Dragon Ball: Evolution- Speculation and Discussion

Bura · Post by **Bura** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:06 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Well, now that people have had a chance to experience the disappointment in "lawl englush speeking territorees," tell me: Was anything actually changed from the Asian theatrical version of the film?

-Corey

Nope, it was basically the same. No additional scenes even though the theater listed it as 100 minutes.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:18 am

SSJ Helldog wrote:Saw it!

... where to begin? I wish I could have seen it with no knowledge of Dragonball. As a stand-alone sci-fi piece, it could have been really cool. The setting was confusing. It tried to borrow from Dragon World, in that we were presented with a world that was close to our own, but slightly more technologically advanced. But because it was live action, I was quicker to judge it. All-in-all, I feel like the creators tried to cram a lot of Dragonball into something that wasn't.
The acting was good for the most part. Goku was sort of clueless, but in a much more human way than in the anime. Since he wasn't a kid, a Goku who acted like Goku at the beginning of DB would have come off as mentally retarded. Goku was alright.
I loved Bulma. Sure, she was a lot more... violent than in the source material, but they were playing off of her first appearance. Unloading a gun at an innocent is an extreme reaction, and her movie counterpart draws heavily upon that. Very likeable.
Yamcha blew. He was heavily based off of the Funi dub. It was like having Michaelangelo from the Ninja Turtles along for the ride. Throw in -zero- backstory, as well as a forced romantic involvement, and you have a character who could have been excluded in exchange for better pacing.

[ SEGWAY! ]

Speaking of pacing, this is where I start the fecal-flinging segment of the review. This thing was awkward! It dragged on with unnecessary exposition for twenty minutes. Why are we meeting these high school bullies? You say Goku can beat up some teenagers? Whooptie-do! It starts slow, picks up half an hour in, then starts sprinting. At one point the drinking I'd done to pre-game caught up with me, so I RAN out and took a leak. When I came back, they were IN A VOLCANO. I said to my friend, "why are they in a volcano?" He replied, "fuck if I know." By the end of the movie, it feels like you're watching a trailer, the pace is moving so fast. The final, climactic battle with Piccolo is probably the shortest and least impressive part of the movie.

I have a short attention span, and this was the first movie that I honestly felt could have benefited from an extra half-hour of running time.

I'm going to be complementary again, for a second. The changes they made in order to make DB a Hollywood movie were carefully considered and actually well-executed. Considering how much material was condensed, it was amazing. You could honestly watch DBE, then start watching Dragon Ball Z(/Kai), and most of it would make sense. I've often thought that there should be a compilation movie, a la DB movies 1 and 4, that combined the beginning of DB with the early demon king Piccolo stuff. Did they ever say "demon" in DBE? They made vague references to "aliens" and mentions "Nameks" once, but that part of the story was left for a sequel.

Now for the real lashing; the movie was poorly made. The writing was amateurish. I often found myself feeling bad for the actors having to deliver such hackneyed dialogue. It was bad, but at least it was sparse. You won't find any Star Wars 'new' trilogy soliloquies here. Where the plot succeeds, the delivery fails. In addition to a heavy front-end (the high school BS), the ending, where we could use some explanation, is at a minimum. There is one sentence that explains Goku becoming the Oozaru, and it only gets halfway there. You really have to connect your own dots here. And that's the strange part - if you know the source material, you can do that. If you don't... you can't. But either way, you're not satisfied.
I just feel like Fox pulled out their C-Team for this one. Editing skills aren't up to par? Just make lots of quick cuts and speed up/down the action. The kids eat that shit up. CGI looks lousy? Just boost the contrast up or down so no one can see it that clearly. Dialogue sucks? Screw it, everyone's too busy looking at the half-assed effects.

For everyone who skipped the above and wants the bottom-line, here we go: IF you can get past your preconceived notions about this movie, what you're left with is an unevenly balanced juvenile sci-fi flick. It's fun sometimes, face-palm inducing in others. I'm honestly impressed with the adaptation. It feels like they were trying to keep as much of DB intact while dealing with clueless Hollywood producers who demanded certain elements. 6.5/10.

Great review, I agree with a lot of it.

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:19 am

The Daily Mirror had a review in the middle of their paper, and it's pretty standard, but a good review.

Scanned it!

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:24 am

SSJ Helldog wrote:As a stand-alone sci-fi piece, it could have been really cool.

...
I think the kind of SF we get on TV and in movies is terrible enough as it is. Let's not lower that bar even further.

JulieYBM · Post by **JulieYBM** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:39 am

Anyone see this 'Goku Funeral' video yet? Hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPU9ynfD_k&fmt=18

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:53 am

I keep seeing people saying Chatwin nailed Goku, honestly I can't see how they considered it good, because IMO he was really off-character, although I agree with SSJ Helldog if he acted like Goku at the beginning of DB he would have come off retarded.

Of course, the writing is here to blame, he was written as the typical teen movie character, a kid with little confidence and no friends gets bullied and wants to fit in and go out with the "it" girl.

And then there's Mai, they could have done with out her, because she doesn't really do anything, they could have easily replace her with one of Pikkoro's son

The movie itself was ok, just a pop corn flick you can enjoy with friends (even if your friends are just making fun of the movie) but it didn't feel like dragon ball

mysteriousdbzgt · Post by **mysteriousdbzgt** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:58 am

JulieYBM wrote:Anyone see this 'Goku Funeral' video yet? Hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPU9ynfD_k&fmt=18

Man, this is just overboard...

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:17 pm

mysteriousdbzgt wrote:
JulieYBM wrote:Anyone see this 'Goku Funeral' video yet? Hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPU9ynfD_k&fmt=18
Man, this is just overboard...

You think?

mystic trunks · Post by **mystic trunks** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:25 pm

This is a public humiliation of Dragonball fans. I am embarassed.

SSJ Helldog · Post by **SSJ Helldog** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:28 pm

Olivier Hague wrote:
SSJ Helldog wrote:As a stand-alone sci-fi piece, it could have been really cool.
...
I think the kind of SF we get on TV and in movies is terrible enough as it is. Let's not lower that bar even further.

That's the thing tough, compared to most television Sci-Fi, this was goddamn Empire Strikes Back. With different dialogue and better editing at the end, it would have been hands-down great.

B · Post by B » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:32 pm

mystic trunks wrote:This is a public humiliation of Dragonball fans. I am embarassed.

You should be more embarassed of how seriously you're taking it.

Movie was shit, laugh at it and move on.

SSJ Helldog · Post by **SSJ Helldog** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:37 pm

I don't know if "public humiliation" is the right term here. It's not like being an anime fan is an honorable pursuit. I think "public humiliation" better suits the one guy who came, alone, in cosplay.

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:42 pm

SSJ Helldog wrote:I don't know if "public humiliation" is the right term here. It's not like being an anime fan is an honorable pursuit. I think "public humiliation" better suits the one guy who came, alone, in cosplay.

Ever since they announced the movie, I've been waiting for the premier for a photo of said guy

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:00 pm

Some news I found:

Reelz Movie Channel First Fans Reaction was totally positive. I'm quite shocked actually...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KDpyHe2cG8

IGN US review gave it a 2.5/5 which is what I'd give it... 5/10.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/970/970094p1.html

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:01 pm

Rod wrote:I keep seeing people saying Chatwin nailed Goku, honestly I can't see how they considered it good, because IMO he was really off-character, although I agree with SSJ Helldog if he acted like Goku at the beginning of DB he would have come off retarded.

Of course, the writing is here to blame, he was written as the typical teen movie character, a kid with little confidence and no friends gets bullied and wants to fit in and go out with the "it" girl.

Thing is, every time I see Chatwin in this movie, I don't think of Goku. I think of Chatwin taking his acting from The Invisible into a movie where the character he's playing is supposed to be a happy-go lucky kid who gets excited about fighting strong enemies.

JAPPO wrote:IGN US review gave it a 2.5/5 which is what I'd give it... 5/10.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/970/970094p1.html

2.5 out of 5 is still poor. It doesn't equate to 5 out of 10, buddy.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:04 pm

Tsukento wrote:
JAPPO wrote:IGN US review gave it a 2.5/5 which is what I'd give it... 5/10.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/970/970094p1.html
2.5 out of 5 is still poor. It doesn't equate to 5 out of 10, buddy.

2.5 out of 5 Stars | 5/10
- IGN

You're not my buddy, guy.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:13 pm

I'm not your guy, friend.

Also, looks like IGN UK was more ruthless: 1.5 out of 5.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:17 pm

Tsukento wrote:I'm not your guy, friend.

Also, looks like IGN UK was more ruthless: 1.5 out of 5.

That's the wonderfulness of opinions.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:24 pm

Movie's now also down to 21% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Uninspired and cliché-ridden. - Jason Di Rosso: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

Tearing through its mystical, who-gives-a-toss storyline like a pissed bat bouncing off cave walls, Dragonball’s cocktail of cheap effects, eye-rolling cliches and dismal direlogue will have fans of the series condemning it as a beyond-lame failure. - Matt Mueller: Total Film

The production tries hard in parts, with doses of wry teen humour and imaginative visual effects, but overall, the finished product has no more than a boring, dull veneer to it. - Andrew J. McGlinn: FILMINK (Australia)

The fight choreography in "Hannah Montana" is infinitely better. - Peter Sobczynski: eFilmCritic.com

Here's a positive review (no sarcasm by that):

It's this generation's Surf Ninjas, and if you remember that at all then you know what I mean. - Fred Topel: Can Magazine

RoarkVegeta · Post by **RoarkVegeta** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:25 pm

Going to see it later with 2 kids I babysit. Yay.