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Movie:		4.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		7.0
Extras:		4.0
Score:		5.0

Director(s):	James Wong
Writer(s):	Ben Ramsey
Starring:	Chow Yun Fat • Ernie Hudson • James Marsters • Justin Chatwin
Genre:	Action • Adventure • Children & Family • Fantasy
Release Date:	July 28, 2009
Rated:

List Price:	DVD - $29.98
Amazon:

I’m going to judge Dragonball Evolution not as an adaptation, but solely as a film. And, as a film – as a work of cinema – Dragonball Evolution succeeds. To be more specific, it succeeds in entertaining kids. If I were 10 years old, I’d surely marvel at the swirling blue and red auras and the Matrix moves. The bullet time is executed no better than most of the other films it’s been featured in for the last ten years, but I suppose if you were born the year after The Matrix came out, this might be a new experience for you. In any case, I’ll bet you can guess where I’m gonna take the review from here.

My greatest criticism of Dragonball Evolution is one that’s really unfortunate to see nowadays. With all the CGI action going on, it seems less emphasis was put on making the practical stuff sync with the digital. When rocks fall, they don’t have any weight; they’re obviously cheap rock substitutes. When CGI takes up part of the screen it sticks out from the cheesy sets and unconvincing costumes like a sore thumb, as if it’s the only thing that was paid attention to. This is a criticism I had of the first Transformers movie, among others. There is absolutely no reason a film should get to post-production and already look like shit. Sets have to look real, and when tables and walls break it has to look like it hurt. It’s inexcusable for the old school to be less convincing than the new. On a related note, there was apparently a big hubbub about Piccolo’s appearance. According to my extensive research on the IMDb trivia page for the film, the producers wanted the character to look less ugly than he appears in the finished film. The thing of it is that he just looks like a sea green Wishmaster rip. The makeup job sucks. The design is unoriginal, and I know that Oscar-winning effects designer Tom Woodruff, Jr. can do better. He’s done better in dozens and dozens of films. Just look him up. Seriously.

There isn’t much of a story here. I believe it vaguely follows the plotline of the manga and anime but since it doesn’t have 10 years to play out, everything goes by at a remarkably fast pace. You’d think with there only being seven Dragonballs in existence, they couldn’t all be found within five days and a hundred miles of each other. Every time there’s a lull in the second act the Dragonball-finder gizmo picks up another signal, sometimes when it’s fifty miles away and sometimes when it’s right under our heroes’ noses. There’s no rhyme or reason to when the thing goes off - just whenever the writer’s done introducing a character or throwing in some comic relief. Or introducing a comic relief character, of which there are numerous.

I don’t have much else to say, and you know it. Most likely, if you were planning on buying this movie, you’re not gonna let me dissuade you. And I encourage you to have at it: take a ride down to Best Buy and pick it up. I honestly don’t think it would appeal to hardcore fans of the series, but I do know it’s got enough compelling action and lighthearted filler for kids to eat it up, and I guess that’s who the movie was made for… but the potentially terrifying visions of the apocalypse and the use of a gun (which shoots some kind of magic plasma) may call for a parental screening before letting the kids watch. And any parent who’d watch this movie twice for their kids is one I’d be proud to know.

DVD Bonus Features

Deleted scenes, a gag real, a Brian Anthony music video, some kind of weird combat training/exercise clip, and two Fox Movie Channel specials comprise the special features. Like you cared.