Dragonball: Evolution (2009) on Netflix
PG20091h 25mActionAdventureFantasy
Goku receives a four-star Dragonball from his Grandpa Gohan. When the demon King Piccolo comes searching for it, Goku sets out to find Master Roshi and the other Dragonballs.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb2.5/1085,517 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes14%
Trailer
Plot summary
Long ago, the Namekian Demon King Piccolo came to Earth and laid waste to it, until seven mystics bound him with an enchantment called the Mafuba. He breaks free in the present day and, with his henchwoman Mai, hunts the seven Dragonballs, which grant their holder one wish. Goku, a martial arts student in his last year of high school, celebrates his eighteenth birthday and receives the four-star Dragonball from his Grandpa Gohan. Returning from a party thrown by Chi-Chi, he finds his home wrecked and Piccolo searching the ruins. Gohan's dying request sends him to the martial arts guru Master Roshi, who holds another Dragonball. On the way, Goku meets Bulma, whose Capsule Corporation device tracks the orbs, and he trades his protection for help finding Roshi.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dragonball: Evolution (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- At the 2014 Wizard World Convention, James Marsters said he was told it was a $120 million picture with Stephen Chow producing, then found in Durango, Mexico that it was a $30 million picture; refused a stuntman, he was put on wires and still has a separated clavicle.
- In 2016 writer Ben Ramsey apologized for the film, saying he went into the project chasing a big payday as a businessman rather than a fan, and that a creative endeavour without passion gives sub-optimal results and sometimes flat-out garbage.
- The first time Marsters' make-up was applied it took seventeen hours and left him with difficulty breathing, and in later applications it generally took only four hours.
- Toriyama said the script did not "capture the world or the characteristics" of his series and was bland, and that the Hollywood producers ignored his suggested changes; in 2016 he wrote that seeing how much the film ticked him off drew him back to Dragon Ball.
- Jackie Chan expressed interest in adapting Dragon Ball in 1995, and Akira Toriyama later said nobody came to mind for Goku, but that back when Jackie Chan was still young he would have thought nobody could play Goku but him.
- Since its release the film has been considered among the worst ever made, and it was the lowest-rated film on IMDb for over ten years.
- Marsters, who played King Piccolo, had signed on for three films and wanted as many as seven, with a planned arc merging Piccolo and his son Piccolo Jr. into one character, but the film's poor performance caused every planned sequel to be canceled.
