10 Ways Dragonball Evolution Was Almost A Great Movie

10 Ways Dragonball: Evolution Was Almost A Great Movie

Although Dragonball: Evolution was hated by many Dragon Ball fans, there were some redeeming aspects to the movie.

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For Dragon Ball fans, Dragonball: Evolution has continually marred the franchise since its release back in 2009. To these fans, the movie blatantly disrespected the Dragon Ball franchise. Plagued with a low budget and a white-washed Goku, among other issues, the movie was destined to fail from the beginning—and fail it did.

Although the movie was and is hated by nearly all Dragon Ball fans, there were some redeeming aspects of the movie that, if elaborated on, could have made Dragonball: Evolution a somewhat descent live-action movie based on the anime and manga.

10 The movie tries to capture a sense of adventure

The crux of any good anime, movie, comic, etc., is a sense of adventure. Goku is a hero that likes to venture out into the unknown, facing new unprecedented challenges, getting stronger and wiser with each encounter. The movie, to an extent, does successfully capture this aspect of the character and of the franchise.

The problem, however, was that the adventure and fun were too convoluted and bogged down by inaccuracies and errors for fans to truly enjoy. If a little more effort was dedicated to flushing out the story to focus more on Goku’s journey and adventures, then Dragonball: Evolution would have been a much better movie.

9 Some members of the cast researched the anime & manga, so they had a good understanding of the franchise

Dragonball: Evolution was ridiculously inaccurate. Given how much effort was dedicated to researching the anime and manga, the movie had no excuse to be as inaccurate and deviant as it was. Emmy Rossum, who played Bulma, watched the anime and read the manga in preparation for her role. Likewise, Justin Chatwin, who played Goku, read the entire manga in addition to “The Journey to the West.”

Stephen Chow, the producer for the film, was also evidently a huge fan of the franchise. In the end, it was such a shame that the movie chose not to utilize their research, instead opting for an original story that was much worse than the original source material.

8 The film chose to focus on Chi-Chi’s martial arts background

Chi-Chi is an interesting character, to say the least. In Dragon Ball Z, she was the stereotypical helicopter parent to Goten and Gohan. She also gave Goku a run for his money, as she constantly nagged him, much to his and the audience’s annoyance. In the earlier days of Dragon Ball, however, she also was a fighter.

Audiences don’t get to see much of her fighting skills in the anime, so it was nice that the film explored this lesser-known aspect of her. Though Chi-Chi in the film is quite different from her anime counterpart, choosing to focus on this area of her background added a bit more depth to the character. In a sense, the film did make the character a bit more likable.

7 Dragonball: Evolution tried to explore Goku’s roots

Although horribly done, the movie did try to explore Goku’s Saiyan roots. If done with a bit more precision, accuracy, and care, this would have been a highlight of Evolution. The point of the Great Ape transformation was to show that Goku had this inert alien power at his disposal. In other words, Goku is strong and has a lot of potential to become a great fighter.

The movie does capture this; Goku is shown to be a gifted fighter and he partially transforms into the Great Ape, thereby indirectly confirming his Saiyan roots. Unfortunately, the movie jumbles this up, most prominently by not including the iconic Saiyan tail on Goku. Without this, exploring Goku’s story was a forgone conclusion from the very beginning.

6 The film incorporated story elements from various arcs from Dragon Ball

The Dragon Ball series alone spans across 9 different sagas contained in 3 separate arcs. Thus, choosing which stories to adapt is not an easy task. Evolution doesn’t do a terrible job at picking and choosing which story elements to adapt to live-action. It was not great but could have been worse.

The story is loosely based on a combination of the “Emperor Pilaf Saga,” the “Tournament Saga,” and the “King Piccolo Saga.” Though the sagas were designed to be chronological, it isn’t that strange to combine elements from these three sagas in particular to tell a new and possibly more comprehensive story. The foundation of much of the Dragon Ball universe lies within these sagas. If a little more time was spent dissecting and analyzing these sagas, the story wouldn’t have been so convoluted.

5 Goku was a bit older & more competent than his anime counterpart

The film focused on an older Goku, a contrast to the anime which followed his adolescent adventures. Though having a younger Goku would have been nice, it just wouldn’t have made sense with the tone of the film. Evolution was aiming for a more action/martial arts feel, so a young and incompetent Goku wouldn’t fit.

Goku wasn’t sheltered and he knew about the outside world. It was almost like seeing the DBZ version of Goku in Dragon Ball. The idea had a lot of potential but was poorly executed.

4 James Marsters had a role in shaping how Lord Piccolo looked

Lord Piccolo, the film’s main antagonist, would have looked much worse if not for Marsters’ intervention. The producers wanted to completely change the character, making him look more beautiful and human. Marsters wanted to keep to a more faithful adaptation of the character; in turn, he told his makeup artist to change the look of the character, behind the director and production crew’s backs.

Thanks to Marsters, Piccolo’s face more closely resembled his anime counterpart. Piccolo was a bit uglier and had notable wrinkle lines on his head.

3 Some of the costumes weren’t that bad

The film is rather inconsistent with the costumes. Some of the characters’ costumes were absolutely horrid, like Yamcha’s and Chi-Chi’s. Others actually weren’t that bad. Bulma was dressed in leather and looked like an adventurous spy, reminiscent of some of her earlier attire from Dragon Ball. Grandpa Gohan didn’t look exactly like his anime counterpart but he was wearing a vest, like in the original anime.

The film also did a good job with Roshi and he had the iconic Hawaiian shirt. Goku also had the notable orange Gi. The costumes could have been better, but some character costumes were pretty spot on, at least as much as they could be in a live-action.

2 Grandpa Gohan & Goku’s relationship was similar to how it was in the anime

Grandpa Gohan in the anime was Goku’s only family member, and really his only friend up until his death. The connection between the characters is deep and meaningful, easily one of the best things about the original Dragon Ball anime. They love each other and Gohan taught Goku how to be a noble warrior and good person. The connection can still be seen in the movie, for the most part.

With the changes, Goku is seemingly a high school loser. He can’t fit in and he doesn’t really have anyone except his grandfather. Goku trusts his grandfather and it’s obvious that he would do anything to get his grandfather back. It was great that the film chose to include this vital element from the anime.

1 Star-studded cast, for the most part

Putting the whitewashing aside for just a minute, Evolution had a star-studded cast. Emmy Rossum was and is still a great actress and did the best she could as Bulma.

Chow Yun-fat, Master Roshi in the film, is a notable martial arts actor who has starred in countless Chinese action films. Jamie Chung who played Chi-Chi was an up-and-coming actress during that time, eventually landing bigger and better gigs later in her career. Joon Park, Yamcha in the film, was a notable South Korean celebrity and singer from the boyband g.o.d. Evolution featured so many great actors and celebrities that it was a shame that the movie ended up being as bad as it was.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/dragon-ball-evolution-flaws-weaknesses/

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