Dragonball Evolution

Dragonball evolution is the American version of popular Japanese animated series Dragon ball. It's released in 2009.

Story

It was directed, produced and written by James Wong, and released by 20th Century Fox. The story centers on the adventures of the lead character, Goku, around his 18th birthday, as he is asked to gather seven Dragon Balls to save the world from evil alien forces. On his journey, he meets several different characters who all join the quest and help him in his task. The film stars Justin Chatwin as Son Goku, Emmy Rossum as Bulma Briefs, James Marsters as Lord Piccolo, Jamie Chung as Chi-Chi, Chow Yun-fat as Master Roshi, Joon Park as Yamcha and Eriko Tamura as Mai. It was released in Japan and several other Asian nations on March 13, 2009, and in the United States on April 10, 2009.

Two thousand years ago, a demon named Piccolo (James Marsters) descended upon Earth wreaking havoc with his minion Ozaru. Seven mystics created the Mafuba and sealed him away for what they thought was for good. However, Piccolo breaks free and with his beautiful follower Mai (Eriko Tamura), proceeds to find the Dragonballs and kill anyone in the way. On his 18th birthday, a young high-school student and martial artist named Goku (Justin Chatwin) is given the 4-Star Dragonball by his grandfather, Grandpa Gohan (Randall Duk Kim). After returning home from a party hosted by his crush Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung), Goku finds his home obliterated and his grandfather near death in the aftermath of Piccolo's failed attempt to acquire the Dragonball. Before he dies, Gohan tells Goku to seek out the martial arts master, Muten Roshi (Chow Yun-fat), who holds another one of the Dragonballs. Along the way, Goku meets Bulma Briefs (Emmy Rossum) of the Capsule Corporation, who was studying the 5-Star Dragonball until it was stolen by Mai. Goku offers Bulma his protection in exchange for her help in finding Roshi and they ultimately find him in Paozu City. Under Roshi's wing, Goku begins training to harness his Ki, now knowing that they must acquire all the Dragonballs before the upcoming solar eclipse, when Ōzaru will return and join with Piccolo. In the midst of the group's search for the 6-star Dragonball, they fall into a trap set by the desert bandit Yamcha (Joon Park) but Roshi convinces Yamcha to join them. Together, the group fights their way through an ambush by Mai and successfully obtain the next Dragonball. As the group continues their quest, they travel to a temple where Roshi consults his former teacher Sifu Norris (Ernie Hudson) and begins preparing the Mafuba enchantment so he can reseal Piccolo, while Goku must learn the most powerful of the ki-bending techniques: the Kamehameha.During the night, Mai - disguised as Chi-Chi - steals the three Dragonballs that Goku and the others have acquired, adding them to the other four that Piccolo has gathered. With the Dragonballs successfully united, Piccolo begins to summon Shen Long, but is stopped by the timely arrival of Goku's team. During the battle that ensues, consisting of a Ki blast battle and some punches, Piccolo reveals to Goku that he is Ōzaru, having been sent to Earth as an infant to destroy it when he came of age. As the eclipse begins, Goku transforms into Ozaru and terrorizes Bulma and Yamcha, while Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba, but weakens because of not having enough energy to live before he can re-seal Piccolo. Roshi's dying words restore Goku to his senses as he is choked to death by Ozaru, and he engages Piccolo in a final battle, seemingly defeating him with the power of the Kamehameha. Goku then uses the Dragonballs to summon Shen Long, and request that he restore Roshi to life. As they celebrate, they realize the Dragonballs have now scattered, and Bulma declares that they must seek the balls again. Before they head out, Goku visits Chi-Chi so they can truly begin their relationship, but first, they engage in a sparring match to see which of them is stronger.

Piccolo was revealed to be alive at the end.

Development

In March 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the Dragon Ball franchise. In June 2004, Ben Ramsey, who wrote The Big Hit, was paid $500,000 to adapt Dragonball Z. 20th Century Fox approached Stephen Chow to direct the film, and although he said he was deeply interested because he is a fan of Dragon Ball, Chow declined the chance to direct. He, however, accepted a role as producer via his company Star Overseas. 20th Century Fox then went on to send the script to writer/director James Wong who accepted. In 2007, James Wong and Stephen Chow were announced as director and producer respectively, and the project was retitled Dragon ball. Ben Ramsey's first draft was deemed too expensive to shoot, and in the end he wrote about five different drafts of the script following notes from the studio. James Wong wrote the last draft, again according to notes from the studio.[5] Chow was a Dragon Ball fan, citing its "airy and unstrained story [which] leaves much room for creation", but explained he would only serve as producer because he believes that he should only direct stories he had created. Differing costs to produce the film have been reported. In January 2008, Marsters spoke to TV Guide that he was told the film had a budget of approximately $100 million. In April 2009, the Spanish television station Telecinco reported that the budget was $50 million. Marsters would later claim that the film in fact was produced for $30 million.