One of the last animated series I ever really got into was in my late college days when the Cartoon Network played episode after episode of DRAGONBALL Z. I always was fascinated by the characters and the over-the-top use of magic and martial arts. The storyline is written well and the animation is decent. I never thought it would turn into a live action movie, mainly because of the excessive effects it would require to make the film compliment the animated series. They got it half right with DRANGONBALL: EVOLUTION.
The movie is based on the first series of the cartoon, titled DRAGONBALL, which is the story of young Goku. It tells the story of how he came to be the great warrior in the DRANGONBALL Z series. I never saw an episode of DRAGONBALL, so I do not know how similar the film is to the cartoon, but I do know the characters involved enough to know that the filmmakers did not do a terrible job creating the characters.
The movie starts out with Goku (Justin Chatwin) and his grandfather Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) fighting each other on a close line-like structure. After their training battle, Gohan prepares Goku for his eighteenth birthday, at which he presents Goku with a dragon ball. He tells Goku of its power, the story behind the ball and of Goku’s responsibility to keep it safe. Goku, goes to school and ends up impressing Chi Chi with his fighting skills. She invites him to a party, and Goku goes. However, while Goku is at the party, his grandfather is attacked by Lord Piccolo (James Marsters), who is back from his banishment and is collecting the seven dragon balls scattered throughout the world so he can take his vengeance on the earth. When Goku arrives home, he find the house in shambles and Gohan dying on the floor under a pile of rubbish. Gohan tells Goku to find Master Roshi (Yun-Fat Chow), tell him what happened and to ask Master Roshi to train Goku for battle. With a young inventor, Bulma (Emmy Rossum), and a thief, Yamcha (Joon Park), Goku must set out to find the remaining dragon balls, and with the help of Master Roshi, take on Lord Piccolo and restore order to the earth.
I can see why some hardcore fans of the animated series were a bit upset about the way this film pans out. I for one was a bit confused as to why Lord Piccolo is a bad guy, when, in Dragonball Z, he is one of the goods guys fighting alongside Goku. I then discovered that during the DRAGONBALL episodes, Piccolo starts as a bad guy, something happens (not going to get into the whole story), and now he is good. Another complaint is that the ever-lovable character of Krillin is not in the film. He is, after all Goku’s best friend, but honestly, he really does not need to be in this film. He is one of the best characters in the animated series, but this first film has to establish Goku and a few of the other key characters before introducing Krillin. Yamcha’s role is small, but he never really had much development in the cartoon either, so it makes it easy to introduce him. If a sequel is made, I am sure we will see Krillin, but for the sake of keeping the film on track, he does not need to be part of the story.
The movie itself is adequate. The script gets the character development right and all the actors, for the most part, hit their mark. The performances are very good when comparing the characters to those in the animated series. Justin Chatwin really plays the part of Goku almost perfectly. Yun-Fat Chow, despite looking nothing like Master Roshi, plays the part well, even getting the silly actions and idiotic lifestyle down right. James Marsters plays a good Piccolo, but I wish he had had more dialogue in the film. The rest of the cast does well with their parts, even though a lot of them are not quite on cue to their characters in the cartoon.
Where the film lacks is in its production values. While some of the CGI effects, such as the house collapsing and the volcano lava look real, some of the fight scenes are nothing special, and even the fireballs and wind effects are nothing great. The set design looks like something from a Sci-fi pictures original movie. The make-up effects try to make Piccolo look much as he does in the animated series, but he looks cartoon-like rather than realistic.
The Blu-ray disc has some features which include, “Goku’s Quest,” a Blu-ray exclusive scavenger hunt game, “Goku’s Workout: Stunt Work” featurette, “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene,” “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School” with Justin Chatwin; Brian Anthony’s “Worked Up” music video, as well as eight deleted scenes and a gag reel. The Blu-ray Disc; presented in widescreen format, features English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and French 5.1 Dolby Digital sound with Spanish, Portuguese, French, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean subtitles.
Overall, while DRANGONBALL: EVOLUTION is not a great movie, I did have fun watching it. It did not do very well in the United States, it barely made any money at the box office and did not receive much of an advertising push. I do not think there will be a sequel unless it is includes more star power and a bigger budget or becomes a direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray series. If you are a fan of the animated cartoon, you may or may not like it. I for one did not think it was great, but had fun watching it. It at least has enough of a story to get you though the film despite all its flaws. The Blu-ray disc with all its features is a great disc, and even if you don’t care for the film, the features are not half bad.
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
