Dragonball Evolution follows Goku (Justin Chatwin) as he races against an ancient evil known as King Piccolo (James Marsters) to collect seven orbs known as Dragonballs that if all gathered together can grant the collector one perfect wish. Goku is joined in his search by his new master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat), a 20-something genius looking for the balls as a source of unlimited energy, Bulma (Emmy Rossum) and a desert bandit called Yamcha (Joon Park). But the race to the Dragonballs isn't all that is on Goku's mind as he also learns that a fellow student named Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) knows how to fight with more than her fists (being able to channel Ki is a major ability in this universe).
Their search for the Dragonballs also leads to Goku getting glimpses at the future that could come about if Piccolo gets his wish and his ape-like demon companion is resurrected and allowed to be unleashed upon the world, not to mention a lot of training as Roshi slowly teaches Goku how to use a very powerful Ki attack known as the Kami-hami-ha. But can the gang get all the Dragonballs before Piccolo, and if not, can they stop him from making a wish that could end everything?
There is a nice variety of special features included on this Blu-ray including the standard deleted scenes and gag reels, but there is also an in-movie game that has you collecting Dragonballs when Goku does in the film, as well as a couple of "Fox Movie Channel Presents" shorts, one that focuses on the Chi Chi versus Chi Chi fight and one that interviews Justin Chatwin about the film industry for those looking to get into it. The other special feature is an called "Goku's Workout" where the film's choreographer goes through some of the moves seen in the film with the home audience. This is obviously designed for the younger viewers out there since it is filled with cheesy special features and one of the worst green-screen backdrops I've seen in a long time.
As followers of the anime would expect, Dragonball Evoluton has quite a few special features. Whether we are talking about the energy blasts used in some of the bigger fights, or the Dragon's appearance at the end of the movie, or simply Bulma's bike growing from a small capsule, there's just a lot of special effects shots in this film, and the Blu-ray version doesn't hurt these effects by any means. Even some of the more subtle effects like when Goku first tries to learn the Kami-hami-ha and only releases small wisps of ki come off smoothly.
So should you get Dragonball Evolution? I can't really say its worth the purchase. If you are a hardcore fan of the franchise, you might want to watch it, but you will, most likely, not want to own it. If you don't know anything about the show, or have only a passing knowledge of the anime, then you might find the film an amusing action show, but again, nothing you would really want to see multiple times. Simply put, this one is definitely a rental at best.
