Dragonball Evolution (2009)

Director:

James Wong

Writers (WGA):

Ben Ramsey (screenplay)
Akira Toriyama (novel)

Release Date:

10 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

This Easter the legend comes to life.

Plot:

The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.

Plot Keywords:

Dragon | Warrior | Grandfather | Henchman | Morphing

Cast

Justin Chatwin	...	Goku
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Master Roshi
Emmy Rossum	...	Bulma
Jamie Chung	...	Chi Chi
James Marsters	...	Lord Piccolo
Joon Park	...	Yamcha
Eriko Tamura	...	Mai
Randall Duk Kim	...	Grandpa Gohan
Ernie Hudson	...	Sifu Norris
Texas Battle	...	Carey Fuller
Megumi Seki	...	Seki
Ian Whyte	...	Oozaru
Richard Blake	...	Agundes
Jon Valera	...	Moreno
Rafael Valdez	...	Butler

Also Known As:

Qi long zhu: Quanxin jinhua (China: Mandarin title) (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Chat lung jyu: Chyunsan jeunfa (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
D.B.E. (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
Dragon Ball (USA) (original script title)
Dragonball (USA) (working title)
Dragonball: Evolution (USA)
Deuraegonbol ebollusyeon (South Korea) [ko]
Dragon Ball Evolución (Mexico) (literal title) [es]
DragonBall: Evolución (Peru) [es]
Dragonball - Évolution (Canada: French title) [fr]
Dragonball - Evolúció (Hungary) [hu]
Dragonball - Evolución (Venezuela) [es]
Dragonball - I exelixi (Greece) [el]
Dragonball Evolución (Argentina) [es]
Dragonball Evolution (Germany) (DVD title) [de]
Dragonball Evolution (Japan) [ja]
Dragonball: Evolução (Portugal) [pt]
Dragonball: Evoluce (Czech Republic) [cs]
Dragonball: Ewolucja (Poland) (literal title) [pl]
Qi long zhu: Quanxin jinhua (Taiwan) [zh]

MPAA:

Rated PG for intense sequences of action/violence and brief mild language.

Runtime:

85 min | 100 min (uncut version)

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English | Japanese | Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | DTS

Certification:

Australia:PG | South Korea:All | USA:PG (certificate #44706) | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-11 | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:9 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:IIA | Chile:Y7 | Mexico:A | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Sweden:11 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | India:UA

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In "Dragon Ball: Doragon bôru" (1986), Goku was a 12-year-old at the beginning of the story and 15 when he fought King Piccolo, but in Dragonball Evolution, he was made 18. He also does not have a tail in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Goku pulls his grandfather out of the broken house his grandfather is covered in dust, during the next scene the grandfather doesn't have any dust on his jacket or face.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Grandpa Gohan: In a time before many can remember, our planet faced its greatest challenge. A warlord named Piccolo camed from beyond the stars, bringing darkness and chaos to our once peaceful world. Aided by his disciple Oozaru, the evil pair brought the human race to the brink of annihilation. Cities and countries crumbled beneath them. Countless lives were lost. But...

Movie Connections:

References "Channel 4 News" (1982/I)

Soundtrack:

Rule

For the love of god, if you respect the original series at all, do NOT pay to see this crap!

Let me just start off by saying that there are no redeeming qualities to this movie at all. The multi-million dollar budget has amounted to a teen drama mixed with power rangers. The final product is insulting, to say the least.

The creators of this horrible, horrible adaption should take a good long think about what they have done and why they should have just followed the source material instead of taken it for granted. Do they really think that the entire Dragonball fan-base is this stupid? Akira Toriyama probably has a noose around his neck right about now.

To finish this off: The acting is atrocious, the butt-rock scattered through the soundtrack will make you want to punch the guy running the theater in the face, and the story is basically the manga's, but cut up, put into a blender, stuffed into sausage skins, and stitched back together with an American flag tied around it.

If you want your Dragonball fix, just buy dvds of the show instead, skip the movie, and if you don't skip it, then at least don't pay for this thing. I heard that a sequel is already in the works, and we don't need a trilogy, that would be three of these movies too many.