Hollywood screws up another fan favorite.

Grade: D

Dragonball Evolution

Indian Release Date: 07/08/09
CBFC Classification:  U
Running Length: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

Cast: Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Joon Park, Randall Duk Kim, Eriko Tamura, Ernie Hudson, Chow Yun-Fat, James Marsters.
Director: James Wong
Screenplay: Ben Ramsey based on the anime novel series, “Dragonball” by Akira Toriyama
Cinematography: Robert McLachlan
Music: Brian Tyler

I’ve never been much of a follower of “Dragonball” or any of it’s incarnations in various media. I have watched a few episodes of “Dragonball Z”, heard other people go nuts about the TV-series but somehow have never come around to devoting a sizeable amount of my time & interest to it. Knowing the amount of fan following the anime series has I found it unsurprising that Hollywood started developing a live action movie; however I guess what they forgot is that most of the fans happen to be below the age of 25 & would hate to see the essence of something they cherish so dearly, diluted in any manner possible. From the looks of the reaction so far to the film it seems this is exactly what has happened & resulted in one of the most colossal flops of the year so far.

The movie is setup as an introduction to the “Dragonball” mythos & major characters involved. Unfortunately it is more interesting in moving at a break-neck pace that it forgets to pause and really make any of the characters interesting or to properly explain any of the concepts & back-stories.

    The plot follows a template of the cinematic “Superhero” storyline pretty closely. So there’s the shy guy, Goku (Justin Chatwin) with weird hair who constantly gets picked on at school by a gang of bullies headed by the very guy who’s dating the girl Goku likes, Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung). Since the story will invoke Goku to evolve into something greater to fight evil he needs to have a personal tragedy i.e. losing a close family member & that arrives in the form of his grandfather Gohan (Randall Duk Kim), who’s also trying to train him to fight great evil & to control his “Ki” (a powerful unseen force). On his 18th birthday he also happens to receive a unique gift from his grandfather, a Dragonball, which is also entrusted to him for safe-keeping from an ancient warlord called Piccolo (James Marsters), who wants to collect all the seven Dragonballs so that he can rule over Earth. In an ensuing mêlée with Piccolo, Gohan dies but not before he gives an inspirational & informational talk to Goku like any self-respecting trainer/close older relative would in these kind of movies. Thus Goku sets out to avenge his grandfather & to save the world. He’s joined along the way by Bulma Briefs (Emmy Rossum), who’s looking to harness the energy from the Dragonballs, Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) & a desert pirate kind of guy, Yamcha (Joon Park).

Even though the movie tries to mix elements of slapstick comedy, drama & action, it fails to satisfy on all fronts. The writing is pedestrian & the actors don’t help matters either. The special effects are highly uneven. While in some parts they look pretty convincing in others they look like something which was rejected for a TV show. The choreography of the fight sequences throughout is unremarkable except for a fight early on during a party. It’s a shame they couldn’t come up with better fights simply because the stuff I’ve heard about the duels from the original anime series makes them sound amazing.   

Chow Yun-Fat overacts like hell & comes off like he’s trying to pull off a poor man’s Captain Jack Sparrow. James Marsters whom played Spike on the TV shows Buffy & Angel plays Piccolo with the utmost discomfort. It almost looks like he’s dying to get out of his prosthetic makeup and costume. Emmy Rossum has some spark & so does Joon Park but both have minor roles. Justin Chatwin as Goku isn’t bad but maybe if he had a better script, he’d be able to do justice to the role.  
   
The movie could have stood out from the rest simply because it’s source material had so much potential. Instead of making it just like ten other comic book adaptations & trying to suit it to the normal world they could have kept the outlandish elements & made it a full blown fantasy story which would have given it an edge like no other. If they had managed to adapt it faithfully then the visuals would have been a sight to behold & surely the story could have moved at it’s rightful pace rather than the rushed attempt here. As it stands now, the movie promises little & delivers even less. Can’t believe Stephen Chow (Kung-Fu Hustle & Shaolin Soccer) could produce something this uninspiring & unoriginal.


Final Verdict: An exciting prospect which comes crumbling down due to an insipid execution.

Grade: D

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