DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION

A young warrior (Justin Chatwin) must protect Earth from the Evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) by preventing seven mystical orbs from falling into Piccolo's hands.

Based on The King Piccolo Saga, Dragonball, also known as the Piccolo Daimaoh Saga (Demon Lord Piccolo Saga) is the penultimate saga from the anime Dragon Ball. It occurs after the Tien Shinhan Saga and precedes the Piccolo Junior Saga. It includes the battles between Goku and King Piccolo's sons, Goku's first encounter with the Samurai warrior, Yajirobe, Goku's quest to find the Holy Water, his final battle with young King Piccolo, and the birth of Piccolo Junior. Goku met with his oriental love interest, Chi Chi (Jamie Chung).

It's very pleasing to see the familiar face of Chow Yun Fat, who takes the role of Master Roshi in the movie. He hasn't lost his fatherly, wiseman charm and in fact, I would say his performance saves the movie.

The flick receives mostly negative reviews from fans, who expect a mega-spectacular version of the anime series but leave home disappointed by the rather-poorly directed movie. Dragaon Ball Evolution is directed by Asian Director James Wong. Perhaps the producers think that a huge Asian cult like Dragon Ball should be directed by an Asian director. Apparently, they are wrong. The movie fails to give that extra special touch that will make the viewers amazed like Steven Spielberg movies do..What would happen if Mr. Spielberg directed this amazing Asian saga??

The lead actor, Justin Chatwin has little charm and bears little resemblance to the original anime character. The outfits suck and the martial art is another leddown.

SPECTACULAR IN ASIA??

Dragonball Evolution opened to $10.1 million dollars in Asia this weekend, premiering at No.1 in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

At No. 4, Fox’s “Dragonball Evolution” premiered in eight Asian markets before its April 8 domestic opening. Director James Wong’s live-action adaptation of the famous Japanese cartoon series created by Akira Toriyama co-stars Justin Chatwin and Chow Yun-fat and drew $10.1 million from 2,110 screens.

Following heavy prerelease promotion in the region, it premiered at No. 1 in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. The China opening tally, $3.4 million from 855 locales, was Fox’s fourth-highest weekend opening in the market. “Dragonball’s” No. 2 Japan bow produced $3.3 million from 540 screens.

Below is the trailer of the movie: