IGN UK gives DBE a 1.5/5 Stars

http://movies.ign.com/articles/969/969881p1.html

Dragonball Evolution UK Review
A cynical and charmless attempt to cash in on one of the most beloved anime franchises of all time.
by Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK

UK, April 6, 2009 - Dragonball Evolution has finally screened, and IGN is sad to report that our worse fears about this ill-fated project have come true.

The main reasons the various Dragonball franchises have so successfully endeared themselves into the hearts of millions of fans is the series' unique mix of characterization, humour, madcap energy and kinetic fight sequences. These attributes seem to have been lost however as the project passed through Hollywood.

The Dragonball mythology is dispensed with in a an extremely quick pre-credit sequence, and before long we are plunged into the main story, with Justin Chatwin's Goku being trained by his sparkly-eyed granddad Gohan. He is given a strange orb called a 'Dragonball' for his 18th birthday, and told that only seven of the balls exist and when they are united a dragon is summoned which will grant any wish to the one who possesses them.

Later that day a tragedy changes Goku's life forever, and sends him on a quest to find the magic orbs before the evil alien Lord Piccolo (James Marsters), who intends to use their unlimited power to destroy the world. On his travels Goku is helped by the feisty Bulma Briefs (Emmy Rossum), thief with a heart of gold Yamacha (Joon Park) and Chow Yun-fat's slightly-sleazy master Roshi.

As the spiky-haired hero, Justin Chatwin is a likeable and understated presence at the heart of the movie, but it's still the case that his casting has to come to represent the bland Americanisation of Dragonball. Despite the wealth of Asian talent thrown in the mix, this is still very much a Hollywood interpretation of the franchise that spectacularly fails to replicate what made the original series popular.

The biggest problem, by far, is the terrible, terrible script. The straightforward plot - 'find the Dragonballs' - gives scope for an epic, Star Wars-style fairy-tale, but at only 84 minutes, this is 'Dragonball lite', a story that skims along the surface of the mythology, the plot, and the characters.

From a basic filmmaking perspective, Evolution is botched. Storylines are rushed - Master Roshi's desire to train Goku for his battle with Piccolo is dispensed with in a couple of scenes, for example. The confusing and illogical narrative is relentlessly pushed forward without ever building tension or drama. We are never given time to get to know or like the characters, or understand their relationships. You never truly fear or care that James Marsters' villainous Piccolo is trying to destroy the world, because he is only given six minutes screen time.

The ridiculously frenetic, outlandish action of the source material has also been updated to by-numbers wire-work kung fu that we've seen thousands of times since The Matrix. Imagine a live-action incarnation of the Dragonball anime's violence (if such a thing were possible) - it would be mind blowing, but studio 20th Century Fox didn't have the ambition to try and replicate it here.

How we wish producer Stephen Chow (who did amazing chopsocky work on the likes of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle) had either directed the film (instead of Final: Destination James Wong), or at least been able to transport some of his talent and personality into this production. His contribution is anonymous.

Dragonball Evolution is a charmless, somewhat cynical attempt to cash in on one of the most beloved anime franchises of all time. The film will disgust die-hard fans, and just baffle those unfamiliar with the source. Whilst the movie may have some appeal to very young viewers, this movie should be avoided if you're over the age of 10.

Thanx good this is really really good! since IGN as you said is indirectly owned by Fox...so it whether means its actually not, or it is but people are so pissed that they'd rather lose their jobs to bash this movie then shut up and keep it WOHOO FOR UK!!!

Yay that is so magically wonderful ^_^

Yay! Reading that made me happy! And Piccolo's screen time wasn't even 6 minutes, it was less than that!

WHAT? UNDER 6 MINUTES? WTF!

VEGETA_DTX wrote:Thanx good this is really really good! since IGN as you said is indirectly owned by Fox...so it whether means its actually not, or it is but people are so pissed that they'd rather lose their jobs to bash this movie then shut up and keep it WOHOO FOR UK!!!

They're actually both owned by Newscorp. so neither actually owns each other. Sorry for the misinformation. They actually have feuded before over Fox using some material from IGN.

What?? They still gave DBE 1.5/5 ??

Yeah, that's still being generous in my opinion.

JessicaRaine wrote:WHAT? UNDER 6 MINUTES? WTF!

It's true! Honest!! All he does is stand around, talk a little and shoot red crap from his hands. Thats it and all in under 6 minutes. I don't even know why they even bothered putting Piccolo into this. The school bullies would have been much better villains.

^XD
Haha, yeah, I was waiting for such comments. I can't fell sorry for the DBE cast...it's going to get worse. And 1.5, wow, that's really low.

wow...just wow. the took away all the awesomeness of piccolo and the little bit of terror he used to inflict on me...

Yeah! Whenever he apears you just think "Oh look, its... its... that guy..."

He has so little screentime, fuck all dialogue and does nothing, NOTHING. noteworthy. Well... he does clearly, completely and utterly rip off Emperor Palpatine in one scene, but thats it.

haha man that's so lame! why the hell did fox even bother...I know, Money, but there's other ways to make it than crushing childhood memories...

what...they actually gaave this movie 1.5 in an official review...OH GOD WHAT LULZ!!!

I never thought the movie would actually get THAT low of a score. I mean, it sucks yeah, but when I said it got 1/5 and stuff I was kidding. Its very hard for a movie made by major hollywood corporates like 20th century to get that bad of a score...dear god I feel good.

yes exactly ^_^