Dragonball Evolution

From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia

(Redirected from Dragon Ball Evolution)
Dragonball Evolution
DBE cover art.jpg
Directed by James Wong
Produced by Stephen Chow
James Wong
Written by Screenplay:
James Wong
Ben Ramsey
Manga:
Akira Toriyama
Starring Justin Chatwin
Jamie Chung
James Marsters
Eriko Tamura
Chow Yun-Fat
Joon Park
Emmy Rossum
Music by Brian Tyler
Cinematography Robert MacLachlan
Editing by Chris G. Willingham
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) Asia:
March 13, 2009
North America:
April 10, 2009
Australia:
April 9, 2009
Running time 89 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget Roughly $50 Million
Gross revenue Theatrical revenue - $58,114,425 total worldwide as of October, 2009 [1]

North American DVD sales revenue - $3,569,945 [2]

Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile


Dragonball Evolution (produced under the tentative title Dragonball) is a 2009 American live-action film adaptation of the Dragon Ball franchise being produced by 20th Century Fox. The story centers around the adventures of the lead character, Son Goku, on his 18th birthday. The film began development in 2002, and is directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow. It was released in Japan on March 13, 2009, and was released in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2009 and in North America on April 10, 2009. Actor Justin Chatwin was cast as Son Goku, and James Marsters portrays Piccolo, the antagonist of the film. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray July 24, 2009 for the Asian market, and on July 28, 2009 for North America and Europe [3].

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The story follows Son Goku, a young man adopted and trained by the martial arts master, Grandpa Gohan. One evening, while Son Goku is at a party of his high school crush, Chi Chi, Grandpa Gohan is attacked by Piccolo, who was searching for one of the Dragon Balls. Son Goku returns to find his adoptive grandfather die in his arms, but not before being told to search for his own master, Roshi, and a cryptic warning relating to the eclipse, the Dragon Balls, Piccolo and his lost servant, Oozaru.

As Son Goku sets out to begin his journey, he encounters Bulma, who had her own Dragon Ball stolen from her and is hoping to find the others and use them for research and make a scientific breakthrough. They head to Muten-Rôshi's together, who in turn joins them to help them find the Dragon Balls before Piccolo does.

At the Stone Temple, Son Goku, Bulma, and Muten-Rôshi discover that Chi Chi is a fighter, and often enters the tournaments. With Grandpa Gohan's and Muten-Rôshi's dragonballs, they seek out their third Dragonball in the desert, but fall into the trap of a bandit named Yamcha, whom Roshi convinces to join them by telling him the Dragonballs can make him rich.

After Piccolo and his servant, Mai, find three Dragonballs (one of which Mai stole from Capsule Corp), Piccolo uses his blood to create monsters which he sends after Son Goku, Bulma, Roshi, and Yamcha as they enter a volcano where their third Dragonball is. Using the monsters' bodies as a bridge to get across the lava, Son Goku gets the Dragonball.

With little time before the eclipse, Roshi learns the Mafuba, an attack that will seal The Great Demon King Piccolo away in a containment vessel, but will deplete the user's life force. In the tournament at the Stone Temple, Mai scratches Chi Chi and takes a sample of her blood. After Roshi teaches Son Goku the Kamehameha, Mai disguises herself as Chi Chi and steals Son Goku's Dragonballs and takes them to Piccolo.

Son Goku, Bulma, Roshi, and Yamcha go to face Piccolo, who now has all seven Dragonballs and attempts to summon Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. However, Roshi stops him at the last moment. Piccolo informs Son Goku that he is Oozaru, and at the eclipse, Son Goku transforms into Oozaru the Destroyer. Roshi uses the Mafuba in an attempt to trap Piccolo, but Piccolo destroys the containment vessel, and Roshi dies from using the Mafuba, but not before he gets through to Son Goku, returning him to his original form.

While Son Goku fights Piccolo, Mai chases Bulma through a maze, and is about to kill her and take her Dragonball, when she is shot in the back and killed by Yamcha. Son Goku uses the power of both Son Goku and Oozaru to fight The Great Demon King Piccolo, and as Piccolo shoots a powerful energy wave at Son Goku, Son Goku hits him with a Kamehameha wave, and defeats him (somewhat mirroring his defeat in the anime).

Shenron as he appears in DBE
Son Goku summons Shenron and wishes Muten-Rôshi back to life. The Dragonballs scatter, and so they must find them again. But first, Son Goku asks Chi Chi to marry him and they enter a sparring match.

In the middle of the credits, a scene is shown where a woman (whom Piccolo and Mai earlier took a dragonball from) is nursing Piccolo, who survived the battle with Son Goku, back to health.

[edit] Cast

  • Justin Chatwin as Son Goku: A powerful Saiyan warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the universe and controlling the mystical namesakes of the film. Chatwin used to watch the television series as a young boy. Once he got the part of Son Goku, he began reading the manga and started working out 5 weeks before production began. [4]
  • Jamie Chung as Chi Chi: Son Goku's love interest.[5] Stephen Chow had been interested in casting Zhang Yuqi, whom he worked with on CJ7, in the part.[6]
  • James Marsters as Piccolo: The villain of the film.[4] Marsters explained that this incarnation of the character is "thousands of years old and a very long time ago he used to be a force of good, but [he] got into a bad argument and was put into prison for 2000 years. It got him very angry, and he finds a way to escape and then tries to destroy the world." Marsters is a fan of the anime series, which he described as being "the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years [because] it’s got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil."[7] Piccolo was intended to look handsome, but Marsters and the make-up artist chose to give him a decrepit complexion, having been trapped for thousands of years. Although the make-up process tended to take four hours, the first time it took seventeen hours to apply, and Marsters had difficulty breathing.[8] Ron Perlman was offered the role of Piccolo, but turned it down to work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army.[9]
  • Eriko Tamura as Mai: She is a chief enforcer of Piccolo's and a shapeshifter.[10][11]
  • Chow Yun-Fat as Roshi: Son Goku's mentor.[12]
  • Joon Park as Yamcha: A desert bandit that aids Son Goku and Bulma on their quest.[10] James Kyson Lee auditioned for the role.[13]
  • Emmy Rossum as Bulma Brief: She aids Son Goku after her father's Dragon Ball is stolen by Piccolo.[14]
  • Randall Duk Kim as Grandpa Gohan: The adoptive father and grandfather of Son Goku who teaches Son Goku everything he knows about martial arts.
  • Ernie Hudson as Sifu Norris: Roshi's former sensei and the one who sealed Piccolo away for centuries.
  • Luis Arrieta as Weaver: A classmate and friend of Son Goku. He is an original character created for the film.[15]
  • Texas Battle as Carey Fuller: A high school bully. He is an original character created for the film.
  • Richard Blake as Agundas: A high school bully. He is an original character created for the film.
  • Shavon Kirksey as Emi: A high school friend of Chi Chi. She is an original character created for the film.
  • Julian Sedgwick as Mr. Kingery: A professor at Son Goku's high school. He is an original character created for the film.

[edit] Production

An early teaser poster bearing the original title, Dragonball.

In March 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise. In June 2004, Ben Ramsey, who wrote The Big Hit, was paid $500,000 to adapt Dragon Ball Z.[16] In 2007, James Wong and Stephen Chow were announced as director and producer respectively, and the project was retitled Dragonball Evolution. Wong rewrote the script.[4] The first full color image of Justin Chatwin as Son Goku was released in the 24th issue of Weekly Young Jump.[17] Chow was a Dragon Ball fan, citing its "airy and unstrained story [which] leaves much room for creation", but explained he would only serve as producer because he believes that he should only direct stories he had created.[6] 87Eleven, the stunt performance company that worked on The Matrix and 300, is working on the film.[4] Ariel Shaw, who worked on Wong's entries in the Final Destination series and 300, is visual effects supervisor.[18] Robert MacLachlan, who also worked on Wong's Final Destination films, serves as cinematographer.[19]

Shooting began on December 3, 2007[20] in Mexico City, Mexico. Locations included the Universidad Tecnológica de México.[21] From January 2, 2008[21] the crew shot at Durango. The crew will move to Estado de México in March for some shots at Nevado de Toluca.[18] Shooting is also scheduled at Los Angeles, California.[12] In adapting the Dragon Ball manga, the futuristic cities were kept, however, the anthropomorphic creatures and talking animals (such as Turtle, Oolong and Puar) were dropped.[22] Many of the locations are very Oriental,[23] and are some Aztec influence too, particularly from their temples.[24] It was thought that Rossum would wear a blue wig to resemble her anime counterpart, but due to some promotional images, it was turned out that she would not be wearing a blue wig. Instead she will have her natural brown with a blue streak down the middle of her hair. Chatwin will not wear a wig as the director felt Chatwin's hair resembled Son Goku's.[23] A large amount of Dragonball Evolution was shot in an abandoned jeans factory, also located in Durango, Mexico.[25]

Dragonball Evolution special effects are being done by Amalgamated Dynamics, while the visual effects are being done by Ollin Studios, Zoic Studios, and Imagine Engine. The film will also have the anime style of fighting in Dragon Ball Z, such as ki energy waves and auras.

On December 9, 2008 it was confirmed that the theme song would be "Rule" by Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki. The choice was because director James Wong wanted the movie adaptation of a series born in Japan to be sung by a Japanese person and was particularly impressed with Hamasaki. "Rule" is being used as the theme song for every country's release.[26]

The film was originally slated to be named Dragonball, however on December 10, 2008 a trailer was released using the name Dragonball Evolution and Fox licensed the domain name "DragonballEvolutionMovie.com" indicating the film had been renamed.[27][28][29]

[edit] Release

Dragonball Evolution was initially scheduled to be released in North America on August 15, 2008, then moved to April 10, 2009 to allow time to do additional filming and post-production work. On November 11, 2008 it was formally announced that the film's release had been changed to April 8, 2009.[30]

Though an American film, Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan on March 13, 2009, nearly a month before its American release.[31]

[edit] Merchandise

A film novelization written by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon, Dragonball: The Junior Novel, has been solicited by Viz Media with a February 2009 release date.[32] A 16 paged sticker book based on the film is being published by Viz on February 3, 2009.[33] On January 19, 2009, Namco Bandai Games and 20th Century Fox announced that a PlayStation Portable video game based around the film titled Dragonball Evolution would be released in Japan in March 2009, with a North American release to follow in April. The game will include all of the major characters from the film and feature various playing modes, including an arcade mode for one-on-one combat, a story mode in which players use Son Goku through the film events, a mission mode where players attempt to complete specific tasks, and a training mode for practicing fighting moves. It will also offer an online battle mode.

[edit] Reception

On its opening weekend in the United States, the film grossed $4,756,488 ranking #8 at the box office.[34][35] As of June 3, 2009, its worldwide gross had reached $57,530,083.[36]

Thus far, Dragon Ball: Evolution has been received with overall negative reviews from critics. One of the frequently discussed elements based on the movie's reception has been the dilemma of staying true to the manga and anime series. With major changes to the original story, the fans of the series and manga have had negative feelings. The film was praised for including the original characters such as Piccolo, Son Goku, Muten-Rôshi and Chi-Chi, but at the same time bashed for changing them to a point where even the main protagonist is somewhat unrecognizable.

Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network describes the film as such: "In the end, it all boils down to one thing: this movie appeals to nobody. It was made for no one. People who aren't familiar with the Dragon Ball story at all will be so flabbergasted by what's happening that they will likely tell everyone they know that it's one of the worst movies they've ever seen. Fans who do know what the general story is will be furious at just how unbelievably badly they screwed this entire thing up. Kids are used to better writing than this in their weekday afternoon cartoons (although you may run into a kid who has never actually seen a movie before, and they might dig it until you show them another movie). It's a clunky, tiresome, badly executed, horribly written pile of shame that deserves no quarter. In short, it's as bad as the fans said it would be." [37]

TV Guide's Jeremy Wheeler probably expresses his emotion without hesitation, much like many Dragon Ball fans have across the world. Wheeler says frankly "Just know there's a whole lot more great stuff out there than just what Evolution has in store for you." [38]

As of May 24, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes.com has the film rated at a low score of 13% on the "Tomatometer". Metacritic.com critics currently have the movie rated with a 45 out of 100, which is considered "average".

Variety's Russell Edwards notes that the film "doesn't take itself too seriously, but avoids campiness."[39]

Luke Thompson of E! Online referred to the film by saying: "Admittedly, it's never boring...but nor is it ever logical, coherent, rational, etc. It's fun in a train-wreck kind of way, and possibly makes sense to those who know the source, but recommending this to anyone else would be a bad idea."[40]

Slant Magazine's Rob Humanick considered the film "uninspired" and implausible with an "aimlessly hyperactive construction and complete lack of substance" and "cobbled-together FX fakery".[41]

Reviewing the film for Australia's ABC Radio National, Jason Di Rosso stated the film was "lacking the visual panache of recent graphic novel adaptations". He agreed the film was uninspired and also felt it had dull "high school movie banter" dialog and was "cliché-ridden".[42]

Alonso Duralde of MSNBC found the film to be "both entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining" and noted that "kids will have such a blast that you can turn this movie into the gateway kung-fu drug that makes them want to watch the earlier work of Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-Fat."[43]

[edit] Rumored Sequel

There are rumors the a sequel, called Dragonball 2: Reborn. There is no scheduled released date, but it is said that James Marsters will reprise his role as Piccolo, and Vegeta will appear. Justin Chatwin, Eriko Tamura, Jamie Chung and Emmy Rossum are rumored to reprise their roles as Son Goku, Mai, Chi Chi and Bulma.[44] On IMDB, Jason Scott Lee is added as Tenshinhan, Bill Goldberg as Nappa, Shaobo Qin as Kuririn, Isaac Jin Solstein as Son Gohan and Hiro Super as Raditz, Super will also write the film. James Kyson-Lee and Tatsuya Fujiwara are up to replace Joon Park as Yamcha. Matt Mullins is rumor to appear as Vegeta.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] James Wong is not going to direct the sequel, Dragonball Evolution producer Stephen Chow and Takeshi Kitano are rumor to direct the film.[56][57][58][59]

[edit] Rumored Reboot

There is a new rumor that the film will be rebooted. It is currently untitled and has a release date of 2012 and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures .[60][61][62]

[edit] Trivia

  • Even though this movie is based on Dragon Ball, it doesn't follow a storyline from the original series (examples being: Son Goku being 18 and Son Gohan being alive, Oozaru and Lord Piccolo encountered during the same period). It doesn't even appear to be placeable in the storyline of Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z.

[edit] Comparison to Akira Toriyama's manga

Sub-article: Comparison to Akira Toriyama's manga

[edit] References

  1. ↑ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/DRGNB.php
  2. ↑ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/DRGNB.php
  3. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Dragonball-Evolution-Justin-Chatwin/dp/B00260HH3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1243001599&sr=8-1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tatiana Siegel (November 13, 2007). Dragonball comes to bigscreen. Variety.
  5. ↑ Chung goes live with 'Dragonball'. The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dragon Ball to become live-action film. China.org (December 15, 2007).
  7. ↑ Rudolph, Illeane. James Marsters on Fame, Family and Life After 40. TV Guide.
  8. ↑ James Marsters: "You guys like watching me getting humiliated". Total Sci-Fi.
  9. ↑ Coe, Jackee. Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Movies.ie.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Simmons, Leslie. Rossum roars onto Dragonball Evolution cast. The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. ↑ All About Dragonball. IGN.com Movies.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Leslie Simmons (December 19, 2007). Chow rolls to Fox for Dragonball. The Hollywood Reporter.
  13. ↑ Heroes Lee Auditions for Dragon Ball Z Movie. Anime News Network.
  14. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana. Emmy Rossum set for Dragonball Evolution. Variety.
  15. ↑ "Teto, el mejor amigo de Goku es Mexicano"
  16. ↑ Claude Brodesser. Ramsey rolls Dragonball Z. Variety.
  17. ↑ First Color Image of Live-Action Dragonball's Goku. Anime News Network.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Dragon Ball Z to Shoot in Durango, Mexico. SuperHeroHype.com.
  19. ↑ Credits & Awards. Robert MacLachlan.
  20. ↑ Domestic film: In production. The Hollywood Reporter.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 First Dragon Ball Z Set Photos Online. SuperHeroHype.com (December 19, 2007).
  22. ↑ Cesar Huerta (December 16, 2007). Filman Dragon Ball en escuela de Tlalpan (Spanish). El Universal.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Minerva Hernández (December 18, 2007). Justin es un Goku ‘nato’ (Spanish). El Diario.
  24. ↑ Cesar Huerta (December 19, 2007). Se suma a Dragon Ball. El Universal.
  25. ↑ Durango's non-traditional incentives - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety
  26. ↑ http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/081210/gnj0812100505015-n2.htm
  27. ↑ Marshall, Rick. New ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Trailer Appears Online. MTV.
  28. ↑ Parfitt, Orlando. IGN Premieres Dragonball Trailer. IGN.
  29. ↑ Friestad, Jerry. Dragonball Movie Renamed. IncGamers.
  30. ↑ Live Action Dragonball Pushed Up to April 8 in US. Anime News Network.
  31. ↑ U.S. Dragonball Film Site Launches with Updated Trailer. Anime News Network.
  32. ↑ Dragon Ball: The Junior Novel. Barnes and Noble.
  33. ↑ Dragonball Evolution Sticker Book. Amazon.
  34. ↑ Dragonball Evolution (2009) - Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009-04-13.
  35. ↑ Dragonball Evolution Opens at #8 with US$4.6 Million (Updated). Anime News Network (2009-04-12). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.
  36. ↑ Dragonball Evolution. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009-04-13.
  37. ↑ Bertschy, Zac (2009-03-16). Review. Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2009-05-22.
  38. ↑ Wheeler, Jeremy. Dragonball: Evolution: Review. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2009-05-22.
  39. ↑ Edwards, Russell (2009-03-25). New Int'l. Release: Dragonball Evolution. Variety. Retrieved on 2009-04-12.
  40. ↑ Thompson, Luke (2009-04-09). Dragonball Evolution: A Surreal Mess. E! Online. Retrieved on 2009-04-11.
  41. ↑ Humanick, Rob (2009-04-10). Dragonball Evolution. Slant Magazine. Retrieved on 2009-04-11.
  42. ↑ Di Rosso, Jason (2009-04-10). Movietime - 10 April 2009 - Dragonball Evolution. Movie Time. ABC Radio National. Retrieved on 2009-04-11.
  43. ↑ Duralde, Alonso (2009-04-10). You’ll have a ball at ‘Dragonball Evolution’. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2009-04-18.
  44. ↑ Dragonball Reborn Movie Cast
  45. ↑ Dragonball Reborn on IMDB Pro
  46. ↑ Jason Scott Lee as Tien in Dragonball Reborn
  47. ↑ Jason Scott Lee on IMDB
  48. ↑ Shaobo Qin on IMDB
  49. ↑ Isaac Jin Solstein As Gohan in Dragonball Reborn?
  50. ↑ Isaac Jin Solstein on IMDB
  51. ↑ Hiro Super Is New Writer for Dragonball 2 Reborn?
  52. ↑ Hiro Super on IMDB
  53. ↑ Joon Park No Longer Yamcha? Tatsuya Fujiwara Takes the Role
  54. ↑ Matt Mullins Involved With Dragonball Reborn
  55. ↑ Matt Mullins on IMDB
  56. ↑ James Wong No Longer Dragonball Director?
  57. ↑ Stephen Chow Director for Dragonball 2 Reborn?
  58. ↑ Stephen Chow on IMDB
  59. ↑ Takeshi Kitano on IMDB
  60. ↑ "IMDB Lists Dragonball Movie Reboot" at dblegends.com
  61. ↑ Untitled Dragonball Reboot at imdb.com
  62. ↑ "IMDB Claims Dragonball Reboot Has Been Announced" at dblegends.com

[edit] External links

Dragon Ball films
Dragon Ball adaptations
Theatrical films Curse of the Blood Rubies • Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle • Mystical Adventure • The Path to Power
Public Service Videos Son Goku's Traffic Safety • Son Goku's Fire Fighting Regiment
Live-action films Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins • Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Son Goku, Igyeora Son Son Goku • Dragonball: Evolution
Dragon Ball Z adaptations
Theatrical films Dead Zone • The World's Strongest • The Tree of Might • Lord Slug • Cooler's Revenge • The Return of Cooler • Super Android 13! • Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan • Bojack Unbound • Broly - Second Coming • Bio-Broly • Fusion Reborn • Wrath of the Dragon
Television specials Burdock - The Father of Son Goku • The History of Trunks
Other specials Looking Back at it All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show! • Dragon Ball Z: Movie Overview Special
OVAs Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate Super Saiyans • Yo! Son Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
Dragon Ball GT adaptations
Television specials A Hero's Legacy
Retrieved from "/qdb-viz/Dragonball_Evolution"