Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dragonball Evolution Review

Thanks to Fox for the lovely tickets for the Dragonball Evolution movie.

I'm a die hard Dragonball fan since I was 15.

When the rumors and the trailers were out, we all knew this movie is going to be a screwed up.

I read a newspaper article where director James Wong arrogantly said there's no point to follow the manga, sad to say he's no Michael Bay.

Yesterday, I was very excited to see how good is this "big mouth" James Wong's Dragonball Evolution would be. Well, it was dull.

Unlike Transformers, manga like Dragonball has a in depth story. Manga creator Akira Toriyama took 10 years to complete Dragonball series and James Wong took 1 movie to destroy everything.

Its a shame to see a Caucasian to play a role of an Asian character. On top of that, the story and plot was lame. There's going to be a sequel but will people watch it though?

This movie will goes well for non Dragonball fans as its very family oriented.

However, I just don't understand why adapt a manga when you don't adapt the story?

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow..
that is really spoiled!

cant wait for the full released next month.

Its really a must movie to watch for anime fans

Ben Devlin said...

I saw the movie too and am a big follower of the manga.

I was dissapointed in the lack of story and it does feel like a very bad job

Anonymous said...

Just watch it last night...it was terible....

one of the worst movie i ever watched...

im a very big fan of Db..especially goku..and was very dissapointed to see all the things about this movie...not that just the story...all about it are so lame...i wonder why akira gave them the green light to proceed this movie...hmmm...

just wasted 10 dolars of my money...

Wilson Ng said...

dragon evolution: U still can pay and watch it. Don't expect anything though.

Ben: if you are a big follower, this movie is suck ass. Try Watchmen instead. They still wanna make a sequel of this.

Sharqey: Well, as I said it took Akira 10 years and it took 1 stupid movie to spoil the whole thing. Stupid director James Wong!

Anonymous said...

I've been looking forward to this film for a year! Thanks for the warning!!
(Still not out in New Zealand)
I'll still go see it, but I'll expect a disappointment. Must say I was a bit worried when i saw Wongs othe film, "the one"... Didn't make me thing he was a director with a great deal of flair. I was reassured that film was produced by Steve Chow, but then CJ7 came out and what a clunker THAT was!
Damn!
Never mind.

Anonymous said...

just a reminder. goku isn't asian. he is a humanoid shapeshifting (ape thingy) alien. he doesn't have to be played by an asian.

Wilson Ng said...

Goku from movie was a humanoid but in the manga, it was based on the mythical story of the Journey to the west. From there, it evolved to Dragonball z.

Wilson Ng said...

Goku from movie was a humanoid but in the manga, it was based on the mythical story of the Journey to the west. From there, it evolved to Dragonball z.

Anonymous said...

Hi jus from a symbolic point of view. i ofren see alot of white guys go after asian girls, and i am tired of seeing this kind of thing where hollywood stereotypes the asian girls go for white guys crap. it is clearly seen in this piece of crap movie. which brings up my question why are most of the main characters are asian and why is only goku a whiteguy? WHY JAMES WONG you sorry excuse for a director. i mean what kind of white parents would name their son Goku in the first place, just doesnt make sense to me

Wilson Ng said...

No matter how this movie screwed up... my love towards Dragonball Z was unaffected.

Well, I'm not racist but the character was an Asian character.

Oh yeah... remember how they screwed The Legend of Chun Li... Don't bother to watch that one yet.

Anonymous said...

I have been a fan of drangonball and drangonball Z since i was 13, and i have to say that the movie really let me down, it just didn't make sense in fact when people see the movie it will probably give drangonball a bad name. Hopefully someone will make a drangball movie that acually kicks ass. the story line of dragonball has real potential to be a kick ass movie that new and old fans can both enjoy.... basically the movie sucked and after seeing it a little part of me died inside... maybe the creators of the movie should be fans of the anime maybe then they would have some respect for such a great story....until then i guess we'll have to endure such a crappy movie

Anonymous said...

Same here, no matter how suck this movie is my love for DB is unaffected.

This movie was really really and I mean REALLY BAD. One of the worst movie I've seen. Goku wasn't the Goku I fell in love with. I don't mind they using some white actor. But the thing is please just don't change Goku. Goku is pure goodness, he wont choose some cheap woman (Chichi was kinda a b***h in the movie, I gotta say) over his Granpa Gohan.

How do I suppose to enjoy the movie when I can't even believe that guy is Goku?

And please remind me again why Picolo wanted to destroy the earth in the first place? No solid reason, he just wanted to destroy the world, with Oozaru? (as stupid as the James Wong lol. I mean when did Picolo team up with Goku destroying the world?)

James Wong can't even be called a movie director. Pah!

Anonymous said...

I saw this movie and all i can say about it is that this movie realy sucks man. Pardon me but only retards will say this movie is awsome or rocks:)).
If u put the name Dragonball then use the story from the god damn managa and animated series to inspire u'r movie don't remake all the story in a stupid and cliche way.
And because u are a fan u don't have to go to see the movie, actualy if u are a fan u willl hate this and don't pay for it.
I don't know what is this but is not a Dragonball movie and not a good action movie is just a very low bad movie.

Anonymous said...

Man i was so exited to see this movie, even when i did not think it was a good idea to make it but i never wanted to see what i regrettably saw in it. Guess what there are gonna be two more. This movie is freki'n HORRIBLE Plz go to imdb and give it a 1Star rating now. Really i mean it.

Mike Stone said...

He's an awful director (James Wong). It was pretty clear from the get go that the studio went for a "yes man" director rather than one who would've had the actual talent to put together an adaption that does DB justice. If Fox don't take the franchise seriously then the movie is doomed from the word 'go'.

When I watched the trailer it reminded me more of a cheapo fan production rather than a Hollywood produced film.

Why were characters like Krillen excluded and replaced with no name high school kids?

I'm not surprised you didn't enjoy it, as soon as Wong was announced as the director I feared the worse. In my experience shite directors make shite movies.

Rant over.

Mike Stone said...

He's an awful director (James Wong). It was pretty clear from the get go that the studio went for a "yes man" director rather than one who would've had the actual talent to put together an adaption that does DB justice. If Fox don't take the franchise seriously then the movie is doomed from the word 'go'.

When I watched the trailer it reminded me more of a cheapo fan production rather than a Hollywood produced film.

Why were characters like Krillen excluded and replaced with no name high school kids?

I'm not surprised you didn't enjoy it, as soon as Wong was announced as the director I feared the worse. In my experience shite directors make shite movies.

Rant over.

Anonymous said...

just adding to the "Asian character role" thing that goku is a sayian and the myth was a boy riding the nimbus cloud and who had a staff that could grow.

but i do agree that it should have been an asian person playing goku it really doesnt make sense how a white kid could have an asian grandpa

ohh goddd why did they ruin this story line so horribly goku was way younger when he first knew about the dragonballs and when he met bulma,and wtf happened to his tail?

Anonymous said...

I saw the movie and I have to say, it plain sucked! Everything the fans loved about the anime was taken out. The storyline was a screw up, the actors were horrible, and nothing made any sense in the movie. Trust me when I say it's not worth paying for to watch it. It's more like avatar the last air bender than it is DB, and THAT's saying something.

Wilson Ng said...

Transformers and Watchmen are way much better than Dragonball.

I heard they are going to do a trilogy.

How bout that!

Anonymous said...

it was the worst movie ive ever seen

Church said...

Come on, It wasn't that bad .. the girls were hot!

The only problem I see in this movie is the title .. It shouldn't be "DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION" instead it should be "Yellow Shining Balls"!

NEVER USE DRAGON BALL IF YOU DON'T INTEND TO FOLLOW IT'S STORY!

Unknown said...

What the hell is up with all of you nerds? It was a great movie, it's just that all of you are a bunch of uptight left-brained geeks who can't enjoy anything a little different. The movie was fun, brief, enjoyable. The dialogue wasn't great, Justin Chatwin et. al weren't the best actors, the costumes could have been better, but I mean, I laughed several times and I LOVE all the Dragonball series. It's not the worst movie ever made, that's absolute bullshit. It's a kids movie, like a pantomime, a bit of fun. You all just took it too seriously. You anime geeks really need to lighting the hell up man!!!

Unknown said...

finally... a voice of reason

Paul Metcalf said...

Well, I've just been to see the film and it wasn't THAT bad.
Sure, it could have been better and it sure could have been a little more adventurous, but what the heck, it was OK. My 7 year old and his pal thought it was "awesome as...".
I'll not BUY the DVD, but I will be getting it out on a 1 night hire.

Wong... you there? If so, loosen up a little have get a bit wackier!!!! Take a leaf out of Stephen Chow's book. Having said that, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to the squeal!!!

Paul.

Anonymous said...

For all who think the movie was good or "ok." What the f**K is wrong with you? That move sucked ass. Talk about deification of a good thing. It sucked so bad it made Disney movies look good... What the hell are these people (producers and directors - Wong(not calling any names))thinking? We know its just business but for God's sake, still give us some justice and do a semi decent job. What the F**k!

It goes to show just like most comic to movie themes goes, out side of the last Batman and Spiderman 1 & 2 .. leave it alone and let a good thing be. It just don't feel the same with bad actors, corny over-played special fx and formulated scenarios. There is too much story to tell than to try to force it into a 90 minute Hollywood formulated crap scenario... Creative rights my ass, you suck Mr. Wong.

There's is now a new generation of people coming up who have never seen a decent movie, thanks to directors like James Wong (Final Destination- SUCKED ass too). I was extremely disappointed...

Extremely... They need to throw that movie in the trash. IT SUCKED!!

Huuhgg !! Arrg!! Hulk Smash!!!

Anonymous said...

Kwame: you're an idiot. Go play on the freeway...

That's the problem, crappy kids movie mushes the kids brains and then they grow up to make crappy movies and people like Kwame think that its ok.

You suck Kwame, just like the movie.

Even if I did not know about the manga, I would still say it sucked like a lollipop and a 10 dollar hoooker.

Anonymous said...

Idk why everyone is being so incredibly sentimental about the dragonball story.....The different dragonball cartoon movie specials even had its own contradictions between the grand scheme of the dragonball z/gt plot. And not to mention don't you all think the storyline from Z leading into GT was getting awfully predictable?

Its in 3D. Also known as a different dimension. Different universes and dimensions have different situations and outcomes. This is a positive example of that.

Are you all going to get really mad if they forget to include Oolong the talking pig? If you can't accept creativity based on intellectually property it may aswell be a FAN remastering of the series. No intellectual creativity. Just updates graphics.

Understand what im saying? Absorb the new universe and maybe you would be a little less bitter about it. But I do understand. changing the story is lame. hahah

Anonymous said...

Okay Just a question "If I had no idea what Dragon Ball Z is, (even though i have seen it all) is it an okay funny like movie?".

Unknown said...

To 'Anonymous' who said I should go play on a freeway well, seems you know more about $10 hookers than I do. If I were you I wouldn't come online and speak about my mother that way but hey.

The last poster made an excellent comment though. What, are they going to bring in Verne Troyer to play Krillin? Puar and Ooolong?

Next there is a reason it's not called Dragonball : The Movie and called Dragonball Evolution, because it IS slightly different, I'm not saying they couldn't have handled it better, I'm saying I was suprised, I thought it wasn't actually that bad. To have grown ups on here going "Huuhgg !! Arrg!! Hulk Smash!!!" makes me more worried for the future than any Dragonball Movie.

Oh and in case you missed it, it was produced by Akira Toriyama himself, so you can't blame James Wong for everything.

Why don't you go to film school and show them how to do it properly like I'm doing instead on of just complaining?

Anonymous said...

huh?! this movie sucked to it very core... i hated justin for acting as goku... through the whole movie.. like one of the comments says... "its not the goku, i fell inlove with..." if this goku was so serious... i wonder what would vegeta be like.... "ugh" dont wanna knoe..

and funny? it was irrating... jus wondering how did justin got the big drumstick he was eating... "ugh!".... i didnt see any t-rexsaur.. (off the record) i think the t-rexsaur in the anime was really funny.....

and yeh.. GOKU SHOULD BE PLAY AS ASIAN BECAUSE IT WAS MADE IN ASIA... i wonder who started put to a white guys on the asian movies... STUPID!!!

and yes a 7 year old like the movie... haha... he would also like barney to wag its tails while singing....

understand this... it wasnt your 7 year old kid that whatched the anime about 12 years ago... so its sad to say... it broked my heart into a countless pieces..

p.s dragon ball shouldnt be in rated pg...... u jus cant...

next anime to ruin:
samurai X
yuyu hakusho
gundam... (a must see)

oooooohhh... i knoe..... why not ruin METAL GEAR SOLID... i would really hate you in that one

i missed alot of animes...eheh