Dragonball Evolution (20th Century Fox)
Kind of a Drag
Dragonball Evolution starts off like The Karate Kid and ends up well it just ends. In between there is a lot of action but it never makes much sense and what sense it does make isnt interesting. In truth the whole movie is kind of a drag and audiences are just living for the final battle. They dont care who wins, they just want to see the end announced.
The plot concerns a young man named Goku (Justin Chatwin). He is in high school and is being raised by his grandfather. One night while he is at party his grandfather is killed by someone seeking a mysterious dragonball. There are seven of these in various locations and if you get all seven you can make a wish and the dragon will grant it.
Goku decides to hunt down all seven. He is assisted in his trip to find them by a warrior girl named Bulma (Emmy Rossum). The two of them search to find Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat), a man Gokus grandfather had said would help him. They find him and he agrees to go with them. Along the way they also add an opportunist named Yamcha (Joon Park).
The person they are going to do battle with over the Dragonball orbs is Lord Piccolo (James Marsters). He has tremendous strength and power. He also knows how to summon a demon warrior.
All of this happens in the movie but it is more confusing than enlightening. You know Piccolo is the bad guy and Goku is the good guy. All the rest is up for grabs. I didnt even really understand what happened when they got the seven orbs together.
It is enjoyable to see Marsters again. He was a favorite from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ernie Hudson of Ghostbusters fame is also in the show. But the biggest surprise is Emmy Rossum. She played the female lead in The Phantom of the Opera. I assume her career is not going very good if she is playing a character named Bulma in a movie like this one.
The movie is rated PG for mild profanity and violence.
This is one action movie that doesnt have the potential to draw a crowd. The acting isnt bad and the special effects arent either but that plot has to go. It is too confusing and too uninteresting.
I scored Dragonball Evolution an unevolved 4 out of 10.
