This weekend I had the chance to check out Dragonball Z Evolution and I wasn’t too enthralled to watch. There is just something about watching characters we love being warped into something new. I pegged this move as a instant bomb and wanted no part of it. However, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check it out.

This film is not for the hardcore dedicated DBZ fan, but if you have an appreciation for different ways stories are interpreted this movie is for you.  It was campy at times, which made moments awkward but, all in all, this movie did what it was suppose to do. It told a great story by using talented actors and awesome special effects. This in no way was a mature rendering of DBZ.

Hollywood did Americanize the DBZ franchise which was unfortunate because we fans already love the original story line. It was pretty uncomfortable to watch Goku attend a California Karate-Kid-movie-high-school and deal with bad 80’s archetype bullies. I understand why they did that, but this movie will always loose points because of that. What makes this movie pleasurable is its innocence and how it is acted. You can tell even though the actors are acting for a youthful audience in mind, that they still respect their roles and therefore it gave the movie direction.

Some plus’es…  Joon Park as Yamcha was too enjoyable along with Jamie Chung as ChiChi. I expect big things in the future from these fairly new actors. James Marsters as Piccolo gave a feirce  performance that is reminiscent of the amazing Tim Curry in legend.  Chow Yun Fat embraced the character and gave off a great warmth.

DBZ Evolution gets major kudos. A scour of 4 dragon balls out of 5.