DragonballEvolution Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Fast & Furious
"Not only is the story silly, but there's not even much car-racing in it -- and why would anyone want to watch this movie if it doesn't have a lot of car-racing in it?" Eric D. Snider asked. "It turns out minimizing the one entertaining element of a franchise was a BAD idea!" Alas, I must agree. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

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Bart Got a Room.
"It's not much different from other nerdy-teen-needs-date-for-prom flicks," noted Erik Davis in his review, "but it sure as hell packs a ton of heart and has a lot of fun. It's alive, it's colorful, it's got well-written characters and more than a handful of memorable scenes." Steven Kaplan stars, with William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines as his newly-divorced parents. Rent it.

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Dragonball: Evolution
"It's not aggressively bad," opined the long-suffering Eric D. Snider, "It's more like a dumb, energetic puppy." Personally, I think he was being far too kind to a sloppy, embarrassing, and dull movie. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

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Miss March
"Up until yesterday I was having trouble keeping track of all the movies that were contenders for the worst of 2009," confessed Jeffrey M. Anderson, "and I couldn't decide which one topped the list. Now my head is clear of such decisions. I've seen Miss March." Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

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Also check out: This week's TV on DVD releases at TV Squad.

New indie film releases, more Blu-ray picks, and a look at the Collector's Corner -- featuring the complete BSG set -- all after the jump!

You gotta respect Hannah Montana. Where her comrades in arms, the Jonas Brothers, were just recently defeated, she has emerged bloodied but victorious. Her $34 million weekend is roughly on par with her own concert film, which opened to $31 million last February on about a quarter of the screens -- I think that range pretty well represents the Hannah Montana brand's draw at this point in time. Concert Tour dropped pretty swiftly after that, topping out at $65 million; the narrative film may have slightly better legs, though last fall's High School Musical 3 faded out pretty quickly too.

The weekend's neatest trick is the $11 million for Observe and Report: not a standout opening for Seth Rogen (though slightly stronger than Zack and Miri Make a Porno), but impressive considering that Observe & Report is basically a twisted art film that doesn't belong in wide release by any traditional measure. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that Warners managed to pull this off; I just wanted to highlight the achievement. Given that the movie has even freaked out much of the usually hardy critical community, I'm dying to see how and if it holds up at the box office. The other R-rated comedy that premiered at SXSW, I Love You, Man, has thrived, dropping 17% in its 4th week on its way to a cheerful $75 million. But that movie is, oh, 50 times more accessible.

As for Fox's Dragonball Evolution: not so much. I think they might have been a couple years too late in capitalizing on the brand, as the kids who were really into the franchise when it was hot grew up a bit and lost interest. $4.6 million stings.

More, and the top 10, after the jump.

Dragonball: Evolution is based on a manga series (that's Japanese for "comic book") that was also turned into an anime series (that's Japanese for "cartoon") and is now a movie that was not screened for critics before it opened (that's Hollywood for "we're not very proud of it"). I doubt it's what fans of the story have been hoping for all these years, as they've endured one delay after another in getting a live-action version to the screen, but it's not aggressively bad. It's more like a dumb, energetic puppy.

It is the story of Goku (Justin Chatwin), a teenager being raised by his grandfather (Randall Duk Kim), who teaches him the ancient ways of martial arts and, from the looks of it, the Force. Goku has supernatural powers that he has not yet learned to harness, including the ability, not unlike a video-game character, to throw colorful balls of energy. Grandfather urges him not to fight unnecessarily, but Goku is always being bullied by his classmates. "They push me so far that I want to explode!" he says. You know how it is -- the handsome, nice, sociable kids always have so much trouble making friends.

For Goku's 18th birthday, Grandfather gives him a cool-looking billiard ball with four stars on it. It is a dragonball -- and you better believe there's an angry dragon looking for it! No, I kid. It's called a dragonball because, I don't know, "dragon" sounds cool, I guess. There are seven such balls scattered throughout the world. If you were to assemble them all, you'd be entitled to have "one perfect wish" granted. Trouble is, a long-imprisoned demon called Piccolo (James Marsters) has been let loose, and he's trying to collect the seven dragonballs himself so he can have his own nefarious wish granted.

I knew Fast and Furious was going to be number one, but holy jeez, who expected this? Adventureland missed the top five entirely, pulling in only $5.7 million. Here's the top five:

1. Fast and Furious: $70.9 million
2. Monsters Vs. Aliens: $32.6 million
3. The Haunting in Connecticut: $9.5 million
4. Knowing: $8.2 million
5. I Love You, Man: $7.7 million

We've got three new ones this week, combining fantasy kung foolery, a teen pop phenomenon and raunchy comedy.

Dragonball Evolution
What's It All About: Adaptation of the long running manga and anime about Earth's champion Goku and his battle against an invading race of aliens.
Why It Might Do Well: This movie speaks to the young male geek better than any other new film this week.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Young male geeks, however, know what they want and I'm not hearing any kind of excitement from the manga/anime fans. Combine with some unappealing trailers and you've got a film destined for fifth place.
Number of Theaters: 2,100
Prediction: $9 million

Hannah Montana The Movie
What's It All About: You haven't heard of this kid? Seriously? This adaptation of the hit Disney Channel series sees the young pop star visiting the family farm to get away from the limelight and to get a dose of reality.
Why It Might Do Well: The Hannah Montana concert movie from 2008 racked in $65 million on only 687 screens.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Teenage boys won't be caught dead at this one.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $41 million

So am I the only one wondering why the hell, in this age of amazing computer animation, the makers of the upcoming Dragonball: Evolution would choose to make it live action? Especially when it all looks so, um, crappy?

That thought is rampaging through my mind this morning thanks to a new teaser trailer for the 3-D animated adaptation of Astro Boy. Which, while it certainly doesn't look like the original Osamu Tezuka cartoon, has the potential to be pretty darn good. When I first started writing this entry, the teaser was available on Hulu -- mere minutes later, however, it's no longer available. Oh, you fickle Internet! So I'll have to make my case with the YouTube version:

Compare that with the trailer for next month's release Dragonball: Evolution, which looks like a throwback to loud, dumb fantasy-action flicks of the mid-90's like Mortal Kombat. With an international fan base as massive as the one following Dragonball -- which grew from a 10-year-long manga into multiple TV series, 17 animated features, three TV specials, plus video and card games -- why on earth would anyone think it's a good idea to give the fans this, making Goku an American and discarding vital elements of the core plot along the way, to boot:

Animation lends itself beautifully to superhero stories. The Incredibles is one of the best caped-crusader flicks ever, and TV/video vehicles like Batman: The Animated Series and the recent Justice League: The New Frontier prove that, in a medium where literally anything can be rendered, it's easier to buy the most ludicrous of comic-book concepts when they're writ in cartoon form.

So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!

Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), but the only problem is it may not hit theaters on time if 20th Century Fox has anything to say about it. Both Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting over who actually owns the rights, and if a judge favors Fox comes January 20th (when the court date is set), we're looking at a delayed release and a whole ton of angry fans. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.

Gallery: Watchmen

Terminator: Salvation
Yes, we were teased with a few seconds of footage last week but at last we have the full length trailer for the new Terminator flick, and in a nutshell: it rocks. The movie opens on May 22.

Dragonball: Evolution
This new trailer isn't impressing me any more than the last one. There's plenty of sci-fi fantasy kung foolery here if that's your kind of thing. Fans of the anime don't seem too thrilled with this adaptation, so I don't see a bright future for it. If you're so inclined, watch for this one on April 8.

Powder Blue
Jessica Biel stripping and Forrest Whitaker committing suicide dressed like Santa are just two of interesting visuals on display here. Aside from a few words spoken at the end there is no dialogue and very little to go on as far as what the movie is about. Still the imagery is pretty gripping. No release date for this one just yet.

Good
Viggo Mortensen stars as a college professor in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime. Essentially a good man, he finds himself compromising his principals and accepting membership in the Nazi party. Watch for this one in limited release on December 31.

The Proposal
A retread of the getting-married-to-stay-in-the-country premise with Ryan Reynolds being coerced to marry his Canadian boss played by Sandra Bullock. The leads have appeal but I can't get past the cookie cutter plot that reminds me of countless TV episodes. Look for this one on June 12.