Review of:  Dragonball: Evolution

Overall Rating: 8

Dragon Ball: Evolution is not a great movie, it is not even a good movie but it does do one thing well which is the most important requirement of a movie… it is a really fun movie.  This is a niche movie and thus will not appeal to movie goers beyond those in the niche market.  For those fans Dragonball: Evolution rocks and I highly recommend watching it in the theaters.

Are you the type of person who will love this movie?  If you like silly fun martial arts movies then you will love this movie.  If you liked: Bullet Proof Monk, the Mortal Combat movies, speed racer, or the Shaw Brothers films then you will love this movie.  If not then this is not a movie for you.

Dragonball: Evolution captures the spirit and feel of Dragonball so brilliantly that we even had a debate whether it would cause some dissent amongst the Dragon Ball Z fans because of the subtle differences between the series.

If you pass the niche test and are debating whether to watch this movie in the theaters or just to rent it I recommend seeing it in the theater.  This is one of those movies that really takes advantage of the theater experience giving more depth to the adventure through the rumble boxes and seeing the fights larger than life.

Although the pace is brilliant and they kept the story fun the story is fluff.  This movie lacks any deeper meaning or thought educing moments.  This is not a requirement for every movie since some times it’s just good to sit back and be entertained but beyond the light message of “believe in yourself” and some enemies can not be overcome with force.

For more on Dragonball: Evolution read Theater or Renter: April 2009 here

Likes

1. Good Dragonball film

2. Shen Long looks awesome

3. It has a really good pace

4. They did a great job capturing the characters, Yamcha’s voice, their interactions, master Muten Roshi was even the perverted old man.

5. The action sequences were fun and funny

6. Piccolo was not as much of a power ranger villain as the promotions made him out to be, in context his outfit looked good.

7. The capsule car rocked

8. magic looked good

9. Oozaru looked good

10. i like that they didn’t dwell on the grandfather Gohan’s death yet used him as an inspirational force and motivator for Goku

11. I like how he overcame the Oozaru

12. I liked how they handle the romantic parts of the film with the focus on love and relationship and not sex and pornography

Dislikes / Concerns

1. This is not a mass appeal movie

2. Shen Long was too small

3. the animated hair looked fake

4. This movie is just fluff, there is really nothing deeper to it.

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