Dragon Ball Evolution: A 10th Anniversary Retrospective

[Kaboom]

There are few things I've experienced in my life that I actually regret being hopeful about, but Dragon Ball Evolution may very well be at the top of that short list.

I was on the "cautious optimism bordering on denial" side of the debate leading up to the movie's release, and while I still enjoyed it to a certain extent when I saw it in theaters, its flaws were very obvious and the naysayers ended up being almost entirely justified. For most of the last 10 years, my verdict on the movie has been, "decent generic kids' action flick, but downright horrible Dragon Ball adaptation," and I still think that sums it up pretty neatly.

There were a few good things that came out of it, though. For one, we got the DBE tie-in game on PSP, which managed to buck the trend and be a rare example of the game being better than the movie. Though obviously only because the movie was terrible to begin with and the game was just a reskin of another game that was already good. Then of course, Toriyama's displeasure with how the movie turned out (and being ignored when he tried to offer the studio advice) caused him to re-enter the fray and help give us Battle of Gods... but that in turn led to us getting Super, so I guess that was a double-edged sword.

The movie's version of the Turtle School gi was pretty dope, at least. It's basically the only thing I've ever cosplayed, and I don't regret that. I do regret being a little too chunky at the time (and much too chunky now) to pass for any respectable version of Goku... which is why I cosplayed that version! Kapow!

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe I should "celebrate" the movie's anniversary by finally watching it with the TeamFourStar iRiff commentary track. I held off when it came out, because I was trying to write my own iRiff for the film, but that never came to fruition, so screw it.

[KBABZ]

The movie's version of the Turtle School gi was pretty dope, at least. It's basically the only thing I've ever cosplayed, and I don't regret that. I do regret being a little too chunky at the time (and much too chunky now) to pass for any respectable version of Goku... which is why I cosplayed that version! Kapow!

I got around that by cosplaying as someone who is a Turtle School student, not Goku specifically, to PSX 2017. To help get the point across, I wore Arale's hat... but then the reactions I got assumed I was an adult, fat, gender-flipped Arale with brown hair who trained after Master Roshi. Although to be honest, I was most shocked that people even KNEW who Arale was!

Having better production value does not make it better IMO.

-looks at Dragon Ball Xenoverse-

Yeah production values matter. Them not mattering is what results in Episode 5 of Super.

[8000 Saiyan]

And Evolution is cheap but not in a fun way. It's cheap all around. At least Transformers has production value and John Turturro.

It also has Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime.

[Lord Beerus]

That ending no longer has the same meaning if you take Super into account. Uub is supposed to represent that there are more mountains for Goku to climb. Uub's only value is he is the incarnation of the strongest being Goku had ever faced and yet we clearly see from Battle of Gods, that is not true.

I always thought Oob represented Goku's desire for someone with an incredible amount of raw power and talent to be cultivated and nurtured. I mean, one of Goku's defining characteristics isn't just seeing how strong he can get, but also his eagerness to see how far his opponents can get more powerful.

[KBABZ]

I always thought Oob represented Goku's desire for someone with an incredible amount of raw power and talent to be cultivated and nurtured. I mean, one of Goku's defining characteristics isn't just seeing how strong he can get, but also his eagerness to see how far his opponents can get more powerful.

Agreed. I also kinda thought it was understood that, considering his age, Uub is MORE powerful than Buu ever was, so that part for me holds true as well.

[ABED]

I always thought Oob represented Goku's desire for someone with an incredible amount of raw power and talent to be cultivated and nurtured. I mean, one of Goku's defining characteristics isn't just seeing how strong he can get, but also his eagerness to see how far his opponents can get more powerful.

Agreed. I also kinda thought it was understood that, considering his age, Uub is MORE powerful than Buu ever was, so that part for me holds true as well.

It's both, but he wants a battle, too. He asked for him to return so he could fight him again somewhere down the line. He didn't ask for Buu to return so he could train him. And we have no indication that Uub is stronger than Buu ever was. At most, we have indication that he has a lot of raw power.

It also has Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime.

Cullen is talented, but I don't care about Transformers in any incarnation. I never have, so I don't have any emotional attachment to Cullen's performance.

[KBABZ]

It's both, but he wants a battle, too. He asked for him to return so he could fight him again somewhere down the line. He didn't ask for Buu to return so he could train him. And we have no indication that Uub is stronger than Buu ever was. At most, we have indication that he has a lot of raw power.

Well, here's my "math" on it. First, Uub is at SUCH a young age with practically no training, and yet he's able to give Goku (who admittedly is likely not giving it his all) a run for his money. Second, considering point A, Goku would want to train and improve Uub's skills as a fighter so that he has a fantastic person to fight and test his own ability in the future. Goku's fight with Uub at the Tournament I don't think was THE fight he was referring to, he's instead thinking about the long-term and knows he needs to train this Buu reincarnation to get him to where he wants him to be. It also means that Goku is a teacher again, similar to how he was with Gohan but more pertinently is a mirror of Master Roshi, especially in the revised ending where he gives Uub the Nimbus.

[ABED]

Considering Goku is in his base form and not even warmed up, there's no way to tell how strong Uub is. Given that he's a young incarnation, he likely has a lot of raw power, but little else and we don't know how deep it goes. That's not the point. Uub has at least the potential to be as strong if not stronger and that's why he's training him - for a fight. He has a specific goal and it's not to be a teacher. That's a means to an end. Did you get the impression that I believed their fight at the TB was what I was talking about?

We're losing the forest from the trees. Uub is supposed to provide thematic closure, but after Battle of Gods and Super, that no longer works.

[Bardo117]

Wow, the memories. Reminds me of when I was on here on a different account.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm not gonna lie, I really didn't like this movie. That said, It led to some wonderful things:

1) Dragon Ball Super, by way of Akira Toriyama not being pleased with how Evolution came out.
2) Team Four Star's riff track turns Evolution into a thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyable comedy, and I'm not exaggerating.

[DragonBallFoodie]

I remember being excited about this film. Then I remember being really disappointed.

20th Century Fox made such a screwup of the saga it damaged my opinion of the studio overall. (I think Tom Rothman was in charge at the time)

To make such an inaccurate adaptation - little comedy, Goku and Chichi more like Gohan and Videl, low budget VFX - I couldn't believe it. That was a disgrace to DB and to anime in general. Heck, the other adaptations by Korea and Taiwan did DB better than this film.

If an adaptation is to be done, let them learn from this debacle and try to do a better adaptation than this.

[MyVisionity]

Most of the changes from the source material in this movie don't bother me too much. What struck me was just how poorly executed the whole thing was. It's the writing that kills this film.

[ABED]

I remember being excited about this film. Then I remember being really disappointed.

20th Century Fox made such a screwup of the saga it damaged my opinion of the studio overall. (I think Tom Rothman was in charge at the time)

To make such an inaccurate adaptation - little comedy, Goku and Chichi more like Gohan and Videl, low budget VFX - I couldn't believe it. That was a disgrace to DB and to anime in general. Heck, the other adaptations by Korea and Taiwan did DB better than this film.

If an adaptation is to be done, let them learn from this debacle and try to do a better adaptation than this.

You are making a bigger deal out of this than it truly is. It's a low budget film that no one noticed came and went. This isn't a BvS / Justice League level debacle.

[Hellspawn28]

Fox didn't care about the movie at all. They only made it because they didn't want to lose the rights to it and hoping to make a quick buck out of it. For a big brand name like Dragon Ball, they probably hope for a blockbuster hit and didn't get that. Everyone knew that it was going to be terrible and avoid it. The same thing happen with Ghostbusters 2016 and the Jem movie that they did a while ago.

[8000 Saiyan]

And Evolution is cheap but not in a fun way. It's cheap all around. At least Transformers has production value and John Turturro.

And Peter Cullen's amazing voice.

[ABED]

And Evolution is cheap but not in a fun way. It's cheap all around. At least Transformers has production value and John Turturro.

And Peter Cullen's amazing voice.

His voice elevates an otherwise obvious toy commercial, both the films and the cartoon, but at the end of the day, it's US children's cartoon from the 80s. I have no interest or nostalgia for that world.

[Cold Skin]

Well, if Toriyama has to be in agreement for a live-action movie to be produced, be sure we won't see that again given his disappointment with Evolution.

Comics are more similar to real life and easier to adapt them into live-action and condense story lines.
With Dragon Ball, even just the look of the characters is a problem to adapt without transforming it totally, the settings are particular and the storyline of a whole arc is hard to condense into a single movie.
Even minor characters and events can become more major in subsequent arcs. Any of the hundreds of characters, moves and events can be a plot point seven arcs later.

So condensing things is asking for problems to bite you in the butt later.

[MasenkoHA]

.

So condensing things is asking for problems to bite you in the butt later.

Dragon Ball has a precedent of remaking/rehashing story arcs into a condense 40-60 minute movie.

There’s no reason the first Dragon Ball movie couldn’t be basically live action Path to Ultimate Power

[Cold Skin]

^ Sure, but it already had to sacrifice Krilin in the process for example, who is very much needed for other sagas.
You could introduce him the next movie, but then who would be sacrificed by the time he's taking for his own delayed introduction, not counting the additional delayed characters the next movie would have had anyway due to its shortened time.

The more you pile up movies that have to sacrifice elements to speed up things, the more those sacrificed elements were needed to play their role in the next saga...
You can replace roles, but the further you go, the more you need to replace a role by another, and by the fourth movie, you end up with something that has strayed far from the original storyline.

You see what I mean? It worked well for one movie, but the further you go through the story in a condensed way, the more it will pile up problems for what's next in a story that requires a full encyclopedia of characters, places and mythology (I guess most mangas do) and where characters that were forgotten for three sagas and that you never expected to see again can suddenly play a major role again.

[MyVisionity]

Even minor characters and events can become more major in subsequent arcs. Any of the hundreds of characters, moves and events can be a plot point seven arcs later.

So condensing things is asking for problems to bite you in the butt later.

That's really more a matter of having the forethought and commitment to working on additional sequels where you can allow future plot points to unfold.

I think it would probably be better to make a live-action adaptation for television instead of film. That way you can allow the story arcs to unfold more naturally without having to condense as much, while also retaining a bit more of DB's quirks and eccentricities. Especially with the way television is these days.