So, I guess this is the thread for DBE. I guess it's time for my review of Dragonball Evolution.
I... liked it. I really liked it! As of this post, I really can't think of anything negative about it, other than, "Why wasn't it longer?. I will try to put in my love for it into words.
First, I really liked the storyline. It never left me confused, or left out, since the legend of Piccolo and the Dragonballs was repeated at least 3 times. I feel like it did what it was able to do in 1 and a half hours, and did it well. One of my few probelms with the movie was it's slight anti-climatic ending, but that was bearable. It wasn't huge, but it was noticeable.
Second, I really like the special effects and the choreography. The SFX were relatively nice-looking, and the choreography was pretty to see. I felt that the scenes were always making think, "What's happening next?". I think my favorite SFX is Piccolo's red Ki Blast, and my favorite choreographed scene was Goku's fight with Fuller.
Third. I really like the score. Seeing the tracks I really like from the soundtrack that was released earlier ("Chasing Dragonballs") really hightened my enjoyment of the movie. "Rule" was nice too, but I feel that as an international theme song for the movie, it was very-underutilized.
Fourth. I really like some of the elements that were used in the film. The humor was there, just enough that it was funny, but not so much that it messed with the story. It's hard for me to decide which piece of humor was my favorite, but then, I've seen the movie once. "Geeko" didn't bother me too much, but my sister did notice that, so I guess that's a little bit of context. One thing I did have a problem with was the whole "Fulum" thing. It's never really explained as to why/how Piccolo's blood creates the Fulums ("Fulums" as a name is never mentioned), and it really bothered me that we couldn't really see what they looked like. What I did see though, I liked. I also very much liked the design of the Dragonballs, especially the way the stars move within the ball, and are not stationary.
Fifth. The Characters.
Gohan was a little different than the Gohan we see in the Anime, but even then, we never see Grandpa Gohan train Goku in the way we see this Gohan train Goku. I feel that Randall Duk Kim played the part well though, and that if we saw Gohan train Goku, this was probably how he would be protrayed. I did like the whole cooking scene with him, and I could actaully hear shouts of "Ewww..." within the theater in response to seeing what he was cooking i.e. Chicken feet.
Justin Chatwin's perfomance of Goku was completly all right. I felt the there weren't too many OOC moments with him, other than him flirting with Chi-Chi, but even that felt like Goku to me. He defintly made the role his own, and I can very much feel that Justin Chatwin's Goku is Goku too me. Justin's Goku was different, but I feel like it needed to be different, and it was a good different.
Bulma was very hot and sexy. Emmy Rossum played the part extremly well, and I loved the whole idea of her with guns. I actually like Rossum's Bulma a bit more than her actual anime/manga counterpart, but I do think there should have been a point in which she totally became angry at someone/thing.
Mai was... also hot and sexy. Not much to say about her though. I like her outfit, I think her voice is cool, but I feel there should have been a backstory created for her. She does, however, hold the distiction of being the only one to call Goku "Son Goku." Eriko Tamura played her part well.
Master Roshi felt very much like Master Roshi to me. His pervetedness, while little, felt like enough to me. Chow Yun-Fat felt very much content in his role, and you can feel that in his performance. Roshi is very much enjoyable. His 2 grabs for Bulma and his issue of BQ were very much in character, and were very much wanted. Not much to say about one who's role was almost perfect.
Yamcha was also in character, although I felt Joon Park performance was a bit too greedy, even for Yamcha. Had he toned that down, I think he would've nailed it perfectly. I did like the relationship betweem him and Bulma. I wonder what will happen if Vegeta ever shows up.
Piccolo... needed more lines and backstory. Other than that, James Marsters played Piccolo like the Piccolo I knew. Although, I wish there was a moment for him to have displayed his smartness like he does many times in the anime/manga.
Chi-Chi was played well by Jamie Chung. She felt very much in character, other than her anger moments in the series, although there wern't many chances for that to occur in the film.
And finally, the one that most people didn't like. GokuxChi-Chi.
It didn't bother me in the least. Chichi fell completly in love with Goku just like in the series. Nothing felt out of place, and it felt totally natural to me.
And that's my ridiculosy long review of DBE. I really enjoyed it, I hope everyone else does too, and I hope they make sequels.
