There are few titles that receive the kind of scorn and hate that Dragonball Evolution does. For years prior to the movie being released, there was a lot of demand from fans of Dragon Ball Z for a live-action adaptation. While there had been previous live-action adaptations of the source material – Dragon Ball: The Magic Beings and Dragon Ball: Son Goku Fights, Son Goku Wins for example – there had yet to be a big-budget Hollywood adaptation that fans felt could do the series justice on the big screen.
At one point it was announced that 20th Century Fox had acquired the rights to make a series of movies based on the Dragon Ball franchise, and fans eagerly speculated as to what they would look like. Development of the film started in 2002 and the world got to see the final result in 2009. To say that critical and fan reception was poor would be…putting it mildly. Yet many fans may be surprised to hear that if it weren’t for this movie, the Dragon Ball franchise would most likely still be dead and dormant, and it wouldn’t be experiencing the renewed popularity it is experiencing today.
Dragon Ball GT Ends the Franchise
When Akira Toriyama put down his pen and decided he was done with Dragon Ball, he meant it. There would be no more adventures for Goku and his friends. The Z Fighters would officially be retired. Not wanting to let a popular series die just yet, Toei Animation reached out to Toriyama and offered to make more Dragon Ball anime without him, and he gave them their blessing. The result of that deal was Dragon Ball GT, a series that was despised by longtime and ended on a whimper. These days the series has been re-evaluated by the fans, yet the failure of the series meant this was the last fans saw of Goku for years, and the demand for more anime was surprisingly minimal.
Sure, America was craving more Dragon Ball because the series arrived on American shores later than most countries, but for the most part, the world had moved on from the franchise. It was American fans who were most vocal about wanting a live-action movie of the franchise, feeling that the high-octane action sequences would make for an excellent live-action film (they even started dreaming of their favorite directors taking on the project). American studios took note of this desire and offers were soon being made to Toriyama to bring his creation to life. For reasons we may never know, Toriyama ultimately settled on 20th Century Fox to bring his creation to life. Thus began an almost decade-long journey to turn Dragon Ball Z into a live-action Hollywood film.
Dragonball Evolution Was No Super Saiyan
The story of Dragonball Evolution is almost as much of a tragedy as the final product. We could probably write at least three to five articles on the troubled production of the film (and we may just do so one of these days), but to save time we’ll simply say that the movie spent five years in development Hell before things finally came together. It was decided that Goku would not be a free-spirited kid, but rather a moody teenager. It would adapt the King Piccolo storyline as the first film and eventually move on to the Saiyan Saga that Americans were more familiar with later on. While many of the actors were seasoned professionals, fans were quick to point out that none of the characters acted like their anime counterparts.
The action sequences were terrible, and the music was lifeless. Critics thought the movie was a confusing mess while fans of the anime just thought it was a mess overall. The box office was pitiful, with a worldwide box office total of $58.2 million dollars. While this was more than the $30 million production budget, it didn’t take into account the marketing of the film. 20th Century Fox not only lost money on the film, but the poor reception meant that a series was off the table. Considering the poor reception the fans gave it, many fans decided it was for the best nothing came of it. Or did it?
Akira Toriyama Hated the Movie So Much It Inspired Him
While it was pretty clear that Toriyama wasn’t interested in doing much with Dragon Ball anymore and had virtually no input on the film, he still decided to watch Dragonball Evolution and see what the final product looked like. He was horrified by what he saw. His creation – the one that had made him a household name – was butchered beyond recognition. He couldn’t believe that this was the final result of the studio. As he claimed in an interview for the 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Super History Book years later:
Dragon Ball once became a thing of the past to me, but after that, I got angry about the live-action movie, re-wrote an entire movie script, and now I'm complaining about the quality of the new TV anime, so it seems that DB has grown on me much that I can't leave it alone.
So, there you have: As much as we all hate Dragonball Evolution, Toriyama himself hated it so much that he decided to return to the franchise so that it wouldn’t be the final word on his legacy. So make your YouTube videos and write your snide comments, but if you’re enjoying the Dragon Ball Super anime as much as I am, you may want to give that old DVD of Dragonball Evolution a kiss. Yes, I know you own a copy (and no, I won’t tell anyone).