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

Emmy Rossum trained in weapons and how to handle firearms with the Marines to prepare for her role as Bulma.

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Goofs

When Chi-Chi meets up with Goku in the temple, she does not have the scratch on her arm.

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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

Part of the closing credits are seen in waves of chi energy.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 WORST Live Action Anime Films (2017)

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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

For the love of god, if you respect the original series at all, do NOT pay to see this crap!

Let me just start off by saying that there are no redeeming qualities to this movie at all. The multi-million dollar budget has amounted to a teen drama mixed with power rangers. The final product is insulting, to say the least.

The creators of this horrible, horrible adaption should take a good long think about what they have done and why they should have just followed the source material instead of taken it for granted. Do they really think that the entire Dragonball fan-base is this stupid? Akira Toriyama probably has a noose around his neck right about now.

To finish this off: The acting is atrocious, the butt-rock scattered through the soundtrack will make you want to punch the guy running the theater in the face, and the story is basically the manga's, but cut up, put into a blender, stuffed into sausage skins, and stitched back together with an American flag tied around it.

If you want your Dragonball fix, just buy dvds of the show instead, skip the movie, and if you don't skip it, then at least don't pay for this thing. I heard that a sequel is already in the works, and we don't need a trilogy, that would be three of these movies too many.