I always mean to get around to watching the other Dragonball series too, but never seem to manage it.
The first reaction is: Why is Goku caucasian? But to be honest, the more I thought about it, the more I got used to the idea. The anime style of the cartoons always portrays the characters with more western features anyway, and the guy who played Goku, seemed to get the feel of him just right. Mega powerful, kind hearted, but kind of geeky, and a bit of a joke, at the same time.
Overall the film was pretty much exactly what I expected. Its quirky, and unless you're familiar with the Dragonball franchise, it's probably all going to go way over your head, but I thought it was well worth watching and alot of fun.
Chow Yun Fat plays an excellent part, and suits his character very well. James Marsters suited the role of Piccolo very very well, but it's here that the films failings begin.
You know there's a bad guy named Picollo, you know he wants to destroy the earth, you're not sure why but 'hey it's a film' things like this happen every day. The only problem is that you rarely ever see Picollo. Even at the end of the film there's no real major fight scene between good and evil. Picollo is defeated before he even really gets a chance, and not even in any cool style.
With all the build-up to that point, I couldn't help feeling that it was all over just too quickly. The Osaru scenes were ok, but I'd always visualized the giant monkey as a 'Giant'. He got a bit bigger, but still...
Despite the last few paragraphs whinging about the films bad parts, I still enjoyed it, and hope they make more of the franchise. Bring back James Marsters as Piccolo, but give him a full role next time.
Overall: 6.5 out of 10
(Mindless Fun, but it's no masterpiece)
Smyth
