I feel like this movie was already hated before the posters were even made! It was definitely better than the Chinese 80s version (although I will say that version is quite entertaining in its goofiness). Those who saw it after it came out were expecting a direct copy of the dragonball cartoon or dragonballZ and when they didnt get it, they hated it.

I look at the movie in a different light. First of all, I think it stays true to the style of Dragonball, not DBZ. There's a lot of cartoony goof and comedy, theres a lot more hand to hand combat than energy sequences and there's no flying. But beyond that, I think it was a pretty decently done way of taking the original storyline and making it understandable to the masses and those who don't necessarily know anything about dragonball. And personally, I liked the special effects for the budget they used.

I'm definitely NOT saying this is the best movie ever but, I do think it got a lot of crap that it didn't deserve. Personally, I enjoyed the movie as its own entity and I think that's how you should watch a movie.

This is like the fans who bash the xmen movies because they stray from the comic... if I wanted to see the comic, I would just read it! I haven't heard anyone bashing the batman movies. It's the exact same thing to me, only with a higher budget. But it's an original take on the traditional story (Ironically, the dragonball manga/cartoon were an original take on a traditional story as well, 'Journey to the West').

Maybe I'm just not a super anime nerd (no offense!) enough to get why it's a big deal but, I will be seeing the sequal, a DBZ movie, when it is released for home viewing. I can't say if i'll like it but I will be going in with the same mindset.

Could you please give us a link about this movie? I'd really like to watch even a trailer of it.

It felt too much like an episode of Dawsons Creek and less of a chapter of Dragon Ball.

I agree it took more heat before it even came out than it deserved...

but it did not live up to the expectations of the fans. And why would it? Hollywood got it's hands on this movie. It should have been left in Japan and not touched by some stupid director who didn't seem to understand the story at all....

I agree the movie wasn't 5* stars but it wasn't horrible either. I've seen plenty of worse cartoon based movies.

I have never seen it so I really cant say anything about it but when I watched the trailer it looked very cheesy IMO.

i do say it wasnt so bad i only saw a little bit of the movie

I think it did get bashed before it even came out. But it also got bashed once it was out.
And I think it was fair enough. It was just an extremely cheesy terrible version of DBZ. I really didn't like it.

noelia : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4t8PeqJ6E Here's a link to the 2 minute trailer. http://watchxonline.com/media/2760-dragon-ball-evolution.php Here's a link to the actual movie!

cob : The 2nd link isn't working, but don't worry
I've just watched the trailer, and it seems to be really cool
I think I'll give it a try.
Thanks for the link

cob : i have too say that the moivie was pretty bad. i have seen just about every single Dragonball, Z, and GT epidsodes and the movie was nothing like the origianl Dragonball, plus the movie had some things that were absoulutely incorrect form the anime show. But well thats hollywood for you, usually dont get anything right.
but hey this is my opinion, some people may have liked the movie, i didnt just becuase hollywood doesnt get there stuff right.

crono2787 : Right, dude, and that's kind of my point. People are looking for it to be dead on with the original. I don't know about you but some people are extreme about it and I've heard "This isn't how the King Piccolo saga happened!" as a reason to hate it. What I'm saying is from a hollywood movies standpoint and not a Dragonball fan standpoint(I am a fan by the way), it's not a terrible movie.

The reason I thought it was bad is because they made this movie to appeal to the Dragonball fans and made so many things differ from the actual Dragonball story line that they could have just changed the names of the characters completely and no one would even know it was supposed to be a Dragonball movie. The story would've worked had they flat out done an original movie, not tried to say that it was anything remotely Dragonball.

Kerubi : I disagree. I'm not so sure they were trying to appeal to the fans. I think the fans are the only ones who felt any hype though since they were all familiar with the series. You make a good point though. I think it might have been effective to make it into an alternate storyline directly linked to the series, similar to the history of trunks.

For example, if the movie had kept the Piccolo plot fairly close to what it was in the movie but, with character connections already established. The biggest cause of cheesiness, in my mind, was that the characters who had been well established friends by that point in the series had to meet each other and develop that bond instantly. Always cheesy.

I have to say that it was not good. I really just did not like it, it felt nothing like dragon ball at all! I was quite disappointed when I saw it.

I haven't seen it, but from the looks of the trailer, it doen't look like the show at all.

I did not think the movie was that close to the anime. But i still enjoyed the movie for what it was. Anything that is made into a movie is usually not as good as the original. They could have stayed a little closer to the storyline of the anime. But i think that overall the movie held that dragonball feel. They are making a second one, where goku is going to fight, and then befriend piccilo i believe. And for those who have seen the movie. If you have the DIVX player here is a link to the movie- http://www.mrbrownee70.com/?id=32W61U89J

For me it´s the worst movie that has been made so far in the history of film-making.

What is the most important aspect for me in any movie or game is the story, and in Not-DB-Evolution they took the story, spit on it, scrambled it together and glued it together with poo.

Really no matter who you are you can not take a story or even a song and mess it up and proclaim it better, not even that it´s a different version. The movie should have had a different title more fitting to the slim emo flat haired techno angst Goku (at least compared to the manga/anime) and the violent and way too old Bulma and the *ucked up storyline that is so broken in so many ways I can´t mention all the different pieces without turning this into the longest post on Vizzed.

I always get as angry at that movie when I think of it just like every time I think about Basshunter I get pissed at him for ruining Ieva´s polka for so many that don´t even know there is an original version, in the same way James Wong has destroyed any notion of DB being half decent for many people.

This is my view of the movie.

What I wanted when I first heard of a DB movie was a movie that stuck true to the original story and setting, but only added never before told story in between, it could be a story that happens at any time in the time-line where Goku doesn´t play any role as he´s out on a trip or something like that. It could also have picked up where GT left telling us more about the story of the children of Dragonball, heck it could even have been about going into more detail the fight Trunks had with the Androids in his real time before he used the time machine or maybe about Goku´s father, Gohan and his adventures. Just anything that staid true with the story but didn´t crash it into a million pieces.

actually i've never been a fan of the dragon ball seires but the movie was actually pretty good it had a good story line good fight scenes and excellent graphics

I didnt think it was as horrible as everyone said. Its like The Last Airbender everyone practially hated it because it did not follow the show (went through the 1st season in the movie) and that it didnt have enough "cultural tradition" in it. Overall i liked the dragonball movie it was not bad but not great.