2009 superhero film by James Wong
Dragonball Evolution is a 2009 superhero film based on the 1984–95 manga series Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. Directed by James Wong from a screenplay by Ben Ramsey, and produced by Stephen Chow, it stars Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Chow Yun-fat, Joon Park, and Eriko Tamura. In the film, the teenager Goku reveals his past and sets out to fight the evil alien warlord Demon King Piccolo who wishes to gain the powerful Dragon Balls and use them to take over Earth.
Dragonball Evolution was released in Japan and several other Asian countries on March 13, 2009, and in the United States on April 10. It grossed $56.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million and was considered a commercial failure. The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Dragonball Evolution was intended to be the first of a series, though its reception caused Fox to cancel all subsequent films. The film has been accused of whitewashing and has had a negative effect on future anime-to-cinema adaptations, due to its casting, lack of loyalty to the source material, and failure at the box office.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.