Worst Anime Adaptation: Dragonball Evolution

Even if you haven't seen it,Dragon Ballyou still probably know about Goku's signature attack.KamehamehaIt is a literal beam of concentrated energy. It has nothing to do with air-bending, a technique taken straight from Avatar: The Last Airbender.Avatar: The Last AirbenderMaster Roshi compares Kamehameha to air-bending for some reason. Goku is revived by the attack, despite it having zero healing properties.

Goku lacks education. He isn't stupid, but he can be naive about things that don't involve fighting.He lacks a well-rounded public school education.This explains why Dragonball Evolution decided to make Goku attend a stereotypical suburban high school.Dragonball EvolutionThe movie made Goku attend a stereotypical suburban high school.Dragonball EvolutionFans of the original Dragon Ball see no good explanation; sheer laziness is the only reason.Dragon BallOne angry fan agreed with this.An angry fan posted on Gamespot, saying,"HE'S [Goku] NOT AN ANGST-RIDDEN AMERICAN CHILD! ...Just needed to get that off my chest. Fox turned it into a typical High School underdog film."

If you want good dialogue, skip this.Dragonball EvolutionDragonball Evolution features groan-inducing clichés like, "Now the signs have appeared again, the evil has returned. Only one chosen warrior has the power to defeat this threat," and "The first rule is... there are no rules."

The script makes bad puns about collecting Dragon Balls. Yamcha yelling "Ow, my balls!" is neither funny nor creative; it is the film's closest thing to humor.

Ben Ramsey, the writer behind Dragonball Evolution, knew his work insulted the original series.Dragonball EvolutionRamsey offered an apology to Dragon Ball fans.In an interview with Derek Padula, Ramsey stated:I knew it would come down to this one day.Dragon BallFans. In an interview with Derek Padula, Ramsey made this statement:

I went into the project chasing a big payday, not as a fan but as a businessman. I learned that lacking passion in a creative effort yields poor results, sometimes just garbage. I blame myself for Dragon Ball, not anyone else. As a fan of other series, I know how disappointing it is when something you love disappoints you.Dragonball EvolutionTo all the

I chased a big payday on this project, not as a fan of the franchise, but as a businessman taking an assignment. I learned that going into a creative effort without passion yields poor results, and sometimes just garbage. So I don't blame anyone forDragonball but myself. As a fan of other series, I know what it feels like to love something and have it turn out disappointing.

To all theDragon BallFans out there, I sincerely apologize.

I hope I can make it up to you by making something really cool and entertaining that you like and that I am passionate about. That is the only work I do now.

Best,

Ben.

Goku's interesting trait is that he does not care how others see him. He avoids earning approval and stays pure-hearted. This refreshing trait vanishes inDragonball Evolution.Justin Chatwin's take on the character focuses on his look. He cares so much about his appearance that heGoku gels down his signature spiky hair.he to blend in at high school. Why turn a unique character into a stereotypically vain teenager?

You do not need to include every character from theDragon BallThe universe.Krillin's absence hits hard.Krillin is part of Goku's childhood; the two remain inseparable throughoutDragon Ball –and their friendship lasts into adulthood.

So where is he? Why did they not include him in the story ofDragonball Evolution?Finding an actor who is short and bald seems too hard. Why not take an easy chance to deepen the main character by giving him a friend? Many fans of the original series asked these questions aboutEvolution'sReleased in 2009.

CGI can boost a movie or it can make it much worse. The CGI inDragonball Evolutionis ugly and obvious, making the whole viewing experience unpleasant.Drake Tsui, a Super Reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes, calls it a "Hollywood CGI f*ck fest of stupidity."

Green screen backgrounds just add to this mess. Although shooting on green screen happens sometimes due to budget limits, the sloppy backgrounds distract viewers and break the illusion.

Dragonball EvolutionIs widelydislikedFans dislike it, but what does the original creator of theDragon Balluniverse, Akira Toriyama, think?

Toriyama apparently does not care much for it either. In an interview with Asahi Shimbun Digital about the movie, he made this boldStatement:

During the Hollywood movie, the live-actionDragon Ball, the script lacked understanding of the world and its traits. Plus, it had common content I found uninteresting, so I warned them and suggested changes; yet, they acted confident and did not really listen. The final movie was a film I could not call aDragon Ball that met my expectations.

Because of this, there were parts where I wanted to show some strength, with a world and story only the creator could draw.

Want to watch a fight scene with good choreography, continuity, and tension? If you watchDragonball EvolutionYou are out of luck. Instead of skilled editing and real fighting, you see Goku slide across a car with his head. That is how fights happen.

The fights are bad, but they can still be fun. The actors seemaware of how ridiculous they are, so some moments feel like a joke, not just a bad movie. Still, asChristopher Tookey ofChristopher Tookey.Daily Mail."The story seems made up as the film went along, not by any talented person. The fight scenes and special effects are shamefully pathetic."

Drew Stuart ofFlixist.Dragonball Evolution.features acting so bad, so unbelievable, that I wonder how anyone watched the movie and said, 'Yeah, looks good to me.'

Stuart is right. The movie is so poorly acted it is embarrassing. Lines sound awkward, scenes are over- or underacted, and no one acts like their character. Even a bad movie can get saved by good actors, but that does not happen here.

While the original is not the final word,Dragon Ball.is a series that gets many things right. Any plot changes need careful, respectful choices—something clearly absent inDragonball Evolution.. In the original series, the Piccolo who later joined the good guyscame from an evil alien's chest,but in the movie, he is a demon sealed for thousands of years.

Another silly change inEvolution.is that the proud Saiyan race are Piccolo's slaves. This nonsensical shift wipes out whole manga/anime story arcs.

A big problem with the film is how it handles Goku's grandfather, Gohan's, death. In the original story, Goku accidentally kills his grandfather when he loses control of his power. It takes years for Goku to realize he was responsible, and he is crushed when he learns the truth. To honor his grandfather and fix his mistake, Goku names his son Gohan. This is one of the most touching parts of the story.

InDragonball Evolution.Piccolo kills Gohan., so there is no guilt to deal with. Evenworse,when Goku finds his grandfather's body, he hardly reacts. His weak reaction kills any chance for feeling. Most people react stronger to seeing a total stranger die than Goku does to a loved one's death.

TheDragon Ball.universe has strong women, but the women inDragonball Evolution.just do not measure up.

Chi Chi.does not serve any real purposeBulma, Goku's love interest, shows impulsive decisions that contradict her personality from the source material, despite retaining some of her scientific genius. Mai, a villain with transformation powers she lacks in canon, acts as a groupie Piccolo does not require. None of these characters show significant growth during the movie.

It is not necessarily sexism.allThe characters are flat, not just the women; seeing female characters reduced like this is still disappointing.

Like many Western anime movie adaptations, Dragonball EvolutionThe movie casts white actors to play Japanese characters.WhitewashingWhitewashing hurts because it removes the story's original context. It also stops Asian American actors from getting jobs and Asian American viewers from seeing representation, both of which are missing.

To be fair toDragonball Evolution, this is not the worst example of Hollywood whitewashing; there are actually some Asian actors involved.a decent number of Asian actorsThe production included Yun-Fat Chow as Master Roshi, Jamie Chung as Chi Chi, Eriko Tamura as Mai, and others. Still, a white man plays the protagonist, making other casting choices harder to appreciate.