
1.0 out of 5 stars
Seriously?
I can't believe Toriyama would sign off on this. :( They should have renamed the movie, all the characters, and taken away any element that might have connected it to the... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Alex and Andria
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Kids Absolutely Loved this Movie
My kids all play the Dragonball Z Game, and watch the cartoons on TV, and when I saw that they had made a live-action movie I had to get it for my kids.
Published 1 month ago by gabrielalice68
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dragon Ball Evolution: Is it really worth the hate?
When I had first heard of a Dragon Ball live action film, I was stoked. "Finally, I get to see Goku blow s*** up and fight in hyper speed! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Hazmat
1.0 out of 5 stars
please tell me this film never existed.......
dragon ball?? dont be kidding me!!!!!! this is the worst insult someone could have done to the glorious dragon ball anime....... Read more
Published 2 months ago by anthony v
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dragon Dragon Rock the Dragon!
While not the greatest movie of all time, this is still a good movie for the price. Also if your a Dragonball fan, then it goes with out saying that you'll likely enjoy this movie. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Marty
1.0 out of 5 stars
why, why was this movie made?
i cannot believe in this modern day technology, do they make such a bad, horible, teribble just the worst movie ever. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lyndon Hercules
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dragonball: The Smallville Version (and I mean that in a good way)
I'll preface my review by making a few initial points: I am not a die-hard Dragonball fan but I am an anime fan and have, over the course of many years, caught much of the series. Read more
Published 4 months ago by JoBrAd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get ready to go super saiyan!
I watched Dragonball from the very beginning. This is actually the third live action Dragonball film ever made. Read more
Published 4 months ago by FireLordVinny
