Dragon Ball Evolution

*Warning Spoiler Alert*

I never thought I would be writing about DBZ again, but here I am. I recently saw the DBZ Evolutions movie after my friend was telling me that it really isn't that bad. I'll admit I was skeptical, though I was a huge fan when it first came out, but the DBZ mania diea aroud 2004, when I was a sophmore in college. So I figured the movie came out way to late, even though they were discussing it in 2002, when it was still a big success on Cartoon Networks, Toonami.
The Dragon Ball Z movie came out in April 2009, and was in theatres for about 2 weeks and made only 2 million. Despite not doing well in America, DBZE had very positive critiques in Asia. Many Asians enjoyed seeing Chow Yung Fat act in a goofy over the top way rather than the always serious lone fighter.
TO my surprise, the movie wasn't bad at all, and stayed true to most of the cartoon it had Goku, Yamcha, Chichi, Bulma, Master Roshi, and Piccolo. All the actors really had a good grip on their characters, and there was no bad acting throughout the movie. Goku wasn't even as stupid as he usually was, there was a particular scene where he made a bridge over a pool of lava to get one of the dragonballs( he threw these Siabmen into the lava and jumped onto them). Master Roshi commented on his intelligence, and even smiled at the sight of it. Very different than the original. Piccolo, though he wasn't in it that much was still as evil as ever. The few moments we did see him he was only concerned about finding the dragonballs or stopping the heros from getting any farther. They didn't really dwell on him too much, but when he was screne, all attention wsa on him. Piccolo was played by James Marsters, who some of you might remember as Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel shows. Marster was a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z when it was big and when he was offered the role he jumped at the chance to do it.
Chichi, who wasn't a big character in the show got a bigger role in the movie as Goku's love interest and as a surprisingly good martial artist. She even gives Goku some advice and encouragement as he tries to master the Kamahamaha wave. They also had her dress up in some skin tight, sexy clothes, which is a very good reason alone to watch the movie :)
Bulma, the only one that had a flaw. She was armed with two guns and she couldn't hit anyone with them. She always missed. Even Yamcha who only shot a gun once in the movie, made a kill with it. They could have had her at least hit someone in the shoulder or arm, nto a death kill but still.

They had to water down Master Roshi alittle since he's mostly a girl chasing sex fiend. He did still live in a house, but it wasn't an island far away, rather a little island with a land bridge to it from the outskirts of a city. He trained Goku in the Kamahamaha wave, and helped him unlock his true potential by having him carry a heavy bag on his back, and doing a handstand while trying to grab an orange.
Yamcha wasn't really a fighter in the movie, sorry no Wolf Fang Fist. Instead he was a bandit who trapped them in a pit he dug and wanted money to throw down a ladder. Yamcha was played by Joon Park, a Korean pop singer in the band G.O.D.
The fighting was ok, not as much fighting in the air as I would have cared for, but not bad. The special effects were also not over the top, which was something I glad they didn't do. They focused more on the story and developing Goku as a hero. Though they could have made the Dragon alittle better, and ridiculously long like he was in the cartoon.
All in all Dragon Ball Evolution was not a bad movie at all, just too late to the party. If you are a closet DBZ fan, you should deffinately see it, it won't disappoint, and you'll catch up on some things. They do leave room for a sequel, but because of it's poor reception in America I doubt we'll be seeing one, too bad, it could have rejuvenated some of the anime fans that seem to have died when Toonami started to become lame. *cough* not showing all of Kenshin or Yu yu Hakusho "*cough*.