Dragonball Evolution – The Movie Everybody Wanted, But Nobody Liked
When you think of a Dragonball live-action film, every kid and adult alike who’s ever watched the worldwide phenonium anime has imagined what a big screen blockbuster rendition could look like; high voltage action, perfectly choreographed fight scenes, and finally seeing Goku’s Kamehameha blast in CGI glory.
Unfortunately though, the only thing that the 2009s Dragonball Evolution film achieved was that it proved that sometimes our fan favourite anime should stay on the small screen.
Following the story we all know and love, with a mash-up of Hollywood adaptations, Dragon Ball Evolution sees Goku set off to fulfil his Grandfather's dying wish of collecting the 7 dragon balls before the evil King Piccolo can. The film is a mouldy soup of mediocre fight sequences, terrible acting, and an even worse script. On initial release the film was reviewed horrifically, scoring 1.7 out of 5 on Google, and 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, and to this day is known as one of the worst movie adaptations to be made.
Not only was it a critical flop, but it was also a financial one too, so thankfully we will never have to see a sequel in the works. It sounds like we are being harsh on the film, and there are probably many people out there who do enjoy it, although, even Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, agrees with us when we say that the film was a disgrace to the anime and manga. Toriyama explains when interviewed that the film was ‘unmistakably terrible’.
Evolution, with all its bad traits, also does not get the one thing right that may have saved it either: fan service. Pulling on Dragon Ball fans' nostalgia strings may have made it bearable for lovers of the franchise, but the film strayed so far away from the source material that it left the fans needing a senzu bean just to recover from the 1 hour and 25-minute ordeal. Goku is not even a Saiyan, instead, he’s a strange rendition of Peter Parker being bullied and longing for the girl.
Also, if you are looking for the aforementioned moment of seeing Goku using the Kamehameha on the big screen, it’s got that too, and it’s just as bad as you’d think after reading this.
