Dragonball Evolution

I *wanted* to see Dragonball Evolution — I admit — should it feel like a betrayal of cherished childhood memories, or will it kick my teeth in? (Also, refer to the Warren Ellis quote on my Watchmen review: “The book is almost always better than the movie…” :p )

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Because, like most of you (who might’ve had Dragonball Z as one of your earlier exposure to animé) — I was curious. Curious about the treatment, the westernization and the interpretation — so, when a ticket for the premiere became available, at The Block’s D-Cinema, no less — I jumped at the chance! I could regale you with tales of how I got there from Makati, but this won’t be about that. As my mom has told me countless times, (because she took up MassCom) “you have to learn how to take in everything, before you apply your own filter of what’s good or what’s bad.”

This review, therefore, should ignore, for a moment, the years and years of following the story of the show, playing the video games, pretending to be Saiyans with school friends, etc — and should instead, aspire to be as objective as it can be. (Or how I can write it to be.)

This version of Dragonball starts off with the telling of how an ancient evil, Piccolo and his “servant” Oozaru has been sealed off from the world for the last 2000 years. Then it cuts to Goku training with his grandfather Gohan on a pair of clotheslines. Just before Goku goes to school (yep, you read that right!) his grandfather hands him a present for his 18th birthday — the 4-star Dragonball.

After that, we’re given the American twist(!) — Goku is in highschool, and because he’s different, he’s pegged as a weirdo/loser in school. This serves some of the funniest parts of the film — even if some of the dialogue is a little cliché. After secretly showing off a bit of his power to the girl he likes (Chichi, of course), she begins to take interest in him, and, well, in the tradition of teen movies/shows everywhere, he gets invited to her party.

This is where things go wrong. Bad wrong. For some reason, Lord Piccolo (played by James-I-really-thought-you-were-British-because-of-Buffy Marsters) has been revived, and is retrieving the Dragonballs (of which there are 7) for his own selfish gain.

This kick-starts Goku’s quest in collecting the Dragonballs to prevent the evils that might befall (befell? is this the correct word even? go go grammer check!) the Earth. Along the way, he meets the sex-ay-slash-genius Bulma Briefs, the perverted Master Roshi, and the desert thief, Yamcha.

What I liked:

* Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi. In the words of a wise (and terrible) man: “Parang si Vic Sotto lang yan e!”

* Bulma’s Capsule Corp. vehicle! (Wish they featured more!)

* The Western translation of Goku’s naivité into social awkwardness. Also, his not-knowing of Oozaru.

* Jamie Chung.

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What I didn’t like:

* The characters act as if they’re doing something incredibly important at the onset. They just naturally assume that we know. Then again, who’d be seeing the movie other than fans of the show/manga/games/franchise?

* No Krillin!

* The special effects — when they go all-rainbow.

* Piccolo’s blood minions! We’re never given a clear view of ‘em — therefore, they don’t exist!

* We’re never given a scope how strong Goku is. The creators sorta assume that we should assume that he’s strong based on the fact that he’s the protagonist.

* The messy plot! Are they looking for the Dragonball? Was Roshi training Goku all along? Why didn’t Piccolo do the dirty work himself, if he’s so strong? I wouldn’t excuse it as not being able to compress hundreds of volumes of manga into an hour-and-a-half — the story could’ve been told in a clearer way, but this wasn’t it.

Did I like it? Overall?

Yes — only because we’ll hate it. And when you hate the movie, you’ll run back to the animé/manga/videogames. If someone who isn’t familiar with the series sees this, he might go out and buy the animé/manga/videogames just to find out what this movie was based on — at which point, he’ll enjoy the franchise — and it might just take a badly-plotted film to do it.

Kids in the theater didn’t seem to mind too much. :p

2/5

Dragonball Evolution will open in local theaters on April 11, including the (first and only digital cinema in the Philippines) D-Cinema at SM North.

[Keep in mind, it COULD'VE been much, much worse.]

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And if you do decide to run back to the earlier animé, namely, Dragon Ball — you’ll find that, the magic of Akira Toriyama’s classic was the balance of great characterization, action and humor. The series had heart.

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Also, idea! D-Cinema’s colors and picture are pretty crisp (and awesum) — and since it’s built on DLP technology — how awesome would connecting an HD console, say, a PS3 or XBox360 to the projector be? Even scaled up to as big as a cinema, that would rawk.

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Thanks to Azrael, Sarah, the Movie Bloggers Club and SM Cinema!

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