Review of Dragonball Evolution (2009) by Alex M — 03 Sep 2012

To be honest, not terrible. it was entertaining as hell, and I dont know if it was just the corny effects or campiness the movie knew it had, but I still liked it. maybe it's cuz i'm not a die hard Dragonball/DBZ fan, so I can't express my dissatisfaction in the translation- but it can't seriously be the WORST ever movie. People really like to exaggerate their dislike and irritation with things they don't like.

If this movie came out in the 80s, it'd be heralded as a great B movie! my friends hated it but thought it was funny. I'd even possibly consider buying the dvd(of course i'll wait for it to be 5$ at Walmart). And I would actually watch a sequel if they made it- I thought the cast did the best they could with what they had, the story was pretty weak overall(james wong/ben ramsey obviously did not have story in mind). Piccolo is a great antagonist but he was so undeveloped in the movie and just wasted as a whole. I thought james marsters was good. justin chatwin as goku(i originally dreaded) but he was fine, definitely not the problem. Yow-chun Fat was pretty funny as Master Roshi- he definately had all the cooky mannerisms to pass off as the character, i'm sure many people were hoping for an older looking person maybe a little more cooky but I thought Fat was very good. Emmy Rossum as Bulma of course doesn't look anything like her, but she was an interesting character-she also made her a hard nose which I think was radically different from what I remember in the show. and they definately upped her sex appeal for this action adventure flick more than she does in the show-that blue mushroom haircut is far more ridiculous looking than the one emmy rossum had in this. Yamcha was a funny character but weird looking, a little hard to like mainly because of how different he looked to his cartoon counterpart and overall, his personality. the greenscreen and CGI was not overly BAD, but it definately left room for improvement. For a moderately low budget popcorn flick, it succeeded in bringing to life lots of iconic moments that seemed to replicate or allude to the cartoon, and much of the action and fun all showed up on the screen where it was needed.

Oh yea, ive watched a few eps of dragonball z, but cannot in any way compare the two, so maybe thats why I can accept the movie moree? One thing I find a little funny and sad at the same time is how hardcore dragonball fans are badmouthing the movie and trying their hardest to preach fans NOT to see this movie at all. Going against hannah montana the movie, the fans are letting their franchise burn while hannah montana is getting all of its fans even tho that movie looks like shit.