[3.00/10] Dragonball: Evolution (2009)

Dragonball: Evolution (2009)

"Dragonball: Evolution" is again another sad effort by Hollywood to bring the world of comics, manga and games onto the silver screen. In its relentless effort to continuously 'import' ideas from previous works and also literature, "Dragonball: Evolution" is an apparent desperate and not-well thought through attempt. So desperate that this movie appeals to neither the fans of the original Akira Toriyama manga and also to the those that knows nothing about Dragonballs. James Wong kept some of the original story's detail but the story in itself is a total flop. Simplicity may not be the best approach for a manga that relates the adventures of Son Goku from child to adult. After watching for 20 minutes, you can basically tell how the film is going to end. Even the pitiful effort at the end to prelude the "possibility" of a second movie is as easily predicted and anticipated as it is poorly done.Throughout the movie, you can see the maker's desperate effort to connect the dots between the characters and the events. Leaving no room for the characters to bond and no time for the events to make sense. In terms of quality, the high point was the first scene with Chow Yun-Fat. He has the kind of physical charisma that is utterly captivating. Later, at the cinematic denouement, instead of captivating the audience, the audience broke out laughing. With such an expensive movie (45 millions) you would expect the special effects to be somewhat decent even though the rest might be lacking. Unfortunately,they were lacking in terms of quality, scope and awe factor. "Dragonball: Evolution" is a poor attempt at bringing a potentially huge franchise to the big screen.

• My Rating: 3.00/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 13% (3.4/10)
• IMDb: 3.3/10