Dragonball: Evolution

[RocShemp]

I picked up the BD of Dragonball Evolution on Friday. The video has not a single trace of DNR or any ringing on the image. I didn't realize just how grainy that movie really is. Looked great and I wish more studios produced BDs like this one in terms of video. The audio was very good (bassier than I remember) but not really a knockout. It's a rather front heavy mix (the the surrounds do get used they're mixed rather low for the most part) and most of the dialogue sounds like live audio that was cleaned up in post.

The extras were okay.

The deleted scenes were all in 1080p and presented with a 5.1 448kbps Dolby Digital mix. The deleted footage received the same stellar video treatment as the film proper but keep in mind that it has not been processed via digital intermediate and thus features none of the color correction and/or enhancement of the film proper. Also, the audio, though very good, is clearly a temp mix. To be honest, most of the footage could have stayed in the movie and would have enhanced it. The Fullums scene plays far better than the hastily cut final version and the extended scene with Sifu Norris helps give greater weight to Roshi and made his relationship with Norris seem richer. It's not a lot but it sure helps. The scene with Goku lifting a car was okay but didn't play as well as I was hoping it would. Mai's death is the same exact death as is in the film proper. All that happened was that some pipe-like stabbing weapon was digitally erased in the finished version and a CGI gun placed in Yamcha's hand. To be honest, I think the only reason the stabbing was changed was because the pipe thing bounched around like rubber when Mai fell to the ground. The snack bar bit was actually funny and could have easily been left in as it was a 5 second shot at most. There was also a 10 second extension to Goku, Roshu, and Bulma as they traveled. Gohan explaining Ki was very brief and need not have been cut. The extended first meeting of Goku and Bulma has a funny gag regarding Bulma's original name for her DBE Locator and Goku making fun of her name. Again, there was no reason for it to have been cut and shuffled around.

The Gag Reel is such in name only. There's only a few scattered funny bits. It's really just a random collection of behind the scenes footage. In it you see a bit more of Goku versus Piccolo (don't get excited as most of it you've seen before) but what's really interesting is footage of the original Oozaru. Yes, we've seen him before but there was fight footage with him, including wire work where they had him leaping through the air. Oozaru also appeared with a blue gi and the orange gi. The Mafuba dance is nowhere to be seen and does not appear anywhere in the BD.

The Making Of A Scene and Life After Film School mini-docs are perplexingly presented in windowboxed standard def. Why they weren't at least anamorphic is beyond me.

The Goku's Quest Game is rather lazy. You watch the movie and press the red button on your BD remote whenever a player generated Dragon Ball appears onscreen while you watch the movie. After you click on all seven, skip to the end of the movie and you're offered a reward. It's a 2:36 clip about the props in the film. It's interesting but far too brief. During the tail end you'll see the different Dragon Balls that were made until coming to the finished design. If you feel inclined to play the game, play the movie at 10x speed. The Dragon Balls will still appear and you'll finish the game in little over 8 minutes.

The Worked Up music video is terrible. I don't recall if I even made it up to a minute. Supposedly the song is in the movie but I don't recall it one bit. Why they didn't include the music video for Rise is a mystery.

The less said of Goku's Workout, the better. It doesn't even feature footage of Stuart Chatwin preparing for the role or anything worth watching.

There's no extended fight footage in sight (other than the brief glimpses in the so-called gag reel and in Life After Film School). There's no footage of the "Fist Cams".



Blu-ray.com Review

.

[Grimshaw23]

Wow...just watched this movie and man, was it horrible. The acting was terrible and the fight scenes were pathetic, some of the worst I've ever seen in a Hollywood movie, then again not really that surprising. It is Hollywood afterall. The movie was made as if it was intended as a big joke or something. And I'm saying all that as fan of the series. Good thing I didn't pay to see it.

Btw, You reviewed everything but the actual movie. Why not?

[doctorD]

One question...this movie isn't out until July 28. How did you get this early?

[RocShemp]

To be honest, my post was never meant to be a review. It just sorta came out that way, Grimshaw23.

As for the movie, I actually enjoyed it. When I saw the trailers (and when they suddenly added "Evolution" with no context whatsoever to the title), I knew it was not going to be like the comics or the cartoon. As long as it was amusing, I was gonna be okay with it. And, sure enough, I enjoyed it. Perhaps it was my lowered expectations. Or perhaps I'm not that big a fan (though I recall reading all the comics and watching all the animated movies at anime conventions in college). Then again, I always prefered the whimsical Dragon Ball over the often too melodramatic Dragon Ball Z.

I viewed this movie as I view the Ultimate line of Marvel Comics. It has familiar names and faces but it presents them in a whole different manner. Goku and Chi-Chi were really retooled versions of Gohan and Videl. I didn't mind the alteration of Chi-Chi since I always despised her in the comics but Goku needed to be more of a clueless goofball, with a huge appetite, that's looking to beat anyone up whenever he gets the chance rather than an awkward teen. They showed flourishes of the real Goku but they kept the character predominantly like Gohan. Bulma was far more assertive with only a hint of her primadonna vibe from the comics. I didn't really mind that change. Roshi was funny but definitely Roshi-lite. That's the director's fault cos he didn't want Roshi to be a pervo. Chow Yun-Fat tried his darndest to be somewhat like his comic book counterpart but only made it there about 70% through no real fault of his. Joon Park acted about as well as I'd expect a guy with no acting experience who was only cast cos he's huge as a singer (in Asia, at least) to act. He was amusing but not someone that I wouldn't mind losing. Especially since in the earlier drafts of the script Yamcha and Goku were meant to have several fights. Piccolo was well cast but he was in the movie all of 10 minutes. Mai had more screentime and she had three lines (one of which was dubbed in Japanese by what sounds like a totally different actress).

Yeah, the movie has a lot of negatives. Not the least of which is the fact that Chi-Chi vs. Chi-Chi and Goku vs. the bullies/Fuller were far better than Goku vs. Piccolo. But the movie just puts a smile on my face. I wish it were loads better and didn't seem to be in such a rush to end but I enjoyed it.

That said, any writer worth his salt could easily use the basis of the first movie to create a far superior sequel without resorting to the reboot crutch.

If I had to grade it, I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

I'm just disappointed we didn't get an extended cut as it's known a bunch of fight footage was cut out, including using these "Fist Cams" there were supposed to show POVs of the punches during the final fight.

Oddly enough, in the Making Of A Scene special feature, James Wong comments about how his fight choreographer designs fights that are too long and he has to make him trim them down by a third before they shoot them. Why bother if he's just gonna cut the remaining 2/3 by half once they're done? He seemed to have forgotten that he was making an action/adventure movie.

Originally Posted by doctorD

One question...this movie isn't out until July 28. How did you get this early?

They had a bunch of copies at Wal-Mart. I live in Puerto Rico, by the way. But the stores over here normally follow the US release dates. This was a major fluke.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by RocShemp

They had a bunch of copies at Wal-Mart. I live in Puerto Rico, by the way. But the stores over here normally follow the US release dates. This was a major fluke.

I think it must be some weird Wal-Mart employee thing like here in California in United States I saw a copy of the 3rd boxset for Bleach like 2-3 weeks in advance before the release date.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

I think it must be some weird Wal-Mart employee thing like here in California in United States I saw a copy of the 3rd boxset for Bleach like 2-3 weeks in advance before the release date.

Weird. I've seen Wal-Marts release the ocassional movie a day or two early but I don't recall something this early. The only time I got a disc this early was when I got a DVD of Flyboys weeks in advance at a Suncoast that was having a clearance sale before they closed up shop.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by RocShemp

Weird. I've seen Wal-Marts release the ocassional movie a day or two early but I don't recall something this early. The only time I got a disc this early was when I got a DVD of Flyboys weeks in advance at a Suncoast that was having a clearance sale before they closed up shop.

To be honest I was surprised myself I mean I was in the Palm Desert, California location of Wal-Mart and noticed the 3rd boxset for Bleach back in June and when I saw that I was like I thought this came out in July and surely enough it was supposed to be a July release date of July 14th.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by MOONPHASE

To be honest I was surprised myself I mean I was in the Palm Desert, California location of Wal-Mart and noticed the 3rd boxset for Bleach back in June and when I saw that I was like I thought this came out in July and surely enough it was supposed to be a July release date of July 14th.

It would be kinda nice if they had a similar messup with the release of the Ultimate Edition of Watchmen.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by Grimshaw23

Btw, You reviewed everything but the actual movie. Why not?

Probably because anyone who cares about this movie is already familiar enough with the subject matter. That is to say, Fox made a joke out of one of the most well known anime there is.

I'm still looking forward to owning this joke though. Hopefully the price will plummet down to like 12 dollars or less soon.

[iori]

I'm interested in watching it just to see how bad it really is.

[Propellarhead9]

Being a huge Dragonball fan I was greatly dissappointed with this movie. The movie could have been a lot better than what it ended up being.

[detective392]

I liked the movie wish the fights were longer though but I am not a fan of the anime or manga so I have nothing to base my opinion on.

[LEHD]

If you completely forget that is a Dragonball adaptation the movie is not that bad, actually is a fun popcorn flick. I enjoy the movie at the theater so maybe I'll buy it but when I find it cheap.

[RocShemp]

The movie is basically a Cliff's Notes Dragon Ball where all the character names got mixed up. It's still an enjoyable movie but more inspired by Dragon Ball than actually based on it.

[talstarone]

I saw the movie in the Theater and wasnt too disappointed(but also didnt have my expectations too high either)

I took my 11 year old Nephew and he really liked it.I thought it was pretty good and deserved a place in my Blu Collection(mainly to show to others coming over to watch a movie).

Compared to the recently released Strret Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li; Dragonball Evolution looks like OSCAR Material(I couldnt even make it to the end of Street Fighter,it was simply horrid,but that is only my opinion,as I am sure there are some out there that really liked the Movie).

But I will be one of the few to add Dragonball to my library(It was almost like it was trying to be a cross between campy humor and a level of seriousness).
But unless I see it for a Great Price,it will have to wait for BattleStar Galactica on Blu Ray.

[RocShemp]

I've been listening to the Spanish language dub. So far so good. The lip synch is good and the actors really fit their respective roles. The 5.1 mix isn't compromised in any way beyond it being a lossy track. For those who rely on Spanish language dubs, it's very good.

I finally realized where Worked Up plays. It's after Goku fights Fuller and the bullies. Timecode 00:17:03.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by talstarone

It was almost like it was trying to be a cross between campy humor and a level of seriousness

If they had done that right, it'd've been perfect. But they botched too much stuff and it falls flat.

[P@t_Mtl]

Never watched the anime so I had nothing to fall back on. I tought it was fun, nothing great of course but a fun movie, I will get it on BD

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

If they had done that right, it'd've been perfect. But they botched too much stuff and it falls flat.

In all fairness, the orginal comics (and the cartoons they inspired) were hardly high art. Well, what was adapted into Dragon Ball was great but what was adapted into Dragon Ball Z wasn't. Sure there was plenty to love about the DBZ era but the series lost a lot of the charm and fun that was present in the DB era. Heck, Akira Toriyama pretty much admitted he sold out during that time since the comics weren't selling too well. Well, he didn't actually use the term "sold out" so that's a bit unfair of me to say. Anyhoo, he mentioned that when the World Martial Arts Tournament story generated a boost in readership, he made everything as fight centric as possible. And many a times I feel he went overboard.

The movie seems to be tonally inspired by the DB while borrowing plot elements from the DBZ era. Weird approach, I must admit. I dunno how they thought essentially making a movie about Gohan but renaming him Goku would sit well with the fans but the end result wasn't that bad.

Like I said, it helps to think of it as an Ultimate Marvel type offshoot or an Elseworlds story if you're more of a DC man.

[jasonicus]

Its too hard to compare a 2 hour movie with a show that has been on for years. Only so much can be done. The film was a bit cheesy, but I never really watched the show, so there was no disappointment for me.