Dragonball: Evolution

Name: Dragonball: Evolution
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy
Released: April 10, 2009
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 45
Cast: James Marsters, Justin Chatwin, Yun-Fat Chow

2009

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 330 Ratings

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2.3	User Score Generally unfavorable reviews based on 330 Ratings

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Dragonball: Evolution

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: April 10, 2009 | PG

Starring: James Marsters, Justin Chatwin, Yun-Fat Chow

Summary: Heroic Goku is a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects, the Dragonball. As the Master Roshi guides Goku on the young man's epic quest to save the Earth from the forces of darknes, he encounters Bulma, a beautiful woman intent onHeroic Goku is a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects, the Dragonball. As the Master Roshi guides Goku on the young man's epic quest to save the Earth from the forces of darknes, he encounters Bulma, a beautiful woman intent on retrieving the mystical Dragonballs for her own reasons and Chi Chi, a young martial artist who captures Goku's eye. (20th Century Fox)… Expand

Director: James Wong

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 85 min

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Critic Reviews

Nathan Lee

May or may not appeal to fans of the Japanese fantasy franchise it is based on, but aficionados of apocalyptic teenybopper kung fu extravaganzas are in for a real treat. Read full review

Aaron Hillis

Far more entertaining than it deserves to be, unless you're a 10-year-old boy, in which case it's only the greatest movie ever made. Read full review

Russell Edwards

Tasha Robinson

The film is crammed with treats for old-school "Dragonball" fans, from the inclusion of all these characters (who don't actually do much) to the moment when spiky-haired Goku dons his orange gi. For everyone else, this amounts to another seen-it-before, probably-willing-to-see-it-again distraction. Read full review

Glenn Whipp

Director James Wong ("Final Destination") and writer Ben Ramsey are utterly blasé in their approach to the series' mythology and structure, cobbling together an 84-minute movie that seems to exist only to rile up fanboys. On that count -- and that count alone -- Dragonball Evolution triumphs. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Bottom line: costumed Goku and Chi Chi cosplayers may argue the finer points of this adaptation, but it is fairly dazzling it its own overextended, futurist-teenpulp fashion, and Chow makes a vastly more entertaining Roshi than he did a King. Read full review

Frank Scheck

Completely lacking in visual, narrative or stylistic coherence, the film also suffers from cheap-looking visual effects and poorly staged and edited action sequences that will not exactly please the fanboys. Read full review

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User Reviews

MikeH

Aug 29, 2009

I must say... i liked it. not so much because the movie itself was good (in any way), but because it evoked memories of the original dragon ball (and dbz), which i LOVED. 10 for the memories, 0 for the movie... averages out to 10.

2 of 12 users found this helpful

JulioJ

Apr 10, 2009

I didn't see many things to critisize besides the obvious wire work and that I expected more action from it, it was pretty good, better than I thought it would be. I'd REALLY like to see more from it if there is a sequel to satisfy the fans.

1 of 3 users found this helpful

dynamik008

Aug 14, 2009

NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK. And believe me on that one. I was one of those people who kept on bashing the previews and saying over and over that this was gonna be the worst movie ever. A nightmare to all true DBZ fans. I also kept sayin "I know it's gonna be bad, but I'm still NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK. And believe me on that one. I was one of those people who kept on bashing the previews and saying over and over that this was gonna be the worst movie ever. A nightmare to all true DBZ fans. I also kept sayin "I know it's gonna be bad, but I'm still watching it because It's f***ing Dragon Ball!!! It's gonna suck though" but after I saw the movie, it wasn't all that bad. It really has almost nothing to do with Dragon Ball, it's just related somehow with character names and super human abilities, but thats it. The whole movie runs by way too fast, and when it was done, I wished they have made it longer. It's still a bad movie, but it was entertaining. It also has a good sense a humor, which is good. If your a DBZ fan, just watch it. You probably wont like it, but... it's DBZ, so watch it.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful

Theater-Abomb

Sep 17, 2015

complete dumbass James Wong gives one giant finger to Japan, fans of Dragon Ball and anyone who loves cinema. The movie is a cloppy, overlong nonsensical stupid piece of cinema diarrhea. It's poorly done live action knockoff of possible the greatest anime of all time Dragon Ball Z. A paincomplete dumbass James Wong gives one giant finger to Japan, fans of Dragon Ball and anyone who loves cinema. The movie is a cloppy, overlong nonsensical stupid piece of cinema diarrhea. It's poorly done live action knockoff of possible the greatest anime of all time Dragon Ball Z. A pain from the beginning to the end Dragon Evolution is almost hilarious in it's failure, but it's ripping apart something from my childhood something I still still love today so it can burn in movie hell. it's not evolution it's a big step backwards… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

AdrianStefan

Mar 20, 2018

This movie should not exist anymore! He ruined everything in Dragon Ball franchise. I thought that Home Alone 4 or any kind of abomination are the worst movies, but this crap beats all of them.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

playa2186

Oct 20, 2017

This movie is trash!!!!!! How can you give this movie anything higher than a 3 if it didn't follow any of the dragonball source material. Stop lying to the people about how great this piece of **** movie is and tell them the goddamn truth, it SUCKED ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

dijavantewow

Oct 17, 2010

Loved the cartoon and used to race home to see it on Cartoon Network some 10 years ago, but this is a travesty. It's so dumb and sad to see this movie made this way. Thanks for trying to kill it.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

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37	#37 Most Discussed Movie of 2009
31	#31 Most Shared Movie of 2009