By Chris Kenner
Staff Writer, ‘11

Dragonball Evolution is an American film adaptation of the Japanese anime series Dragonball. The Dragonball Series has a strong American following so naturally those fans are afraid of how this adaptation will reflect the original. Dragonball fans are cautious in deciding if they should see the film or not, and that is understandable considering that American adaptations of foreign films are not great. As a fan of the series I found myself at a standstill because I normally do not see movies that I know are going to be bad. In short I ended up watching the film, and in truth it is not that bad. My reasons why will follow a short background of the film.
Dragonball originated as a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It later was created into an anime, that is most commonly known as the predecessor to Dragonball Z. The first arc of Dragonball introduces Goku, a strange boy with the affinity to fight. Goku was given a strange orange ball with four stars by his grandfather that he later discovers is a dragon ball. He was raised by his grandfather until he was a pre-teen, his grandfather suddenly died and Goku then began a quest to seek out Master Roshi. Master Roshi is the man who trained his grandfather who was a skilled martial artist in his own right, Goku sought him out to become a pupil of him. Along the way he meets Bulma a sassy tech-wiz, Krillin a rival who becomes his best friend, and Yamcha a street bandit who also becomes a good friend.
Bulma is notable for being the one who initially explains the dragon balls to Goku. Dragon balls are seven orange balls, all numbered 1-7 by the number of red stars in the center and when all seven are collected, the collector will be granted one wish. He promises to help Bulma find all seven the dragon balls if she helps him find Master Roshi. When they find Master Roshi, he trains Goku for a while and the training is interrupted by the introduction of Emperor Pilaf, a tyrant who also wants to collect the dragon balls and use his wish to dominate the planet. Goku, Krillin, and Bulma set off to find the dragon balls before the Emperor.
The film follows the first arc somewhat, up until the introduction of the villain, and did I mention that Krillin is not in the film? Emperor Pilaf is replaced by Piccolo, which is understandable because Goku does battle him later in the Dragonball series, and his offspring is an ally in the Dragonball Z series. Krillin is not in the film, and after seeing the film; I do not feel that he is needed. The film also alters the story a little more but not by creating storylines themselves just by intertwining the arcs of the series. Chi-Chi, Goku’s wife in Dragonball Z, is inserted as his love interest; which is okay because she is introduced in Dragonball. Overall the film is not bad, it has great special effects that capture the feel of the anime, the fighting is almost identical to the anime, and the actors speak in similar voices that the characters did in the anime. I recommend this film to anyone who loved the anime and is searching for something new to bring nostalgic feelings of their childhood