Okay, so full disclosure: I am a Dragon Ball fan. Mostly. I actually hate the anime for all sorts of reasons but I do very much so enjoy the manga. Although I find Akira Toriyama to be an extraordinarily poor character writer, especially in regards to women, I do think he’s crafted an incredibly interesting world. Obviously with this in mind I’m likely biased against Dragonball Evolution, the American live-action adaptation of the comic. It can’t be helped, but I’ll try to keep things as objective as possible.
Screw this movie!
Okay, okay, I realize that’s not professional. Released in 2009 and directed by James Wong this film may well be the first of several dubious Hollywood live action remakes of popular anime and manga (Along with the Speed Racer movie). Akira is apparently in preproduction and now I hear rumblings of a Star Blazers film (Though Japan just recently released a live action film based on Space Battleship Yamoto, the original series Star Blazers is dubbed from). Apparently 20th Century Fox wanted to snag writer/director/actor/comedian Stephen Chow to helm this film and I suspect that, judging from Chow’s comedic timing and the fact he’s (Clearly) a fan of the source material, that movie would have been at least a little bit entertaining. Alas he turned it down instead coming onboard as a producer, which makes him at least an accessory to the crime. And yes, a crime was indeed committed here: a crime against intelligence and a crime against cinema. Ignoring what alterations to the story it may have made this movie is horrifyingly bad. I mean beyond “So Bad it’s Good” and into “Holy Christ, what in God’s name am I watching?” If you ever wanted to know exactly what makes a terrible movie then look no further.
Full review after the jump.
