Chow Yun Fat Movie:

		List Price: $39.98		Label: 20th Century Fox Salesrank: 17537 Released: July 28, 2009
		Our Price: $17.98
		Used Price: $9.70
		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 07/28/2009 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg

Description of Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray]:
Co-produced by Hong Kong legend Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle), Dragonball Evolution is an agreeable if low-wattage live action adaptation of the iconic manga and anime series Dragon Ball. Director James Wong fuses the series’ fantasy-based characters and devices with a somewhat lackluster storyline involving average teen Goku (Justin Chatwin), who breaks from his wholesale pining for classmate Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung) to that he’s at the center of an intergalactic search for the all-powerful Dragonballs by evil warlord Piccolo (Buffy’s James Marsters). With the help of master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat, who backburners his stoic screen image in favor of some God of Gamblers/Once a Thief-level hamminess), Goku develops his fighting skills to take on Piccolo and save the Earth. The film’s abundance of martial arts should please younger and less discerning viewers, but its hackneyed dialogue and sluggish pace (especially in the fight scenes, which stutter where they should flow) may disappoint longtime fans of the book and television adaptations. The CGI effects, which labor mightily to reproduce the source material’s eye-popping look, also fall short, though the cast is game, especially Marsters and Chow. -- Paul Gaita

Stills from Dragonball: Evolution (Click for larger image)

Dragonball: Evolution [Blu-ray] Reviews:
The worst movie of 2009!
2009-11-10 - If a franchise should be rebooted than it's DB because Dragonball Evolution is a joke!
It's so bad that you can either laugh or destroy the blu-ray!
The writers of this movie have absolutely no clue what they wanted to do with the story.
It's not a great reboot like Startrek, it's a mess.

Dragonball is not that complicated it's about Son Goku, his journeys and awesome fight scenes.
Every single bit that is awesome in the comics, anime and games is missing.
No stunning fight scenes, no funny characters, no storyline that makes a tiny bit sense.
DB is about fighting guys and not a highschool romance story between Goku and Chichi.
Even the great Piccolo turns into a complete whiner in this movie.

But the one thing that really upsets me as a DB-fan is is that they dared to call the dvd/blue-ray release "the z-edition". DB Z is the most awesome part of the DB storyline and has nothing to do with this movie.
It's an insult!

Worst Movie I have ever seen
2009-09-29 - First off let me say that I am a Dragon Ball fan and I wanted this to be good. I wanted the awesome fight scenes and equally awesome characters that I knew and loved from the series. Except the writers/producers/Director/Studio decided to spit in my face for have paying for their movie. Even if you are a hardcore Dragon Ball fan this plot will seem poorly paced and badly acted. The characters have no deveolpment at all, The two romances in the movie (Goku and Chi-Chi, Bulma and Yamcha) are forced at best and at worst hastily put together. Goku is whinny, a far deviation from his care free fun loving character from the show. Chi-chi doesnt have a personality besides being Goku's girlfriend. Bulma is a sterotypical tough girl. Yamcha is another character who doesnt have enough screen time to even have a personality and I wouldn't have known who it was if he didn't say his name before hand. Master Roshi is played by chow yung fat a highly respected actor (for good reasons) but even he seemed to just cringe because oif his poorly written lines. Picolo also doesnt have any screen time worth a damn and his assasin is the major villian.

dont!!! buy!!!!
2009-09-29 - movie sucked bigg time!!!! trust me dont buy this its a waste of money and time!!! i tell it like it is.

Manga comes to real-life in the movies
2009-09-23 - A good fantasy adventure movie. Based on the Japanese Manga "Dragonball", this is a cartoon brought to the big screen. OK, this review is based exclusively on the movie as I haven't seen nor read any of the original Manga mateials. I really enjoyed the story and this was well made. I specially enjoyed the character Chi-chi. The reason for giving a 3 is that the story was a bit simple and the build-up to the big closing scene was too easy; perhaps this is a side effect of using a manga as your basis. Yes, I will watch this movie again in the future and do recommend it. P.S. Nice to see Chow Yun Fat in the movie.

They can call this Dragon Ball?
2009-09-23 - I don't know where to begin on the reasons why I would never recommend this movie to anyone. I am a huge Dragonball fan and it has nothing to offer the fans of the series. As for new people watching it I would still go against it. So Goku is being trained by Gohan who found him in his yard trying to prepare him for the possible return of Piccolo who is from the planet Namek and according to this movie all Nameks are evil. When Goku turns 18 he has the possibility of changing into a demon named Osaru which is his great ape form. Goku never has a tail in this movie period. Everyone he meets knows martial arts in this movie except for Bulma and Yamcha. Bulma makes inventions still, but other than that she is a complete idiot. I don't get how she makes anything in the movie. The Dragon Radar also got changed to the DBE for Dragon Ball Energy. The ancient Dragon Balls also seem to have no rhyme or reason for how they actually ended up on the planet. Oh finally Goku could become the Avatar since the Kamehameha in this movie is a form of airbending though it can light things on fire.

So I mentioned why you should avoid it so far just by being a fan of the original series. Well the plot makes no sense. Osaru and Piccolo were defeated 2,000 years ago and now Piccolo is on a rampage looking for the Dragon Balls. They don't explain how Piccolo returned and Osaru came from the sky 18 years ago so he just happens to be their to help. Osaru as mentioned above is Goku, but they don't really explain why he has a human form at all. He can only change during a Solar Eclipse which is a rare event and if he isn't in his Osaru form, well he's a good guy. That means his transformation should only last a limited time at best. Goku however can fight the transformation which also is not really explained well, but you see him just change back because he wants to. The acting is horrible and if they stuck with the original story were Goku is only 12, a 12 year old could have done a better job. Bulma's actress is by far the worse of the actors in the movie and she even sounds like an idiot. She also doesn't have any common sense and yet she has like a Phd and all of this other stuff in the movie.

Just do yourself a favor even if you are just curious about how bad this movie is and don't watch it. If someone asks you too and it's free to watch it once, don't do it. I got that opportunity and I still feel like I was ripped off. I want my time back.