Dragonball: Evolution (2009)

The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.

Director:

James Wong

Writers:

Ben Ramsey (screenplay), Akira Toriyama (novel)

Stars:

Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Yun-Fat Chow

Bottom Rated Movies #20 | 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Justin Chatwin	...	Goku
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Roshi
Emmy Rossum	...	Bulma
Jamie Chung	...	Chi Chi
James Marsters	...	Lord Piccolo
Joon Park	...	Yamcha
Eriko Tamura	...	Mai (as Eriko)
Randall Duk Kim	...	Gohan
Ernie Hudson	...	Sifu Norris
Texas Battle	...	Carey Fuller
Megumi Seki	...	Seki
Ian Whyte	...	Oozaru
Richard Blake	...	Agundes
Jon Valera	...	Moreno
Rafael Valdez	...	Butler

Storyline

The story begins with Goku, who seeks out upon his adoptive grandfather Grandpa Gohan's dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls. Of which he has one, in order to prevent the evil Lord Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world. And Goku's quest is to obtain the mystical Dragonballs before Piccolo does.

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Plot Keywords:

no title at beginning | cake | live action remake of anime | dragon | power | 

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Taglines:

Master your destiny.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for intense sequences of action/violence and brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA Hong Kong UK

Language:

English Japanese Hindi

Release Date:

10 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dragon Ball

Filming Locations:

Sierra de Organos, Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,756,488, 10 April 2009, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$9,353,573, 29 May 2009

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,497,699

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Dune Entertainment, Star Overseas

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 100 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director James Wong personally asked Japanese pop musician Ayumi Hamasaki if she could compose and sing the film's theme song. Since "Dragon Ball" was created in Japan, he felt that the song should be by a Japanese singer and in Japanese. Wong was so impressed with Hamasaki's song "Rule" that he ensured that it would appear for all international releases of the film.

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Goofs

The two bullies who simultaneously swing their blunt objects at Goku somehow wind up closer to each other between camera shots so as to be able to strike each other as Goku dodges them.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Grandpa Gohan: In a time before many can remember, our planet faced its greatest challenge. A warlord named Piccolo camed from beyond the stars, bringing darkness and chaos to our once peaceful world. Aided by his disciple Oozaru, the evil pair brought the human race to the brink of annihilation. Cities and countries crumbled beneath them. Countless lives were lost. But... finally, a group of brave warriors created the Mu Fu Ba, a powerful enchantment that imprisoned Piccolo deep within the Earth...

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Crazy Credits

SPOILER: There is a scene in the closing credits: Piccolo is revealed to have survived, and is in the care of the woman he spared in his first scene.

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Connections

Referenced in Blood and Guts with Scott Ian: Scott Ian goes APE for Animatronics with ADI (2013)

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Soundtracks

Rule
Lyrics by Ayumi Hamasaki
Music by Miki Watanabe
Performed by Ayumi Hamasaki
Arranged by Hal
Produced by Max Matsuura
Courtesy of Avex Entertainment Inc.

User Reviews

Overall F grade or 0/10, Save your money! wait until you can watch it online for free!

This Movie plain and simple insults our intelligence, I mean I'm no Geek, but tham they were way off!, this should not even be called dragonball, because of stupid 20th Century Fox, now dragonball is ruined, if someone wanted to make a better movie with the real story that Akira Toriyama made, they made so many changes and mistakes that the dragonball that we know is gone forever, on Watchmen they made some changes but only so the essence of the show could be shown on film, but Dragonball is dead they killed it, I'm sorry Akira Toriyama they ruined your work and about every Anime , and dbz fan out there, like my Grandfather just to say "there's cheese all over that movie" It is illogical to spend the money on copyrights if you're not even going to use the story.

Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, originally disgusted at Otaku decrying the film via leaked set shots and trailers even before the movie was released, gave the movie an overall F grade, admitting that "The fans were right." Criticizing the films lack of explaining plot elements to its hackmead storyline and lackluster effort by the actors, he suggested that the film "Might be fun when you're hammered and surrounded by friends. Or suicidal, and need something to push you over the edge."