A Rare Night Out - An Enjoyable One at That
Two weeks after it was released in America, i've finally seen Dragonball:Evolution.
Hm. Where to begin, really.
I've been following the whole "drama" that is and surrounds this movie - at least since December/January. For the past couple months i've been watching the anime - being that the movie takes place at the end of the DB time period - and since I had never actually watched more than maybe 20-30 episodes of it (if that), figured I might as well. (although, naturally I know the most estential aspects needed to know for particuar events in DBZ)
I had wanted to finish it before the movie came out in America (April 10th) - and at the latest before I actually saw the movie; well, I still have about 20 episodes left - but I got through the saga that the movie takes its cue's from - which is the King Piccolo Saga.
So About the movie:
The main thing is to really go into the movie with the thought in mind that you need to very much separate it from its source material. As Justin Chatwin has said - "It's not Dragonball and it's not Dragonball Z - it's Dragonball: Evolution".
And that is the key to seeing the movie for what it was, and how it should be judged - as since it's an adaptation there are always going to be two ways to judge this type of movie.
Now, I was a film major, so I know and very well understand that adaptations from anything into film always require changes - it's like translations - some things are bound to be lost in translation. When you try to cross the borders of different mediums, one thing that works for one will not work for the other.
Unfortunatly though, there were a lot of changes that were really rather pointless and stupid. There were some changes, however, that I was kinda disapointed at, but ultimately had to realize that while in an animated thing it works beautifully, in a film it just.... no.
So, With that in mind, If I were to rate the movie, actually, this is rather difficult. I'd give it either a B- or a C+.
The biggest problem I had with this movie was that it was HORRENDOUSLY RUSHED. It really, really harmed it badly; it truly is one of the biggest stabs to the movie. And then, to hear that, after all of the production was said and done, it was still cut down (meaning that there are finished scenes that were supposed to be there in some other rough edit or other country release but ended up not in the final, final edit). The other big stab was that there was just not enough crazy fighting.
Now, the movie is not DBZ, but even DB had its share of some awesome fights, particularly towards the end of the series (Pretty much from Ten Shin Han (Tien) on through the end). While the focus ( of the movie) was on the Goku before DBZ, people know DBZ for it's crazy fighting, so while the fights didn't have to be that crazy, they could had used some more umph.
Some people will go on about how corny some of the dialogue is - well, DB is full of that shit. Even DBZ has its good share of it (in both languages) so, for me I think it fit in a lot. Another positive is that, if you really pay attention, there are a good number of (small) homages to the anime - some of which are rather humerious.
For instance, we know Roshi lives on a small island in the middle of the ocean in nowhere - well, his dwelling in the movie plays with that idea, and makes it just as random. Also with Roshi, the pervert aspects where there - dumbed down a lot as it is a PG movie, but still there. (Young-Fat did awesome with Roshi). There's even an amusing pun on the name Dragonball:Evolution - when Bulma is talking about the dragon radar to Goku - and I can't remember exactly how it goes - but she ends up calling it a "DBE", and then says how she thinks it could be catchy. (or something to that effect). Also, probably the biggest homage to the anime was the ending of the fight between Goku and Piccolo, which was pretty much right on the ball. It had a good share of humor, and I actually liked what they did effects-wise. I know people wanted it to be a lot more grander - but most of the crazy stuff most people are used to are, again, from DBZ - so the more amzing shit would be too early in this movie They actually used a new technology, which, is very cool, but was a little underused - and definitely not quite used to the degree that it could had been used.
Other things that rather contributed to the film being bad - are things that are more fan oriented - the biggest being some of the character personality changes. And really, it was only a problem with Goku and Yamcha.
As for Goku: He was way to unsure of himself.
Goku's character is known for being oblivious to normal everyday things; happy go lucky and not one to really let things get to him - unless you start killing off his friends. I suppose they had to bring him a little bit down from that but - it deviates a little too much. Yet, they did keep most of the spirit of the character around in one way or another (some are more creative than others). So, it's a weird give and take, but they still fucked a little too much with the character.
The biggest fuck-up though was Yamcha.
What the hell - surfer dude a-la early Keanu Reeves style, is what Yamcha was in this movie. There are some flavors of Yamcha in there somewhere - but really, wow they not only messed him up personality wise (I actually didn't have a probelem with his look), but rather under used them as well. Yamcha is a fighter, he could had did...... well more than he sorta did.
I'm curious about ChiChi, since I have yet to see the ChiChi right before DBZ time so, i'm not sure how much ChiChi was changed - but from what i've read, it wasn't that huge of a deviation. Mai was a pretty big deviation in most ways - but it was a cool deviation. Bulma, she's slightly too bad-ass, but really, it's not a change that's a big deal. Rather, hers was also a cool deviation.
There was one character that was in the movie that I've never heard of before and thus i'm not sure if he was just a movie character or was actually in the anime. no big deal though.
Let's see, other than some humorious pronounciation (Go-HAN instead of Go-HON, for example), and an interesting use of the KaMeHaMeHa - all the other small changes wern't that big of a deal, or I just don't have a firm stance for or against (mainly the highschool aspect - thought the 'throw down" at the party was amusing to watch).
To wrapp it up - It's not a great movie; even though it was rushed to all hell (I don't think i've ever seen a movie run so fast) and all the other things i've sighted about it that were either bad, unnecessary (and I know there are things that i'll remember later that i've not mentioned here) and/or stupid -
I was still, in the end, entertained.
PS - The music fucking rocked. Absolutly loved the soundtrack. "Rule", the theme song, is quite good too. I need to find that song to download - and hopefully the soundtrack as well.
PS:2 - when the fuck did going to the movies get so fucking expensive! Food is crazy expensive! (I didnt pay for that part, which is nice).
Hm. Where to begin, really.
I've been following the whole "drama" that is and surrounds this movie - at least since December/January. For the past couple months i've been watching the anime - being that the movie takes place at the end of the DB time period - and since I had never actually watched more than maybe 20-30 episodes of it (if that), figured I might as well. (although, naturally I know the most estential aspects needed to know for particuar events in DBZ)
I had wanted to finish it before the movie came out in America (April 10th) - and at the latest before I actually saw the movie; well, I still have about 20 episodes left - but I got through the saga that the movie takes its cue's from - which is the King Piccolo Saga.
So About the movie:
The main thing is to really go into the movie with the thought in mind that you need to very much separate it from its source material. As Justin Chatwin has said - "It's not Dragonball and it's not Dragonball Z - it's Dragonball: Evolution".
And that is the key to seeing the movie for what it was, and how it should be judged - as since it's an adaptation there are always going to be two ways to judge this type of movie.
Now, I was a film major, so I know and very well understand that adaptations from anything into film always require changes - it's like translations - some things are bound to be lost in translation. When you try to cross the borders of different mediums, one thing that works for one will not work for the other.
Unfortunatly though, there were a lot of changes that were really rather pointless and stupid. There were some changes, however, that I was kinda disapointed at, but ultimately had to realize that while in an animated thing it works beautifully, in a film it just.... no.
So, With that in mind, If I were to rate the movie, actually, this is rather difficult. I'd give it either a B- or a C+.
The biggest problem I had with this movie was that it was HORRENDOUSLY RUSHED. It really, really harmed it badly; it truly is one of the biggest stabs to the movie. And then, to hear that, after all of the production was said and done, it was still cut down (meaning that there are finished scenes that were supposed to be there in some other rough edit or other country release but ended up not in the final, final edit). The other big stab was that there was just not enough crazy fighting.
Now, the movie is not DBZ, but even DB had its share of some awesome fights, particularly towards the end of the series (Pretty much from Ten Shin Han (Tien) on through the end). While the focus ( of the movie) was on the Goku before DBZ, people know DBZ for it's crazy fighting, so while the fights didn't have to be that crazy, they could had used some more umph.
Some people will go on about how corny some of the dialogue is - well, DB is full of that shit. Even DBZ has its good share of it (in both languages) so, for me I think it fit in a lot. Another positive is that, if you really pay attention, there are a good number of (small) homages to the anime - some of which are rather humerious.
For instance, we know Roshi lives on a small island in the middle of the ocean in nowhere - well, his dwelling in the movie plays with that idea, and makes it just as random. Also with Roshi, the pervert aspects where there - dumbed down a lot as it is a PG movie, but still there. (Young-Fat did awesome with Roshi). There's even an amusing pun on the name Dragonball:Evolution - when Bulma is talking about the dragon radar to Goku - and I can't remember exactly how it goes - but she ends up calling it a "DBE", and then says how she thinks it could be catchy. (or something to that effect). Also, probably the biggest homage to the anime was the ending of the fight between Goku and Piccolo, which was pretty much right on the ball. It had a good share of humor, and I actually liked what they did effects-wise. I know people wanted it to be a lot more grander - but most of the crazy stuff most people are used to are, again, from DBZ - so the more amzing shit would be too early in this movie They actually used a new technology, which, is very cool, but was a little underused - and definitely not quite used to the degree that it could had been used.
Other things that rather contributed to the film being bad - are things that are more fan oriented - the biggest being some of the character personality changes. And really, it was only a problem with Goku and Yamcha.
As for Goku: He was way to unsure of himself.
Goku's character is known for being oblivious to normal everyday things; happy go lucky and not one to really let things get to him - unless you start killing off his friends. I suppose they had to bring him a little bit down from that but - it deviates a little too much. Yet, they did keep most of the spirit of the character around in one way or another (some are more creative than others). So, it's a weird give and take, but they still fucked a little too much with the character.
The biggest fuck-up though was Yamcha.
What the hell - surfer dude a-la early Keanu Reeves style, is what Yamcha was in this movie. There are some flavors of Yamcha in there somewhere - but really, wow they not only messed him up personality wise (I actually didn't have a probelem with his look), but rather under used them as well. Yamcha is a fighter, he could had did...... well more than he sorta did.
I'm curious about ChiChi, since I have yet to see the ChiChi right before DBZ time so, i'm not sure how much ChiChi was changed - but from what i've read, it wasn't that huge of a deviation. Mai was a pretty big deviation in most ways - but it was a cool deviation. Bulma, she's slightly too bad-ass, but really, it's not a change that's a big deal. Rather, hers was also a cool deviation.
There was one character that was in the movie that I've never heard of before and thus i'm not sure if he was just a movie character or was actually in the anime. no big deal though.
Let's see, other than some humorious pronounciation (Go-HAN instead of Go-HON, for example), and an interesting use of the KaMeHaMeHa - all the other small changes wern't that big of a deal, or I just don't have a firm stance for or against (mainly the highschool aspect - thought the 'throw down" at the party was amusing to watch).
To wrapp it up - It's not a great movie; even though it was rushed to all hell (I don't think i've ever seen a movie run so fast) and all the other things i've sighted about it that were either bad, unnecessary (and I know there are things that i'll remember later that i've not mentioned here) and/or stupid -
I was still, in the end, entertained.
PS - The music fucking rocked. Absolutly loved the soundtrack. "Rule", the theme song, is quite good too. I need to find that song to download - and hopefully the soundtrack as well.
PS:2 - when the fuck did going to the movies get so fucking expensive! Food is crazy expensive! (I didnt pay for that part, which is nice).