Dragonball Evolution
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May 1, 2009 • written by Amber Batsch, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Filed under Entertainment
The dragonball, a mystical object with the ability to grant any wish, drops off the edge of the cliff starting an all out brawl. Piccolo and Goku are preparing for their finishing attacks. As Goku is surrounded by blue energy and Piccolo in red, they both cry out as Goku unleashes his most famous attack: Ka-ma-ha-ma-ha!
Dragonball’s first American live action film from made it onto the silver screen April 10 and it had both disappointments and excitements. Being a hard core fan gives people a biased opinion going into the movie, but the action scenes were satisfying despite other let downs.
The characters do not look like the original animated characters. Goku, who has obnoxiously spiky black hair, was missing what made him the character everyone knows. His hair, though kind of spiky, was not spiky enough nor was it long enough, and his personality, although pretty close to his original personality, did not seem Goku-esque. His personality did not seem chipper enough nor was it as innocent in the movie as it was in the anime. In the anime Goku is carefree and loveable. In the movie he seemed anxious and borderline depressed, he just was not happy go lucky enough to be a true blue Goku. Another character whose looks were a disappointment was Bulma. In the anime, she is depicted as having all blue hair, but in the movie she has all brown hair with two blue streaks.
Although the characters didn’t resemble the original characters, one can’t expect a live action movie to keep to the exact script or character profiles laid out in a book, cartoon or anime in this case. The storyline for “Dragonball Evolution,” though a bit different from the manga and anime, was still entertaining (once you got past the differences), and the graphics were amazing. Though different, the movie still had a good amount of entertaining humor in it that reflected some of the humor from the anime. The graphics for a live action movie were sweet. The Kamama wave, Goku’s ultimate attack that looks like a beam of powerful blue energy, was great and did the animated version justice. It had its fake-ish qualities, but it looked real enough to still look cool.
The story line is a bit off right away since Goku is older than he was in the anime. In the movie he’s just turning 18 and attending high school. It also seems to modernize the movie by giving Goku bully problems and problems talking to Chi Chi, his wife in the anime and girlfriend later on in the movie. By modernizing the movie it took away from how Goku actually seemed to behave in the anime. It took his personality and made that of an anxious teen instead of the carefree child-like attitude that was so lovable about him.
The storyline goes from Goku having issues, accepting who he is and talking with his grandpa to a full-out fight to save the world. Along the way he meets Bulma, a scientist searching for the dragonballs, Master Roshi, Chi Chi and Piccolo (not the same Piccolo Goku is later friends with). Piccolo, who was sealed away, is searching for the dragonballs to destroy the world, and it’s up to Goku and his friends to stop him.
Without giving away too much of the fairly epic ending, Goku was able to conquer his doubts about himself and ‘defeat’ Piccolo with his all-too-famous Kamama wave, along with winning Chi Chi over.
Although the movie had many changes that were disappointing, it was still fairly good overall and the graphics made up for the lack of characterization even with the different storyline. Hardcore fans have to put what they know behind them to like it or just enjoy the graphics. People who are completely new to the series will appreciate the humor and impressive fight scenes.
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