The popular animated television show and manga is given the big screen treatment but it may be too late. The film feels very rushed and might’ve been better to have hit theaters in the heyday of Dragonball mania.
Goku (Justin Chatwin) is a soon-to-be-eighteen-year-old kid who lives with his grandfather (Randall Duk Kim) who teaches him martial arts. His grandfather gives him a mystical object called a Dragonball before his eighteenth birthday. He’s supposed to be celebrating the big day with grandfather, but Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung) asks him to her party and since he’s enamored with her he skips grandpa’s party.
It may have worked out for the best since the evil alien Piccolo (James Marsters) and his servant Mai (Eriko Tamura) destroy grandpa’s house and leave him to die. They’re looking for the seven Dragonballs. Piccolo was imprisoned two thousand years ago and wants to gather all seven because the holder of them will be able to summon the dragon Shen Long during a coming eclipse, during which Piccolo’s evil, monstrous servant Ozaru will appear, and be granted a wish.
Piccolo’s wish is to have Earth under his thumb in revenge for his imprisonment. Goku senses something is wrong and arrives to find his grandfather dying. With his last breath he tells Goku to protect the Dragonball and seek out his old master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat). Goku buries his grandfather, but is attacked by Bulma Briefs (Emmy Rossum) who is also looking for a Dragonball stolen from her father, of the Capsule Corporation, but it’s not the one that Goku has.
The two join forces to track down Roshi and the Dragonballs. Along the way they’ll meet the thief Yamcha (Joon Park) as they get closer to the eclipse and keeping Piccolo from ruling over Earth.
I have a vague memory of seeing one of the animated shows and realizing that it was a continuing storyline about the quests for the Dragonballs. Since I didn’t see any before or after this experience I’m not too well-versed on the world of Dragonball. There may be tons of fans hankering for the return of the franchise, based on the manga by Akira Toriyama, but his film isn’t going to do it.
The animated show put the entire quest over multiple episodes and this film condenses everything down to an 85 minute running time. The whole thing felt very rushed. The character that gets the most development is Goku with his beloved grandfather’s death being the impetus for his quest, but the rest are shades or underdeveloped.
Piccolo is the greatest let-down as James Marsters is really not given much to do. The villain never really feels like much of a threat and has little screen time to establish his villainy. I would’ve gotten rid of the Mai character to beef up Piccolo’s role, but that’s just me.
Chow Yun-Fat usually is an actor whose presence usually lifts up a film. It doesn’t work this time as his character is so goofy and chews up much scenery. The film zips by so quick that the supposedly massive quest seems easy, not that Piccolo offers much threat. Even a last act surprise doesn’t offer much suspense as we all know that light will vanquish the dark.
Dragonball Evolution is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include 10 minutes of deleted scenes. The 5 minute “Goki’s Workout” has the film’s martial arts instructors showing you some moves. Next is the 3 minute “Worked Up” music video from Brian Anthony and a 2 minute gag reel.
The 9 minute “Making a Scene” (9 minutes) and “Life after Film School” (25 minutes) are from the Fox Movie Channel. The “Life after Film School” episode is possibly the more interesting one since it has Chatwin sitting down with some film school students to answer questions about the business. Finally there’s a 46 second trailer for Garfield’s Pet Force trailer.
Dragonball Evolution didn’t come with a bang but a whimper at the box office. I wouldn’t expect a sequel, even though it’s set up for one. The film feels very rushed and short. Fans may well eat it up, but it didn’t do much for me as it was pretty bottom-of-the-barrel Hollywood martial arts epic, though the young kids might enjoy it on a Power Rangers level.
Dragonball Evolution is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Sept. 7th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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