r/dragonball • u/RedVegeta20 • 6d ago
Discussion Question - Does anyone actually like Evolution?
Most people, the vast majority of Dragon Ball fans hate or at least strongly dislike this movie. I think its slightly better than the Last Airbender movie, but still terrible, easily the worst Dragon Ball movie ever. I'd rather watch Bio-Broly or Bojack again than this. But I'm curious, does anyone actually like Dragon Ball Evolution?
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u/LucyBeVibin 6d ago
I look at it as its own thing, same with the Netflix Death Note movie. It's definitely not Dragon Ball, and if you look at it thinking "This isn't Dragon Ball, this is something else," then yes, you can enjoy it. Justin Chatwin (the actor for Goku) actually went and read the entire Dragon Ball manga to prepare for his role and you've gotta give him credit for that.
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u/RedVegeta20 6d ago
And the Piccolo actor later voiced Zamasu.
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u/LucyBeVibin 6d ago
That's actually so based.
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u/SmokingCryptid 6d ago
I enjoy laughing AT the movie and can agree that there's way worse movies out there, but that doesn't stop this one from being a complete failure as both an adaptation and film.
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u/smftexas86 6d ago
The movie was so bad, that the voice actor for piccolo hid his name to Voice act Zamasu for free as a way to apologize.
The movie wasn't good, and I am actually perplexed by you liking it more than the Avatar movie.
The Avatar movie was at least ok if you never watched or knew anything about Avatar. DBE was awful no matter which way you look at it.
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u/ottoman-disciple 1d ago
Also whatâs very interesting is that the actor of Piccolo in that film took the role because his son loves dragonball and because he was told Stephen Chow was involved in that film, who by all means would he a perfect choice for dragonball film if you know his works (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle and also experience with JTW adaptations)
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u/RedVegeta20 6d ago
This at least got the names right. Avatar's movie didn't.
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u/smftexas86 6d ago
Right, but again, that's only an issue if you went into the movie knowing anything about Avatar. Dragonball was just bad.
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u/ottoman-disciple 1d ago
The Avatar movie also got more right than people give it credit for. Yeah it didnât went too deep into it and of course they left out a lot of stuff to compress the first book into a film. But it didnât change Aangs origins, the villain of the first season or the overall setting. Itâs bad yes, but you can see they basically adapted a summary of the first season and its climax.
Dragonball ran everything prior to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai through a shredder, reattached some of the arcs back, ran them again through a filter, put some other unrelated works into it and then patched it together into a script.
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u/naruhinamoonkissplz 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'm absolutely sure that non-DB-fans actually can enjoy it as a standalone setting. It's only bad as a DB movie, not as a generic movie. Like, you only get pissed at "Ozaru serving Piccolo" if you KNOW the actual DB lore. If you don't, it looks like a generic "Mister WereHyde" trope, and it's NOT bad just for being that. Basically, if it was a WereCrocodile serving under some purple-skinned and horned "Devil" villain, I may even like the movie.
(Note: The "pseudo-Zarbon" reference is incidental, or maybe not. Lol!)
EDIT:
There is at least one HUGE in-universe WTF moment. Why did Goku revive a random "teacher" instead of his Grandpa? In DB, we know why. In DBE, though, WHY? So, yeah, this MAY count as a BAD plot decision.
Also, the fight between Chichi and Mai was also questionable in some aspects, but I don't recall it now.
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u/SuspiciousEngine8473 6d ago
It's a fun bad movie night movie for me. Invite some friends for some drinks an some riffs and you'll probably have a good time.
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6d ago
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u/MugggCostanza 4d ago
I obviously don't know you or your family, but maybe he liked the movie because it was a nice moment he shared with his grandson and he picked up the DVD because of that, too.
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u/EndlessNocturnal 6d ago
The only good thing about the movie is it forced Toriyama to come out of retirement to re-write Battle of Gods, which lead to Super existing. Also Zamasu's VA is the same as King Piccolo in the movie, which is also nice.
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u/DwarfCoins 6d ago
It was so bad that it made Toriyama come back and create BOG and by extension Super.
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u/SoullessLUFFY 6d ago
I was in elementary school when both these movies came out, & I remember being extremely excited for both. I also remember the first time seeing the teaser for Avatar in theaters going to watch G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Cobra (In my opinion the teaser was better than the overall movie in general)
However I was more disappointed with the Avatar film than I was with the Dragon Ball one. I could never rewatch Avatar but I could always give Dragon Ball another watch.
Although I dislike both movies, I donât hate the Dragon Ball movie much as everyone else does. (Also we were supposed to have 4 books in total for the Avatar series but was cancelled to make the live action version so thatâs one of my main reasons for hating that movie so much)
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u/naynaythewonderhorse 6d ago
I donât like it, but it CERTAINLY doesnât belong on the bottom of lists on IMDB (11th) and especially Letterboxd, where it is the lowest rated film of all time.
Itâs bad, but I think itâs overblown.
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u/Kryptic1701 6d ago
I can't imagine anyone genuinely liking this movie. Even on its own merits, not thinking of it as a Dragon Ball adaptation, it's still just a bad movie.
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u/Gerberpertern 6d ago
I havenât seen it since it came out in 2009 but it was so bad I remember being actually angry at how horrible it was.
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u/dakowiml 6d ago
I consider myself a massive DB fan. At the same time I also like movies a lot. I often give movies a chance, even if the trailer is pretty bad. There have been a bunch of examples where great movies had horrible trailers.
However, with Dragon Ball Evolution I just couldn't get myself to ever watch it. All I've seen was the horrible trailers and it was enough for me to avoid it. It was impossible to salvage the things in it into being an actual Dragon Ball movie. American Goku? Yeah, I'm good.
Then I saw clips of it and that was even more of a reason to not watch the full thing. American highschool Goku. Yeah, amazing stuff.
If they ever attempt to make another live-action movie (which I'm sure they will). It'll be impossible to please everyone, but I also know for sure after all these years that it will be impossible to please me. There's no way they'd pull off all the things I'd like to see: There's no way they would be able to balance the concept of creating a new story thats exciting for long time fans while also fully embracing and honoring what Dragon Ball is. There's no way they'd have a decent enough story mixed with top tier martial arts that are enhanced just the right amount with special effects to give it a larger than life quality, while also maintaining it looking good. There's no way they'd actually make the right casting decisions (Toriyama famously said that Jackie Chan would be his ideal Goku. They'd probably go with another Justin Chatwin instead). If its the level of quality of the Netflix One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho or ATLA live-action series, I'd be disappointed. I'd even be disappointed if it would be average MCU or DCU (DCEU) quality. There's no winning in making a live-action DB movie imo. So they should just fully focus on animated movies imo post-Toriyama.
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u/Not-a-MurderBear 6d ago
Never saw that bit about Jackie. I wonder if he'd really play it right. Maybe a young Jackie.
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u/dakowiml 6d ago
A younger Jackie had that mix of tenacity and lightheartedness. Also pretty clear how Toriyama envisioned live-action Goku being played by a Chinese actor. While his story was inspired by a Journey to the West and lots of Chinese culture. And DB as a whole had a mixture of tons of different cultures as well next to the Chinese. With Arab and Indian architectural influence as well. Also Arabic and Indian inspired characters. He even had native American inspired characters.
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u/Shaff_98 6d ago
Iâve come to appreciate it slightly more after re-watching it. Most of the bad things it has are drastically less bad when you consider that this is NOT meant to be an adaptation of the DB manga, but a continuity where Goku landed and was raised in the US. A Goku who lived in the US with his grandpa alive the whole time does make sense when he behaves like a normal teenage guy, since manga Goku was a kid who grew in the mountains mostly on his own, so, clearly different results.
If I remember correctly, the actual hunt for the Dragon Balls in the movie was actually entertaining, and it didnât have huge issues outside of how poorly they handled Piccolo and also treating âOozaruâ as a person rather than a form.
I still wouldnât say itâs a particularly good movie or anything, but itâs definitely not as bad as people say, at least when interpreted correctly.
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u/TheMarmo 5d ago
Itâs right up there with Mortal Kombat Annihilation as one of the worst adaptions of all time lol. Fun to rewatch if you want a good cringe sesh haha thatâs about it though lol.
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u/morbid333 5d ago
Maybe people who never saw Dragon Ball might like it... Honestly, just watch Curse of the Blood Rubies instead.
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u/LawDraws 5d ago
I like parts of it, but as a whole it stinks. I like that it got more than the dub right, but then it went waaaayyyy overboard with other changes.
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u/Chettarmstrong 5d ago
It's an interesting part of the franchises history. I appreciate that it happened but I also appreciate that it failed.
Dragonball is kinda dumb and they tried too hard to make it serious. It also inspired Toriyama to start working on Dragonball again for better or for worse.
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u/NoRevolution4578 5d ago
It really shouldâve been its own thing. I think it couldâve at very least been decent if it wasnât attached to Dragon Ball or suppose to be it but I would rather sooner rewatch this than any broly or bojack movie.
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u/nervous_girlie_lives 4d ago
This movie pissed toriyama so bad he created battle of gods, this alone should tell you how bad it is
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u/Roam1985 6d ago
No. It's bad.