[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Dragonball Evolution

  • 2009
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
2.5/10
84K
YOUR RATING
Chow Yun-Fat, Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, Eriko Tamura, and Jamie Chung in Dragonball Evolution (2009)
The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.
Play trailer1:56
3 Videos
99+ Photos
Martial ArtsSuperheroActionAdventureFantasySci-FiThriller

The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.

  • Director
    • James Wong
  • Writers
    • Ben Ramsey
    • Akira Toriyama
  • Stars
    • Justin Chatwin
    • James Marsters
    • Chow Yun-Fat
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    2.5/10
    84K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • James Wong
    • Writers
      • Ben Ramsey
      • Akira Toriyama
    • Stars
      • Justin Chatwin
      • James Marsters
      • Chow Yun-Fat
    • 663User reviews
    • 139Critic reviews
    • 45Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos3

    Dragonball Evolution: Trailer #2
    Trailer 1:56
    Dragonball Evolution: Trailer #2
    Dragonball: Evolution -- Trailer #1
    Trailer 1:52
    Dragonball: Evolution -- Trailer #1
    Dragonball: Evolution -- Trailer #1
    Trailer 1:52
    Dragonball: Evolution -- Trailer #1
    Dragonball Evolution: Grandpa (Exclusive)
    Clip 1:04
    Dragonball Evolution: Grandpa (Exclusive)

    Photos140

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 134
    View Poster

    Top cast22

    Edit
    Justin Chatwin
    Justin Chatwin
    • Goku
    James Marsters
    James Marsters
    • Lord Piccolo
    Chow Yun-Fat
    Chow Yun-Fat
    • Roshi
    Emmy Rossum
    Emmy Rossum
    • Bulma
    Jamie Chung
    Jamie Chung
    • Chi Chi
    Joon Park
    • Yamcha
    Eriko Tamura
    Eriko Tamura
    • Mai
    • (as Eriko)
    Randall Duk Kim
    Randall Duk Kim
    • Gohan
    Ernie Hudson
    Ernie Hudson
    • Sifu Norris
    Texas Battle
    Texas Battle
    • Carey Fuller
    Megumi Seki
    Megumi Seki
    • Seki
    Ian Whyte
    Ian Whyte
    • Oozaru
    Richard Blake
    Richard Blake
    • Agundes
    Jon Valera
    Jon Valera
    • Moreno
    Rafael Valdez
    Rafael Valdez
    • Butler
    Mike Wilson
    Mike Wilson
    • Hildenbrand
    Freddy Bouciegues
    Freddy Bouciegues
    • Palmer
    Shavon Kirksey
    Shavon Kirksey
    • Emi
    • Director
      • James Wong
    • Writers
      • Ben Ramsey
      • Akira Toriyama
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews663

    2.583.5K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    2Monsoon77

    The perfect movie for anyone who hates Dragonball Z

    Watching DBE i can immediately tell the directors and everyone else involved have not watched more than a few episodes of the entire Dragonball series. The characters are only similar in name and the story feels like they chewed it up and spit it out and whatever stuck to the storyboard they went with. I wont ruin the story but its nothing like the anime, as i said before the characters are only similar to the anime by name. It almost seems like they wanted to make this movie as bad and as far away from the original story as they could. The only time an actor or actress acts like their anime counterpart is when they are first introduced speaking mainly about Master Roshi and Yamcha.

    For one of the most action packed animes around they sure did the opposite with the movie. I can count the number of fight scenes with one hand and count how long they lasted with two hands. Its pretty pathetic when the first fight scene with Goku and the "bullies" is the best and he never threw even threw a punch. The big screen debut of the Kamehameha is sad and pathetic and all the Ki blasts look like different color fire balls. They don't look pure energy (like they are in the anime) but just like slow motion fire.

    I could go on for hours about what they did wrong. If you have never seen the anime series don't watch the movie. The story is probably too confusing for anyone who doesn't know the entire back-story of the anime. The movie only gives you the who and the what but no why. In fact i think why sums up the entire movie. Why did they do this and why did they do that is all i was thinking during the entire movie. At the end of the movie all i could do was ask "Why did they make this movie and who did they make this movie for?" This is not a movie for the fans or anyone who has never seen the anime. It feels like they made this movie for the people who hate the anime.

    As a fan of the series I will award this no points and may god have mercy on their souls.
    1educallejero

    Insulting as a Dragon Ball fan, as a movies fan, and probably as human(?)

    As a Dragon Ball fan this was clearly not anything even similar.

    As a movie fan, this was atrocious.

    Its hard to understand what kind of drugs all the people involved were in
    1scorpionlgr

    Overall F grade or 0/10, Save your money! wait until you can watch it online for free!

    This Movie plain and simple insults our intelligence, I mean I'm no Geek, but tham they were way off!, this should not even be called dragonball, because of stupid 20th Century Fox, now dragonball is ruined, if someone wanted to make a better movie with the real story that Akira Toriyama made, they made so many changes and mistakes that the dragonball that we know is gone forever, on Watchmen they made some changes but only so the essence of the show could be shown on film, but Dragonball is dead they killed it, I'm sorry Akira Toriyama they ruined your work and about every Anime , and dbz fan out there, like my Grandfather just to say "there's cheese all over that movie" It is illogical to spend the money on copyrights if you're not even going to use the story.

    Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, originally disgusted at Otaku decrying the film via leaked set shots and trailers even before the movie was released, gave the movie an overall F grade, admitting that "The fans were right." Criticizing the films lack of explaining plot elements to its hackmead storyline and lackluster effort by the actors, he suggested that the film "Might be fun when you're hammered and surrounded by friends. Or suicidal, and need something to push you over the edge."
    1vas_deferens

    For the love of god, if you respect the original series at all, do NOT pay to see this crap!

    Let me just start off by saying that there are no redeeming qualities to this movie at all. The multi-million dollar budget has amounted to a teen drama mixed with power rangers. The final product is insulting, to say the least.

    The creators of this horrible, horrible adaption should take a good long think about what they have done and why they should have just followed the source material instead of taken it for granted. Do they really think that the entire Dragonball fan-base is this stupid? Akira Toriyama probably has a noose around his neck right about now.

    To finish this off: The acting is atrocious, the butt-rock scattered through the soundtrack will make you want to punch the guy running the theater in the face, and the story is basically the manga's, but cut up, put into a blender, stuffed into sausage skins, and stitched back together with an American flag tied around it.

    If you want your Dragonball fix, just buy dvds of the show instead, skip the movie, and if you don't skip it, then at least don't pay for this thing. I heard that a sequel is already in the works, and we don't need a trilogy, that would be three of these movies too many.
    1movie-goers

    Dragonball Evolution - What a screw up!

    What is wrong with this picture man? Nothing personal to James as a director. I love his Final Destination series, but I think James is NOT the right person to direct this million plus dollars franchise. Why James is hired to direct this movie in the first place? It is a big mistakes. Like having Ang Lee directing the Hulk. Hiring an Asian to direct an Asian animation epic doesn't mean the movie will turn out great. The director must have a vision of the given materials.

    The entire outcome is a disaster and disappointment. It is understandable that the film isn't exactly the same as the original comic, but the characters and the plot just suck as a film on its own. From observing the promotion materials of Dragonball, it seems that Fox doesn't want to do this movie at all. The posters suck and the trailers suck. The studio spends a lot of money on making Marvels and DC comics into movies, look how successful those films had become. The studios should pay more respect and faith in Asian materials.

    To me this whole thing isn't making any sense at all because there are established fans across the globe, and Dragonball comic and cartoon itself has last more than TWO decades. This is why I think 20th Century Fox was putting money into this project initially. Everyone is looking forward to see a Hollywood version of Dragonball. Soon as I saw the first teaser, I knew I shouldn't put up in any hope into this movie. Even though I went to see the movie without any expectation, the movie still suck! Despite the led down of the Dragonball fans, it creates negative impulses to those who is new to Dragonball.

    Dragonball is a hot cult in Asia and it hits the western market because of the stylistic action and fight sequences. However, the martial arts choreography in this movie is another led down. Not to mention the screenplay, the production design of this film is not consistence at all. Wardrobes, props to makeup, nothing fits together! Not only nothing in this film resembles the original DB, it is a disgrace. No wonder they use the word "Evolution". But when they say evolution, I don't expect the studio turns something respectable like Dragonball into rubbish. I've seen a live action version of Dragonball shot by the Malaysian years ago. Although it is an exact duplicate of the animation. But the movie is far better than Dragonball Evolution.

    A lot of us are looking for a remake of this movie.

    More like this

    Dragonball Evolution: Deleted Scenes
    4.1
    Dragonball Evolution: Deleted Scenes
    Disaster Movie
    1.9
    Disaster Movie
    DragonBall Z: The Saiyan Saga
    7.4
    DragonBall Z: The Saiyan Saga
    Dragon Ball Z Live Action: The Long Awaited Fight
    4.1
    Dragon Ball Z Live Action: The Long Awaited Fight
    Big Movie
    2.5
    Big Movie
    Dragon Ball Absalon
    6.7
    Dragon Ball Absalon
    Pledge This: Panique à la fac!
    1.7
    Pledge This: Panique à la fac!
    Dragon Ball, le film - La légende des 7 boules de cristal
    4.3
    Dragon Ball, le film - La légende des 7 boules de cristal
    Dragon Ball : Le Château du démon
    6.5
    Dragon Ball : Le Château du démon
    Dragon Ball Z : Attaque Super Warrior !
    5.8
    Dragon Ball Z : Attaque Super Warrior !
    Dragonball Evolution: Gag Reel
    3.8
    Dragonball Evolution: Gag Reel
    Super Dragon Ball Heroes
    6.6
    Super Dragon Ball Heroes

    Related interests

    Bruce Lee in Opération Dragon (1973)
    Martial Arts
    Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Chris Hemsworth
    Superhero
    Bruce Willis in Piège de cristal (1988)
    Action
    Still frame
    Adventure
    Elijah Wood in Le Seigneur des anneaux : La Communauté de l'anneau (2001)
    Fantasy
    James Earl Jones and David Prowse in L'Empire contre-attaque (1980)
    Sci-Fi
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      "Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama was initially supportive of the announcement of a live action adaptation and asked fans to treat the film as a different interpretation of his work, but after watching the film he was so horrified at this adaptation of his work that he decided to revive the series with the animated film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013). He later revealed that he wasn't allowed to have any creative input on the film and all of his suggestions were rejected.
    • Goofs
      Piccolo can destroy a house with telekinesis, but he can't lift the Dragonball that falls off the stone mount back up to him at the end scene of the movie.
    • Quotes

      Chi Chi: Just because my name is Chi-Chi doesn't mean I'm an idiot.

    • Crazy credits
      SPOILER: There is a scene in the closing credits: Piccolo is revealed to have survived, and is in the care of the woman he spared in his first scene.
    • Alternate versions
      The UK release was cut, this film was originally shown to the BBFC in an unfinished version. The BBFC advised the distributor that the film was likely to receive a 12A classification but that the requested PG classification could be obtained by making changes to a number of scenes. In particular the BBFC suggested that gun threat to, and violence against, a woman should be reduced; a close-up and slow-motion impact shot in kick to face should be removed; a leaping kick to face in a fight scene should be removed; dismembering of fantasy creatures in fight scene should be made largely indistinct; the 'horror' effects in the transformation of the hero into a creature should be reduced; and the focus on throttling of a character should also be reduced. When the finished version of the film was submitted, amongst other limited changes, all these reductions had been made satisfactorily and the film was classified PG.
    • Connections
      Edited from Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Rule
      Lyrics by Ayumi Hamasaki

      Music by Miki Watanabe

      Performed by Ayumi Hamasaki

      Arranged by Hal

      Produced by Max Matsuura

      Courtesy of Avex Entertainment Inc.

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ28

    • How long is Dragonball Evolution?Powered by Alexa
    • Is "Dragonball Evolution" based on a book?
    • What is the history of the making of this movie?
    • Does Justin Chatwin wear a wig to play Goku?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 1, 2009 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
      • Mexico
      • Hong Kong
    • Languages
      • English
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Dragon ball evolución
    • Filming locations
      • Sierra de Organos, Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico(location)
    • Production companies
      • Twentieth Century Fox
      • Dune Entertainment
      • Star Overseas
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $30,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,362,785
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $4,756,488
      • Apr 12, 2009
    • Gross worldwide
      • $55,720,772
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 25m(85 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
      • DTS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.