Dragonball EvolutionWith the successful Manga and cartoon series of Dragonball Z in the English speaking world, it seemed only natural that Hollywood would pull together some bucks and create live action movie called Dragonball: Evolution.

We first start off with a narration describing the imprisonment of Piccolo some 2000 years ago – and that now he is free and wanting to take the 7 Dragonballs so he can control the world.

Then we meet Goku and his Grandfather Gohan, as they have sparring match.  Gohan has been teaching Goku martial arts.

Goku is quite skilled, but still doesn’t have it over his old grandfather, who used a projectile air strike on Goku using his Ki.

Goku, who is sick of being unpopular and wants to attract the attention of the beautiful young girl Chi Chi, is frustrated about being different despite his grandfather’s advice of ‘having faith in who you are’.

Gohan also tells Goku that everything about his parents and his past will be revealed on his 18th birthday.  So on Goku’s 18th birthday he heads out to party, invited by Chi Chi, when Piccolo attacks and kills Gohan.

From there Goku meets some new friends, teams up with Muten Roshi to learn more martial arts in order to find the 7 Dragon balls and be granted one perfect wish – to banish Piccolo from Earth.

Is it Entertaining?

Well, some will say yes and others will say no! As a person only watched a tiny amount of Dragonball Z as a kid, I didn’t find this movie too bad.

The beginning of the movie is the most entertaining I think as we see Goku taking on everyday challenges and fighting off bullies in spectacular fashion.  He has sharp wit and it’s good for a few laughs.

As the movie kicks into gear a bit it’s not quite as entertaining and becomes more of a standard fantasy movie with lots of special effects and basic story telling – nothing special but mildly entertaining.

Goku Vs the Bullies

The Dragonball Z fans and purists may not like this!

This movie is quite a fair bit different in style to the cartoons (it is a movie after all).  With such rich and detailed storylines in the cartoon series this movie seems a little weak in comparison and a more interesting story could have been made to make this movie go at least a bit linger than the 85 minutes it clocks in at.  With plenty of reference from the old cartoons they could have made this film truly epic.

I did find Gohan’s uniform being worn by Goku pretty cool though, I nod to the fans.

Piccolo and Goku

The Action & Martial Arts

The action has it’s good moments toward the beginning of the film, but as special effects and wire work take over the quality does decrease.

In saying that it has been treated like a fantasy / comic movie in terms of action, relying on the visual side of the action and less on the technical fighting.  The fighting done by the actors looks like they’ve learned a little martial arts and have tried to oversell it a bit.

The poses and moves are a little over the top and stiff – not the relaxed natural feel you get from a real martial artist or a topped trained actor – it’s more like you’d see in The Matrix or something similar.

While not the best, it does still deliver a degree of entertainment and the special effects definitely suit.  It sits as an ‘alright’ action movie, but not a good ‘martial arts’ movie in my opinion.

On Blu Ray –

Region A (US & Canada)
Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray]

Region B (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe etc)
Dragonball Evolution [Blu-ray]

On DVD –

Region 1 (US & Canada)
Dragonball: Evolution

Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Dragonball Evolution [DVD]

Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
Dragonball Evolution

More info on Movie Regions here.

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