I believe in constructive criticism. As much as I wish I could just say Dragonball Evolution sucks and leave it at that, I’m going to do some analysis. I was introduced to Dragonball Z by my sister’s boyfriend (now husband) over 15 years ago so I do know a bit about the property, though not as much as he does.

The writing, acting, casting, and characterizations were bad. Admittedly, it’s difficult to adapt the manga directly since Dragonball starts with Goku as a kid and there is a lot of storyline that happens before he gets to an adult but the filmmakers didn’t get several of the things that made Dragonball popular. The fighting. Aimed mainly at adolescent boys, the inhumanly wild fighting was a huge factor in Dragonball’s success and they didn’t come close to replicating it. The characterization. Goku wasn’t the smartest guy but he was good-natured and optimistic as hell. In the film, they tried to protray him as a geeky underdog who needed to overcome his lack of confidence. Totally out of character. There’s been a good deal of discussion on whether the lead should have been cast as Asian (as well as on the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender film). Since I’ve only seen the anime in Japanese or Cantonese, I’ve always assumed that he was Asian.

A couple special notes about the writing. No good can come from a film that uses the words, “There are no rules.” Also, at one point, Goku mistakenly knocks out Chichi and the next time they meet, they kiss. As a result some impressionable kids may feel that it’s okay for guys to hit girls and if they do, there’s a chance you might get a kiss. Moral fail.

When I watch movies, especially ones based on properties that I like, I always see ways to improve it and what I would do differently. While I was watching it today, I sketched out an idea of how I might have gone about it. I would have gone a bit steampunk. Oh, and they didn’t have any cloud surfing. WTF!?