Dragonball Z Evolution: A Fan’s Dreams Are Shattered
December 1, 2009 by Chris Pranger
Filed under Movie and TV Toys
I’ll just come right out and say that I’m about the biggest Dragonball Z fanboy that ever lived. I’ve been obsessed with the anime and manga for over 10 years now and I doubt I’ll lose my love for its stupidity any time soon. Naturally, when I heard that they were making a live action Dragonball Z movie I flipped and rushed to go assemble my opening day costume.
However, as time passed and more was revealed about the movie, I began to get disheartened. I found out it wouldn’t be a Dragonball Z movie but rather a Dragonball movie. I learned that Goku was going to be a high school teenager and that Krillin wasn’t in the movie. Eventually they released a trailer and I watched it, only to finally say, “I’m the biggest DBZ fan…and even I’m not gonna go see this.” That’s a powerful statement right there.
All I need is my money back.
I suppressed my urge to see Dragonball: Evolution when it was in theaters, refusing to add money to support another abomination to the thing I love. Now that it’s out on DVD I felt it was time to give in. Lucky for me I had a free rental, otherwise I would have demanded my money back.
Kids, can I speak to just you for a second? Let your parents leave the room, this is just for you. Okay, let me level with you now. You aren’t going to like this movie. Don’t try and convince your parents that they just don’t get it because they haven’t seen the show; this is just downright the worst movie I’ve ever seen. The only energy blast is a Kamehameha and it isn’t done that well, there is no flying, and none of the characters look or act like they do on the show. This isn’t the movie you want to see. Go demand seasons 1-9 on DVD but let this one die quickly and quietly.
Alright parents, you can come back now. Dragonball: Evolution seems like one of those movies that might have been a cult hit about 20 years ago since it’s so cheesy that it has some value as a party movie for dorks. But we’re about to hit 2010 and this doesn’t cut it anymore. Parents, I don’t say this lightly, but you are 100 percent correct when you refuse to buy this movie for your kids.
As a movie, it’s terrible. As a translation from the source material, it’s terrible. It’s hard to read the IMDB trivia and find out that the main actors were really trying their best. It literally pains me know that, because this isn’t anything that anyone really wants. This movie was the simplest thing to make following three steps. First step, find actors who looked similar to the characters in the cartoon. Second step, make the actors look exactly like the characters in the cartoon. Third step, copy/paste the script straight from the cartoon. That’s all. But no, things can’t be that simple. I kinda want my free rental back.
Daniel Piana on Thu, 6th May 2010 10:27 pm
i´m glad, that im not the only one who thinks, that things like the first apperance of bulma on a capsule car is wrong (it was a renault turbo when goku and bulma first met).also things like goku is too old, goes to school, his grandpa is alive, piccolo is called a “namekian” (this came out on Dragonball-Z Frieza Saga, before gohans trip to namek with krillin and bulma and not in the Dragonball Kid-goku Saga).
or to shorten this:
bulmas apperance :
movie: capsule vehicle,
original: Renault Turbo
grandpa Gohan:
movie: alive, dies later
Anime: dead, but lives on in gokus heart as the 4-star-dragonball
Piccolo:
movie: knows everything about Saiyans(full moon oozaru transformation)
original: laughed at goku and called him a normal kid
Yamcha/Yamchu:
movie: appeared after goku drove with bulma in a trap.
original: he tries to get in oolongs bus to get a better view of sleeping bulma,and gets tricked by oolong.
muten roshi: didnt check out, how original he is / was.
chi-chi:
movie: more a student, than a berzerk`s daughter
original: armed with a helmet, keeping a boomerang and a beam weapon.
almost forgot goku:
movie: about 17-20, student, heard of namekian, and something else bothers me about him…
original: size of a 10-14 year old (at the 23rd Budokai tenkaichi tournament nornal sized twenty-year-old),doesnt know anything about the world beyond his house and fishing site, a bit clumsy, ask interesting stupid questions (sometimes), and always knows how to find the weak spot of his opponent, and is ALWAYS hungry.
WHO DID NOT APPEAR IN THE MOVIES:
Puar, Oolong, The Red Ribbon Army, Krillin / Kuririn(a lot of funny moments lost), Lunch, Tien (Ten-Shin Han), Mercenary Tao (Tao Bai-Bai), Chao-Tzu (a tiny Yippie, didnt like his(?)voice in the Dragonball series), Tambourin + Drum (King Piccolo´s Minions), Prince Pilaw, Karin (the talking cat in the sky tower beneath god´s platform), Uranai-Baba (Muten Roshi´s sister),Jindujun (goku´s cloud),Popo (trained goku at god´s palace),
dont knows: Yajirobi,
Result:
dont waste your time with the second(!),yes second, messed up dragonball movie..the first one was on 1989:
“Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins”…also a failure.. e.g. Goku´s name in the movie was “monkey-boy”…hope i could do a little support here, and sorry if i didnt name some characters correctly. some names are different here in europe than maybe in America or in Asia..
I hope i could help you, Chris Pragner.
if not: sorry.
and to everyone out there: thanks for reading.
Chris Pranger on Thu, 6th May 2010 11:40 pm
Well, that pretty much sums things up then doesn’t it?
Daniel Piana on Fri, 7th May 2010 11:46 pm
i think so… i wonder why they create movies about series which cant be put in one movie… they have the technology to create very good special effects (maybe thats the only good thing i forgot to mention text above) to renew the dragonball-sagas 1:1. from anime to actors where people should really look like all of the Dragonball chars. but i must confess, that i like the animated or drawn characters more, than the real-life chars..maybe ist because they were all.. well .. mis-casted.
i never seen comercials like “do YOU look like someone in the dragoball universe? do YOU want to make this motion picture as realistic as it can be? well come to our casting, bring a photo and tell us who you think you look like. castings in the mall near you.” why didnt they cast the movies this way? we got internet to check if he/she really could be him/her or not.
i dont get it.
maybe you like these movies, when you never heard of dragonball.ok…uhm..i think im reaching an anger level of over 9000 (for all readers who never heard this before, its not in the movies.).
maybe these movies will be remakes someday and better casted.
oh man.. i really cant stop saying that these movies were a punch in the face for Akira Toriyama, who really spent lots and lots of energy, time and heartblood in the series only to see (i hope he didn`t) his work been cut down to a not-so-good 90 min. movie.
imagine 153 episodes (20 mins each) in 90 minutes. why couldnt they do it in 3 or 4 parts, like “terminator”? i dont get it.. and they tried to create another dragonball movie (so i heard), when (!) DB:Evo would earn good critics and a lot of viewers. i would watch it, when its the complete sayian-saga with Radditz,Nappa,Vegeta,Krillin and the others who appeared in the DBZ-sayian saga(the saga before the lets-go-to-namek-episodes).and i hope they dont start a self-made version again.
we´ll see what the future comes up with..
why can´t i just say this movie was blabla and the next should be more close to the original..
to shorten things: thank you for reading and good.. morning already?
Chris Pranger on Fri, 7th May 2010 11:58 pm
What breaks my heart is finding out that Toriyama liked what he saw, or at least enough to give it his approval. Sure, it’s all about the “new approach,” but this was an instance where it was just plain wrong. Three simple steps to making a movie with an established fanbase: 1. Find actors that look like the characters. 2. Make those actors look exactly like the characters. 3. Copy/paste the script from the anime. Done, that’s it, instant gold. We didn’t even get any good toys or video games out of the deal. Lame.