This review originally appeared on Arse-bot’s DVD Examiner site.

In the late 1990’s Japanese Animation flooded the American airwaves. From more toned down shows geared towards kids -Hamtaro comes to mind- to more adult oriented anime such as Gundam and Big O, these Japanese shows were incredibly popular and if you were a kid watching cartoons during this time chances are you were exposed to the genre in one form or another. Perhaps one of the most popular of these anime shows was Dragonball (or more specifically, Dragonball Z), the beloved show created by Akira Toriyama, which follows Goku and his friends going on countless adventures, most of which pertaining to the fabled seven Dragon Balls in one way or another. Personally, I was one of those sucked in by this “new” Dragonball show -which aired during Cartoon Network’s “Toonami” and “Adult Swim” blocks- and eventually found myself making my way through most of the 300 episodes and movies. While at this point in my life I have lost most interest in anime, Dragonball has always held a special place in my childhood as the cartoon that bridged that gap of being too old to thoroughly enjoy current Saturday morning cartoons, but still longing for some epic animated adventure. I always figured it would be a matter of time before Hollywood got its grubby hands on this beloved show.

I must admit, I was one of those fans. One of the people that -as optimistic as I honestly tried to be- was less than impressed with any screen cap, leaked photo, and trailer that hit the internet. As my hope diminished so did my ability to hold back my disdain for all material released, I finally got to the point I just eventually gave up even following what was going on with regards to the development of the film. I skipped seeing Dragonball: Evolution in theaters, I haven’t been watching for it to come out on DVD; but when a review copy came across my desk, I couldn’t resist, I had to know, “Is it that bad?”

Yes.

And then some. What happened here with Dragonball: Evolution is an unfortunate scenario that we see all to often in Hollywood. A bunch of execs get their hands on some potentially high quality source material then proceed to strip it of everything that was loved about it and produce a product that barely even resembles what it once was. Before I get carried away as to why this movie was just so bad, allow me to try to sum up the “plot” for you:

2000 years ago an alien names Piccolo and a giant monkey named Oozaru destroyed much of the earth, but were then captured in a Urn by some monks. Flash forward to “present day” and we have Goku who is training with his grandfather Gohan. Goku is “special” and is picked on by classic movie bullies at school because apparently he is a geek (despite the fact that he looks like he could fit right in with said assailants). Eventually, while at Chi-Chi’s sweet high school house party, the bullies are disposed of. But while Goku is away getting frisky with Chi-Chi, Gohan is attacked by Piccolo and dies in Goku’s arms once he gets there. What then proceeds to happen in this train-wreck of a movie is characters such as Bulma, Yamcha, and Master Roshi are introduced, given really bad lines, thrown into some really bad CG environments, and forced to participate in less than spectacular fight scenes… all on the way to collecting the seven Dragonballs before Piccolo does which will bring about the end of the world. The movie culminates in Goku turning into Oozaru (which shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the anime series) via some sub-par animation, then turning back through sheer will to throw a laughable Kamehameha at Piccolo, putting an end to his threat. Though, before the credits roll, they set it up for a sequel -that probably won’t happen- and have a “flirty” fight between Goku and Chi-Chi.

There is a lot wrong with this movie, but where they really went wrong with Dragonball: Evolution is with the script and the scale of the film. There were a lot of elements of the original Dragonball series and the follow up series, Dragonball Z, mixed together and what happened is the writers seemed to cram in hundreds of episodes worth of material into a 90 minute “action comedy” with hopes of pandering to a young crowd. Neither those familiar with Dragonball or those with no former knowledge of the series were acknowledged in the making of this film. Those walking off the streets not know a thing about Goku or the source material will probably just be absolutely baffled at the movie playing before them; nothing is explained clearly, -or in some cases, at all– there is next to no motivation for the actions of the characters, all in all, nothing to familiarize the beginner with Dragonball lore. As far as fans of the original manga and anime are concerned, it should only take about 5-10 minutes before they begin to become increasingly irate at how far off the path from the source material Dragonball: Evolution actually goes. It’s almost as if 20th Century Fox wanted to see just how far away from the original manga and anime they could take a live-action version of Dragonball without having to actually no longer call it “Dragonball”. If that were the case, they walked right up to the line and planted their feet firmly on top of it.

The script is full of plot holes and inexcuseable inconsistencies. For instance, at one point Master Roshi reveals that he can fly, but a short time later in the film he can’t figure out how to cross a lava pond. Fly maybe? The scale of Dragonball: Evolution is embarrassing; the locations and sets all just felt crammed, a far cry from the vast landscapes that are so dominant in the original anime series. The fight scenes were also toned down and boring, not even close to scale as they should have been. They were brief, uninspired, and hardly resembled the epic showdowns that Dragonball is known for.

Justin Chatwin and Emily Rossum seem to try to do what they can with the dialogue, but executing 90% of the lines in this movie with quality would prove to be nearly impossible. All the other actors involved with the film suffer from the same, which is too bad being that several of these actors have all been in movies that I enjoyed and put up decent performances. As I stated before, the special effects leave something to be desired and how they portrayed Goku’s infamous Kamehameha was insulting.

To sum it all up, Dragonball: Evolution was as bad as all the fanboys knew it was going to be and the cautiously optimistic fans feared it would be. The only things resembling the source material were the names of characters and places, most everything else seemed to just be thrown out the window when 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to make Dragonball into a film. Young kids who are just wanting to be entertained by a short, fast paced movie with lots of “action” may be the ones most entertained by this movie, but my guess is that anyone that has more than one digit in their age will likely not enjoy Dragonball: Evolution. Overall, it seems this film apeals to nobody, and yet, there are “talks” of actually making the sequel that the first film sets up, which absolutely blows me away. I went into watching this film with the lowest expectations I could possibly find, and yet, I was still appauled at just how bad this was.

Pass on this film, in every format.

If you feel that I have been over critical or unfair at just how awful this film was, please, feel free to check out Dragonball: Evolution for yourself.

The whole Comic-Con Iron Man panel Line up. (photo by Jason Young)

To be honest I was bored with all the still photos that were released earlier for Iron Man 2, but the trailer they showed at comic-con looks really good and I am officially excited for Iron Man 2 now.

The panel consisted of Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson.

There wasn’t much for news in the panel, mostly just how awesome the clip was. I can say now for certain that War-Machine is indeed in it and kicking ass. Jon Favreau was asked if he was going to direct the upcoming Avengers movie. He didn’t really sound like he was going to be, but he did say, “It is definitely going to shoot after we are wrapped with Iron Man 2.” Which I guess means maybe.

As stated the trailer was the best part of the panel, besides Scarlett Johansson being really cute, saying she had to do mixed martial arts training for her role.

The trailer started with an image of Tony Stark sitting in a giant donut and getting approached by Nick Fury. They are then seen at a table together where Tony asks Nick if he is real, and Nick assures him, he’s the realist person he knows.

Next scene: Tony Stark is in a senate hearing under a Senator Stern, who is questioning him about possessing ‘the weapon’ Tony plays it really cool, telling him he won’t turn over his personal property, and that he has successfully privatized peace. This continues until the senator is forced to adjourn the hearing, and tells Tony to go fuck himself.

Besides that they showed a little action with Black Widow, (Scarlett is totally going to bust some heads.)

Mickey Rourke, playing Whiplash looked really bad ass. He was showed giving some sinister smiles, and walking down a highway (I believe towards Iron Man) with a Stark repulsor chest power pack, that feeds energy winding around his arms and to his electric looking whips. Which he lashes at the ground tearing it up in front of him, really menacing like.

Finally they showed a scene where Sam Rockwell was selling some weapons to Don Cheadle, and then the trailer ends with War Machine flying unloading all of his newly purchased weapons. One in each hand, and a third mounted on his back on a turret that is firing automatically. It looks amazing, I can’t wait.

The last thing I will mention is the swag that they gave out at the panel, which I almost didn’t get my hands on. They were giving out tickets for a T-shirt that says “Stark Expo ’74” But they were only giving them to people with seats, which was a problem for me because I was standing in the press box, so I had to hustle two of the people handing out tickets to give me one anyway. The first person swiftly said he can’t help me, and wouldn’t listen further. The later said she couldn’t help me until I told her how much my “Son” would appreciate it. Anyway, I had to pull a few pubes from between my teeth, and I got my t-shirt.

A better shot of Scarlett (I think she's hot.) (photo by Jason Young)

Robert Downey Jr. with his head cut off. (I was still looking at Scarlett Johansson) (photo by Jason Young)

Tomorrow will see the release of DC/WB’s latest foray into the direct-to-DVD animated movie market with Green Lantern: First Flight. In recent years DC has put out some pretty damn good animated movies including, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: New Frontier, Superman: Doomsday, and Wonder Woman. All of these have been solid entries geared to a slightly more mature audience than cartoons airing on TV. So it’s no wonder that most people will probably pick up Green Lantern: First Flight when it hits DVD/Blu-ray tomorrow with some pretty high expectations.

Unfortunately though, I think Green Lantern is going to end up being the weakest link in the DCAU thus far. It was by no means a bad movie, it just wasn’t as good as what DC has put out in the very recent past. The biggest problem with this film is the lack of character development, in that there just isn’t much at all. Hal Jordan’s origin is blown through in the first 5 minutes (which, in all fairness, culminates in an absolutely awesome transformation into the Green Lantern) and then it’s off, without question, to battle intergalactic evil and unravel Sinestro’s treasonous plot. With a character like Hal Jordan who hasn’t seen a whole lot of screen time in regards to the DCAU, I thought it would be imperative to focus a little more on who Hal is as a human, not just show him as a 100% confident, doesn’t question his new power, super hero.

Though, it’s not all bad news for Green Lantern: First Flight, solid animation, good voice acting, and lots of good action take up most of the 75 min. run time for Hal’s first outing as a Green Lantern! You can check out Arse-bot’s full review over at Examiner to check out what I had to say about what was good about First Flight and what you can expect in regards to special features!

The battles are pretty brutal and mature; people get bones broken, aliens get impaled, it’s all quality action movie stuff. The tracking down of Kanjar Ro and Sinestro’s eventual turn to the “yellow side” take up most of the 75 minute runtime, and the action and drama throughout is fun as hell to watch -especially during Hal and Sinestro’s final showown.

I’ve been quite excited for the Tron Legacy film for a while now, and I’m glad to see more and more about it. I felt that this clip was breathtaking and I’m twice as stoked about it as I was before.

Recently, I watched the original Tron film and it was surprising to me how well it stood up against aging. It’s a pretty timeless piece of science fiction that is still relevant even though it was written at a time when computers were so much more rudimentary than they are now.

In any case, enjoy. And keep coming back for more comic-con scoops.

During the Book of Eli panel by Warner Bros. at the San Diego Comic Con, Gary Oldman let fly that the follow up to the wildly successful Dark Knight should be going into production in 2010:

“I think the next Batman is next year; we start shooting next year. You didn’t hear that from me.”

If the True Blood Happy Hour doesn’t sound like you’re thing while you are enjoying the San Diego Comic Con, then maybe the happy hour sponsored by Paramount Home Entertainment to celebrate the release of Road Trip: Beer Pong is more your style! It’s happening tonight, here’s the details:

Press Release:

TONIGHT! Friday, July 24, Paramount Home Entertainment will host a happy hour to toast the DVD debut of Road Trip: Beer Pong on August 11.  Featuring beer pong girls, games and beverages, the event will take place at Henry’s Irish Pub in the nearby Gaslamp district at 614 5th Ave from 4pm to 7pm.

Terry Gilliam unveiled footage from his long awaited film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus just moments ago and fielded questions from a Comic-Con audience.

Based on the footage shown, Parnassus tells the story of an ancient monk played by Christopher Plummer who has made a Faustian deal with the devil (played by the ever amazing Tom Waits) for the soul of his daughter.  Tony (Heath Ledger) is dragged into the competition to save the girls soul.

The footage looked like the sort of fare you’d imagine from Terry Gilliam, stunning visuals that are as odd and disparate as they are amazing.

We were shown three clips (one of Tom Waits’ entrance to the anceint monastery, a bit of Heath Ledger acting under a mask in front of the Imaginarium, and a taste of what it’s like behind The Mirror…) and a trailer. I thought the film looked amazing, but the trailer they cut was one of those strung together by a cheesy narrator.  And I didn’t see hardly enough Tom Waits at all.

The film looks exactly like you’d expect a Terry Gilliam picture to look like and Gilliam spoke of the performance of Heath Ledger as more mature and better…  And I think he was right in that sense.  Heath Ledger seemed to grow exponentially with every role he’s moved on from.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus hits theatres…sometime in the future.

I anxiously await it.

For all you guys at Comic Con, this is probably old news to you since this is hanging there! (bastards…)

Yahoo! Movies has posted a picture of the movie poster for DC’s anti-hero, Jonah Hex. I don’t have a whole lot of exposure with Jonah Hex, but the incarnations I have seen of him in comic cameo’s and DC cartoon series have been pretty cool. Could make for a sweet western movie? Any Jonah Hex fans out there want to weigh in on this?

Seth Rogen has unveiled the Green Hornet’s beloved car, Black Beauty at San Diego Comic Con! SHH/ComingSoon have posted several pictures of the reveal that you can check out over at their site!

USA Today has posted a photo gallery featuring several new photos from Iron Man 2 which you can check out at the link above! Nothing too telling, but it’s pretty cool that they are finally starting to release some images!