NOTE: The cheeky editor for this episode, Trey decided to take a light-hearted jab at Eyepatchwolf's similar goof from his DragonBall Z video where he mixed up Go Nagai and Toriyama. So no need to spam comments about it, thanks!
This movie didn't damage Dragonball's brand, it rather saved it, as this mammoth fuck-up of a movie gave us the Dragonball revival era we live in, today, which is all about fan service goodness with Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, and the Broly movie, along with an all new series in the form of Dragonball Super, and a slew of new games, especially the Xenoverse games, which finally let us create our own Dragonball characters - all thanks to this piece of shit Evolution movie seriously pissing off Toriyama.
Imagine being so dedicated to the character to the fact that you read a shit load of manga to later find out that the character you're playing is nothing like the one in the manga
James Marsters said at a convention "If you like Dragonball you're gonna hate this movie. If you don't know what Dragonball is you're gonna hate this movie."
The best thing about this (that I’m surprised Matt didn’t mention at the end) is that James Marsters redeemed himself years later by dubbing Zamasu. That’s some dope shit.
He's always been a huge Dragon Ball fan, & friends with Sean Schemmel & Chris Sabat for years. Pretty sure it's a mutual love-fest. But you can actually watch him go in to record it in James' parody web series, ViDiOTS (skip to about the 20-minute mark for that specifically, but the whole episode has some hilarious DBE refs): ruclips.net/video/j1IBOa4plHQ/видео.html - Jamie
I love how the film was just so horrendous and terrible it got Toriyama to continue the franchise just so Evolution wasn't the last thing you saw from the series.
Yeah, without this piece of shit, we wouldn't have Beerus, Whis, Golden Freeza, the other universes, Goku Black, Zamasu (who was voiced James Marsden no less), and the canon Broly with a more believable backstory
@@radiokunio3738 my god, that’s so on point. He is just an actor, he didn’t need to go the extra mile, everything he read should be somewhat represented in the script. However, reading the source material probably only made it more confusing and painful for him.
Thank god that we live in a post-Guardians of the Galaxy world so this tings are less likely to happen. Why they are making Monster Hunter not fun? Why Netflix are wanting to do this despite claiming they are better? Why they made Fant4stic dark? The general audience can take all of this "stupid shit" The Dark Knight trilogy ruined geek and pop culture (by god the The Batman is going to suck so hard), I'm tankful for people like Taika Waititi and James Gunn.
@@MakoShiruba And even then I'd argue that the Dark Knight (the only movie in that trilogy that people actually care about) is vastly overrated by virtue of the standards having been so very low when it came out. Even discounting specific plot issues like, "its fine that Bats did a surveillance state! He broke it immediately after he was done!" on a structural level its third act is a trainwreck.
Even worse it’s being made by the same dude who made the live action Resident Evil movies And of course the main star of his movie is his wife....I swear why does Capcom let him butcher their franchises?
It really sucks that Stephen Chow got cheated out of this. The dude loves Dragon Ball, and was a great choice for this. Hell, he's made a Journey to the West movie years after this movie came out! And just look at how his fight scenes go, look up Sing vs. The Axe Gang from Kung Fu Hustle, or just look up most of the big fights in that movie. It was this perfect blend of cartoony martial arts that felt so anime. He didn't shy away from making the fights over the top.
But even with the most talented writer and director and the biggest budget, I just can't imagine how a live-action Dragon Ball movie could work without pissing off a lot of fans. It's just way too stylized.
@@MauZangetsu I would say half of Dragon Ball's popularity came from the fights, which is why they were focused on in the later parts so heavily and Z became mostly fights. Such a big part of the manga ended up being a balance between fights comedy and the serious. I won't say adventure because that's an underlying part of the whole story. Heck Z is more adventurous in many ways than Dragon Ball, but people tend to dismiss that because it's edgier.
The irony that James Marsters would become an entirely different Green man with a black suit in a controversial yet still FAR SUPERIOR dragonball related story almost a decade later.
If Evolution hadn't pissed off Toriyama so much then we wouldn't have had him revive the series with Super. Zamasu wouldn't have existed without this movie. If nothing else that's the one good thing about this existing.
@@wilmagregg3131 I have a soft spot for the Goku Black Arc as well (I love that the official name is "The Future Trunks Saga" and the fanbase has made sure to use every name BUT that one when referring to it), but it does have some things holding it back from being truly great. Mainly the pacing (they should have gone back to the future TWICE at the absolute most) and the ending being... well, awful, there's no other way to put it. The Goku Black Arc is certainly the most serious arc in Super and is probably the closest it gets to matching DBZ's tone, and it introduced Goku Black, a villain who ended up being so much better and more memorable than he had any right to be. But I think the Tournament of Power was overall the best Super arc... as long as you're watching it in one big batch instead of waiting a week for every episode.
Which makes me sad that he got so much hate mail. And let's be honest, with stuff that has huge fanbases, hate mail = death threats. Like, it's just a movie. Calm down, people.
@@Wischmob_vE screen writers have very little power, producers, directors have a lot more of a say over what actually shows up on the screen. I’m not saying that he was blameless, but I would put more of the blame on the studio and the director if we’re being honest here
@@Wischmob_vE He didn't ignore the source material. In fact, he did his research and some of the early drafts are rather stay true to the original. It's just he got so many studio notes what needs to change to make it commercially viable.
Man, you can tell that people TRIED to make something with this, James Marsters, God bless him tried. Stephen Chow got cheated, and was people were cheated by his name usage too. The knowledge that not only did this burn the director, but so many others too, but the only one's who left unscathed were Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Chow Yun Fat, because they still get major work.
I actually really liked Chow Yun Fat in this movie, if only because he looked like he was having fun and was trying to play a live-action anime character. His performance was goofy, but it was the kind of goofy that would've worked in a more faithful Dragon Ball movie. As for James Marsters, he looked like he was really trying to make Piccolo an interesting character, but he didn't have the screen time to pull it off. I really got the feeling that his best stuff was cut for time. I feel bad for him, too. He was clearly a huge fan of the source material and seem really excited at the prospect of being in this movie.
I mean, let's be real, a Dragonball adaptation is not an easy thing to do. It's a story that was published over the course of well over a decade, it has a massive amount of lore and continuity, and the most famous and iconic part of the franchise doesn't kick off until relatively late.
Shit i was thinking the DBZ fights all the time during the Smallvile/Metropolis fights. I was like, dude this is how it could look on screen. Before Man Of Steel, the best DBZ live fight i could remember was the final fight in Matrix Revolution. Imagine during these fights with Superman, if you could see a Ki blast attack from someone and there you are....
Yep, that is what I was thinking when I watched Man of Steel... And the third Matrix movie too, but that one didn't do it well. That style of combat wasn't very superman-y but it looked just like DBZ. Should have given the director seat to Zack Snyder after all.
In terms of battle scope? Yeah, maybe. In terms of tone??? Comparing something as fun and quirky as Dragon Ball with something as grim, gritty, depressing and edgy like the Snyderverse is like comparing day and night. Honestly. I doubt Dragon Ball due to Toriyama's more comedic nature would ever get a proper live action adaptation in either west or east.
@@firmanchristiansianturi4794 Goku isn't a pervert. He doesn't even get the concept of female vs. male genitals in his introduction and thought marriage was something you ate. Oolong, Roshi? Perverts without question but there is a distinction between them and Goku.
Well, they could have taken another route. i dunno, make a movie about the world martial arts tournament, have Master Shen, Tien, Chiaotzu and Mercenary Tao to be the antagonists, mix events of the first two tournaments if they really need a great ape going apeshit scene and keep the power level of the characters overall lower to be more of affordable with the initial budget - meaning, more martial arts! Just like the original DB series was. For me, the script of DBE is the most unforgivable part of it.
@@firmanchristiansianturi4794 Goku in the original Dragon Ball is the most innocent boy you can know. He doesn't know what is a male and a female, doesn't know the value of money, is unable to use a lift, though marriage is some kind of food, was unable to discover that Roshi is a pervert and was victim of almost every trap if he considers you a friend.
@@jdredalert Let's be honest, this was a no-win situation. Well your idea would of made a lot more sense, the fact of the matter is that most fans only care about DBZ, and probably would of hated the film just as much if it focused on classic DB.
A Lucas cut of Dragonball? "Did you ever hear the tragedy of Yamcha the fool? He could make everyone look like an important and strong character, but in the end he couldn't stay important himself."
I want to live in the universe where George Lucas made this movie, I don't care if it still sucks, I want to see Jar Jar Pilaf and "I don't like sand" Goku
And one final point that was sadly missed over: James Marsters, having made a mark as a relative bright spot in a terrible Dragon Ball movie, got his chance to return to the role of villain, as he was chosen to voice Zamasu in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super.
I still remember seeing the trailer for this steaming pile and being so convinced it was going to be an abject failure I wrote an entire essay venting about it as part of my college Film Studies course, and against all odds actually getting a good grade for it.
I was a huge fan of the 86 anime film so in the mid 90s we saw Fist of The North Star listed in the TV guide. Lo and behold it wasn't the anime, but it was a live action movie! We got soooooooo hyped at that moment. 90 minutes later, we were all like "what the hell was that crap?!?!"
I asked James Marsters to sign my copy of the film at a convention which also happened to be the weekend of the film's anniversary (as well as my birthday weekend). His composure fell apart and he was super chill about it. Clearly gave him a good laugh and mentioned how the cast didn't know how badly the budget had been slashed until they were all down in mexico about to start shooting. Definitely one of my favorite autographs.
Calling the original script "More Faithful" is a bit of a stretch, given it was still set in modern times and featured the Ox-King as the leader of a biker gang, for starters. lol
I think you could still make the modern day high school setting work by including krillian and making a contrasting fish out of water story have krill be a monk wanting to see the outside world and indulge in its commodities (mainly girls) as he tries to fit in and contrast that with goku who at the request of his grandpa travels to this modern world to see what’s out thier while unlike krill not really caring about fitting in and just taking things in his own way would that be good? Ehh idk but it would certainly have been better than just jamming goku into the bog standard teen super hero hole
Yeah it's one hell of a weird read. Oolong is introduced and then killed because villain, Pilaf's gang are also Nameks, the backstory is a children's card game or something? What we would have gotten woulda been a bit different, but it wouldn't have been "more faithful" and I don't even know if it would have been better!
@@ryanholter6820 oh i think thats refering to dragon ball heros a side series of games and clips and manga about humans using machines to put themselves into the dragon ball universe with custom made characters but since its a gacha game they show up as digital "Cards" its pretyy decent story wise but certainly is not the first movie id make about dragon ball
I have a ton more respect now for Justin Chatwin. I loved him in Shameless and other series, he's a good actor. To know he spent all that time trying to get Goku right to give fans what they want....but that all his work was just shat on by the writer and director....makes me look at him now with admiration.
One of the things I always found kinda funny is that a couple years after this movie came out, Emmy Rossum and Justin Chatwin would go on to star in the American version of Shameless, playing characters who were romantically involved. So in a few scenes it's almost as if Goku and Bulma were...y'know...
Lemme tell ya a good one, Matt if you happen to read this: 20th Century Fox's mexican branch flat out lied to Mexican media reporting on the movie saying Durango was chosen because the wilderness there has an uncanny ressemblance to the wilderness areas in DragonBall Z where Goku and company fought Vegeta and Nappa, then the Androids, and so (which admitedly does). It inspired genuine confidence from like half of the Mexican DB fandom, falling into the "oh they do care about us! They know DB is insanely popular here! The movie might NOT be a dumpster fire!" trap. It even led to ha successful fan movement of having the DB voice actors for adult Goku and Piccolo to voice the Evolution version of Goku and Piccolo in Evolution's LatAm Spanish dub.
I’m reading this comment two years late but this is so interesting, awful that they gave Mexican fans false hope but the movement working and the fans all coming together is so cool!
@@musicinmymind623 Aye, but it was still kind of "I shouldn't be surprised that's the real reason" for me to hear the actual reasoning. What a horrible travesty of a movie Evolution was lol.
And angry OG DragonBall fanboys out of it. Don’t forget the greatest Christmas gift of all, Vic Migyoggy’s underage fan club defending him against those “dastardly villains” who ruined his career.* *Vic was a creep who ruined his own career, and Quinton Flynn is a creep too.
@@alverdeo965 Oh no I agree. It amplifies what was bad about Z and was agonizing to watch most of the time with all the antagonists (except Beerus) and asspulls. The Broly movie was lit tho
I remember this movie being recorded in my homeland: Durango, México. I was pretty hyped about it when I was a kid. There´s even a restaurant outside of the city in which the actors went to eat in there and there is some stuff autographed by the actors of this movie, and also there are a lot of pictures of them.
@@SmrtPhonRtistCF The furthest down that rabbit hole definitely has to be the Dead or Alive movie that exists for some reason. Also, the Fist of the North Star and Catwoman movies should totally be given their own What Happened episodes, too.
I remember going into theaters to see this with my buddy thinking it looked absolutely awful, and with those expectations, it went from being an incredibly insulting, cynical piece of Hollywood trash, to comedy of the year. Great stuff. Plus we got the new movies and DB Super. Yay!
And to think, I once tried defending this tire fire. And before anyone says anything, I was a kid. Influenced by articles from Shonen Jump, and in denial. As an adult, I know better now.
*This... WAS RELEASED IN CINEMAS?!* Fun Fact: You can also thank James Masters for Piccolo being green in this film; the director was so intent on getting everything wrong that Piccolo's skin colour is actually grey, but made green in post. Yeah.
It's interesting, though unsurprising, to note that the fault looks to be heavily on the studio executives. They recognized Dragonball's world-wide popularity, but still wanted to spend as little as they could get away with. Of course it also didn't help they decided to do the one story arc that, while exciting, would probably require the most special effects usage over other DB arcs. An arc that involves a large cast due to how late in DB it came. A cast that had, not including Piccolo and his children, already been introduced before. There was simply too much to be explained in an hour and half. They doomed themselves between the money-grubbing studio and picking a bad arc to start an adaptation with.
20th Century Fox had a piece of every DBZ film since Evolution to this day since Funimation had to arrange a deal with them to even bring Battle of the Gods to the US , yes Disney owns the theatrical rights for the DBZ movies made after 2009.
@@Shantae1188 Yeah, 20th Century Fox has been releasing the DBZ movies made after Evolution in Japan and internationally. I think it’s part of the deal but since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, they now have those rights so Disney gets a small chunk of revenue from every Dragon Ball related animated movie
Can you please make an episode on Action 52, the story is so insane and I have heard different parts from different people so I hope for a video with it all in one place, and yor quips will be the cherry on top!
I rememeber watching this movie on premiere day. The Cinema owner was an huge DBZ fan so he had some DBZ event 30m before the screening, However only 3 people did show up.
*Has anyone seen the 2006 Jet Li movie Fearless?* It's about a legendary fighter taking on the world's best fighters in a tournament, while flashbacks show what led up to him participating in it. I always felt THAT would be the best way to do a DB movie. Start with Goku already at the World Martials Arts Tournament fighting his way to the finals, while showing us flashbacks in-between of him training with Krillen & Roshi and meeting Bulma and Chi Chi.
I watched it when i was 12 years old i think and i was at the cinema like: "why master roshi is not bald? Why bulma's hair is not cyan, where is the turtle, WHERE IS KRILLIN"
Thank you for making this. I’m glad to hear the creative team at least had some interest in keeping things faithful to source. It’s a shame this movie found itself being produced by the wrong studio at the wrong time.
You know, I would be very interested in an episode about Sonic chronicles: The dark brotherhood. I always wondered how Mass Effect era Bioware did such a game.
So my mom wasn't a huge DBZ fan but she knew the characters enough. She randomly watched it and she was like "Why did they call this Dragon Ball? This is nothing like the show..."
I saw this movie in cinemas back when it came out. It was an umpleasant experience and it killed my interest in the franchise until I discovered DragonBall Z Abridged.
This was by far the easiest missed layup of a movie ever...decades of source material...manga ...anime... movies...Video games and 100s of millions of built in fans ... they could've made billions had they handled this right
I'm pissed we didn't get the George Lucas version. Not because it would have been any good, but because it would've been the most hilarious shitshow the world has ever seen. The Room and Birdemic would be blown away by George's insanity.
The one thing I love about this movie, was that it was shot in Mexico City (where I'm from)...so I recognized all the locations 🤣 including the street from across my university...that was fun
I could see what they were TRYING to do with the making Bulma a tech genius gunner aka Lucca from Chrono Trigger (really loved Bulma as a gunner who didn’t pee herself asking for Goku’s help all day) and Goku...who was a discount Crono from Chrono Trigger. They modernized even Master Roshi a bit by making his apartment secluded. I thought the idea was great but...the execution just failed everywhere. You could tell the actors didn’t even want to be in it and so neither did we.
Imagine being such a diehard Dragon Ball fan that you read its very inspiration. I bet Justin felt even worse about doing his research for nothing when he found out how radically different his character was from the manga.
I saw this on my birthday, when it came out, and I took a bunch of friends with me to go watch it, opening day. I knew what a dumpster fire I was in for and was ready to enjoy the show, and so was a completely packed theatre. The entire room laughed at every horrible moment, every butchery of Dragonball, and every dumb decision brought to life. We all broke into applause, too; once during the kamehameha at the end, once for the credits, and most importantly, Goku using ki to blow out the candles as he goes in for the kiss. Possibly the best cinema experience I've ever had. Probably should've told my friends we were going to laugh at it, not actually watch it.
Goku knows what girls are and Bulma duel wields guns. Also, the Kamehamaha was a jumping dash. I’m glad they kept this so close to the original… in the sequel, Goku will be on the brink of death and Krillen will singlehandedly kill the invading Saiyans.
Hi Matt, Thank you for this video. Awesome, informative and funny content as always. I would be so happy to see an episode of Wha Happun on the development of either Xenogears or the Xenosaga trilogy.
My mother would be a chef for the staff in Durango Mexico, and while i couldn't meet any actors, i was able to see the sets. It wasn't JUST an abandoned warehouse, there were actual practical sets placed in the deserted areas arround. But it was indeed lacking any comforting conditions that were only less stressful by the fact that Durango is oddly enough, very low on hot temperatures, especially back then. However, one thing for sure, due to many implications with production, there would be times where the sets would just stay abandoned, and people would just stay there hoping for something to make sense. In Durango this production is remembered quite fondly due to the almost-religious love for the IP, and i can confirm that the sequel was going to be about the Saiyan Saga, as the staff would tell me and mom that the next main thing was going to be about getting casting for Gohan, but obviously, nothing went beyond conversations while they were eating milanesas.
The fact this connects back to Final destination and the X files astounds me. Fun fact final destination was supposed to be a one off x files episode but got turned into a movie instead.
NOTE: The cheeky editor for this episode, Trey decided to take a light-hearted jab at Eyepatchwolf's similar goof from his DragonBall Z video where he mixed up Go Nagai and Toriyama. So no need to spam comments about it, thanks!
Bro. It took 24 hours to download one of those DBZ AMVs off Limewire. Absolute Peak Internet. All downhill since then.
@@hia5235 you mean dragonballz the unofficial one, and it was iMesh not limewire
Too late, already did
This movie didn't damage Dragonball's brand, it rather saved it, as this mammoth fuck-up of a movie gave us the Dragonball revival era we live in, today, which is all about fan service goodness with Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, and the Broly movie, along with an all new series in the form of Dragonball Super, and a slew of new games, especially the Xenoverse games, which finally let us create our own Dragonball characters - all thanks to this piece of shit Evolution movie seriously pissing off Toriyama.
If I scream Netflix’s Death Note loud enough will Matt McMuscles hear me?
Imagine being so dedicated to the character to the fact that you read a shit load of manga to later find out that the character you're playing is nothing like the one in the manga
I'm starting to realise why Justin Chatwin phoned in his performance so hard. Poor guy.
And there's a reason why this version Goku is refered to with such names as "Geeko", "Noku", or "Kakanot"!
Yes yes, I love those jobs where I prepare by reading manga and watching anime!
@@TheArceusftw reminds me of how people call Dante from the devil may cry reeboot (which is widely hated) Donte
@@Metaphizzle that's just as bad. 😨
“Toriyama was also consulted. And by consulted, I mean ignored.” Got me literally laughing out loud. Like obnoxiously loud
its even more hilarious at the fact that, that wasn’t even toriyama in the image in the first place
Same thing happened with George Lucas with disney star wars
Fox: Is this destroying your creation? Is this nothing like your original vision?
Toriyama: Yes.
Fox: Good!
James Marsters said at a convention "If you like Dragonball you're gonna hate this movie. If you don't know what Dragonball is you're gonna hate this movie."
The best thing about this (that I’m surprised Matt didn’t mention at the end) is that James Marsters redeemed himself years later by dubbing Zamasu. That’s some dope shit.
I have low faith on Hollywood during that time and now i still have it.
My friends who knew nothing about dragonball but liked superhero flicks seemed to like it.
In other words, this movie doesn't please anyone.
I give Marsters credit for not even pretending any of this was a positive experience for crew or audience.
Another silver lining from Evolution: James Marsters getting his due by voicing Zamasu in DB Super.
Shit, I didn't know that. I glad he got a chance to redeem himself.
Holy shit and he does such an amazing job
Good for him! I had no idea. I’m guessing he contacted the localizers and asked if he could join and not the other way around, yes?
He's always been a huge Dragon Ball fan, & friends with Sean Schemmel & Chris Sabat for years. Pretty sure it's a mutual love-fest. But you can actually watch him go in to record it in James' parody web series, ViDiOTS (skip to about the 20-minute mark for that specifically, but the whole episode has some hilarious DBE refs): ruclips.net/video/j1IBOa4plHQ/видео.html - Jamie
I love him in Buffy and angel lol
I love how the film was just so horrendous and terrible it got Toriyama to continue the franchise just so Evolution wasn't the last thing you saw from the series.
Yeah, without this piece of shit, we wouldn't have Beerus, Whis, Golden Freeza, the other universes, Goku Black, Zamasu (who was voiced James Marsden no less), and the canon Broly with a more believable backstory
@@erichfiedler1481 canon broly is great
@@erichfiedler1481 so I guess it was worth it.
@@thepixelman4776 for better or worse
So basically Evolution ended up being a good thing in the long run
Wow the thing I didn't know Justin Chatwin did all that research. No wonder in the movie he seemed either confused or didn't care half the time.
Pretty sure he was subtly mocking the shit they handed him to work with throughout the movie.
To be honest this is all fox fault the boy that acted goku actually worked hard and did his research it's not his fault it was fox.
Yeah it's kinda sad when your actors gave more attention to the source, then the person who actually writes the film.
@@radiokunio3738 my god, that’s so on point. He is just an actor, he didn’t need to go the extra mile, everything he read should be somewhat represented in the script. However, reading the source material probably only made it more confusing and painful for him.
Yeah. They REALLY didn’t stick to the source material.
Also, love your animations.
Ah yes, the poster child for "We must make fantasy stuff more realistic because that's mature and mature equals good" syndrome.
I can't wait until our species can get over that shit.
Thank god that we live in a post-Guardians of the Galaxy world so this tings are less likely to happen.
Why they are making Monster Hunter not fun? Why Netflix are wanting to do this despite claiming they are better? Why they made Fant4stic dark? The general audience can take all of this "stupid shit"
The Dark Knight trilogy ruined geek and pop culture (by god the The Batman is going to suck so hard), I'm tankful for people like Taika Waititi and James Gunn.
@@KaiserMattTygore927 yep.
Has that ever actually worked a single time
@@MakoShiruba And even then I'd argue that the Dark Knight (the only movie in that trilogy that people actually care about) is vastly overrated by virtue of the standards having been so very low when it came out. Even discounting specific plot issues like, "its fine that Bats did a surveillance state! He broke it immediately after he was done!" on a structural level its third act is a trainwreck.
I love how the db revival happened completely out of spite
This movie: *Happens*
Toriyama: F*ck you there's a cat god now
There is no stronger force in the universe than spite
You don't know how many series got revived or turned masterpiece out of spite
@@snailthelostcow63 examples?
RUclips just showed an ad for the Monster hunter movie in this... I guess that’s a bit of foreshadowing huh?
Matt should do a Wha Happun on that
Even worse it’s being made by the same dude who made the live action Resident Evil movies
And of course the main star of his movie is his wife....I swear why does Capcom let him butcher their franchises?
Yoitube vanced has no afs
O O F
@@YuriNoel7 OH GOD LORD! Do not remind me of the Alice saga!!
watching this today on the passing of Akira. RIP
It really sucks that Stephen Chow got cheated out of this. The dude loves Dragon Ball, and was a great choice for this. Hell, he's made a Journey to the West movie years after this movie came out! And just look at how his fight scenes go, look up Sing vs. The Axe Gang from Kung Fu Hustle, or just look up most of the big fights in that movie.
It was this perfect blend of cartoony martial arts that felt so anime. He didn't shy away from making the fights over the top.
*S O M U C H T H I S*
@@mokaza40 I agree 100%. People use to forget Dragon Ball is about adventure and comedy, not everything is about bloody fights
Kung Fu Hustle was such a good movie
But even with the most talented writer and director and the biggest budget, I just can't imagine how a live-action Dragon Ball movie could work without pissing off a lot of fans. It's just way too stylized.
@@MauZangetsu I would say half of Dragon Ball's popularity came from the fights, which is why they were focused on in the later parts so heavily and Z became mostly fights. Such a big part of the manga ended up being a balance between fights comedy and the serious. I won't say adventure because that's an underlying part of the whole story. Heck Z is more adventurous in many ways than Dragon Ball, but people tend to dismiss that because it's edgier.
The irony that James Marsters would become an entirely different Green man with a black suit in a controversial yet still FAR SUPERIOR dragonball related story almost a decade later.
Ironically enough, he was Brainiac\Brainic 5 in smallville.....though without the green look.
His performance was the best part of that arc too (obviously only if you watch the dub)
If Evolution hadn't pissed off Toriyama so much then we wouldn't have had him revive the series with Super. Zamasu wouldn't have existed without this movie. If nothing else that's the one good thing about this existing.
i wouldnt call the zamasu arc controversial it was the undoubtly the best part of DBS along side goku v hit vegeta v toppo and goku and frieza v jiren
@@wilmagregg3131 I have a soft spot for the Goku Black Arc as well (I love that the official name is "The Future Trunks Saga" and the fanbase has made sure to use every name BUT that one when referring to it), but it does have some things holding it back from being truly great. Mainly the pacing (they should have gone back to the future TWICE at the absolute most) and the ending being... well, awful, there's no other way to put it.
The Goku Black Arc is certainly the most serious arc in Super and is probably the closest it gets to matching DBZ's tone, and it introduced Goku Black, a villain who ended up being so much better and more memorable than he had any right to be. But I think the Tournament of Power was overall the best Super arc... as long as you're watching it in one big batch instead of waiting a week for every episode.
How many times on Wha Happen has someone ACTUALLY apologized for making something shit? Massive respect to Ben Ramsey.
Which makes me sad that he got so much hate mail. And let's be honest, with stuff that has huge fanbases, hate mail = death threats. Like, it's just a movie. Calm down, people.
@Shisuke Nakamura
His hands were tied the second Fox slashed the budget and demanded rewrites
@@Wischmob_vE screen writers have very little power, producers, directors have a lot more of a say over what actually shows up on the screen. I’m not saying that he was blameless, but I would put more of the blame on the studio and the director if we’re being honest here
@@Wischmob_vE He didn't ignore the source material. In fact, he did his research and some of the early drafts are rather stay true to the original. It's just he got so many studio notes what needs to change to make it commercially viable.
@@Wischmob_vE his apology is still more than most hollywood.
Man, you can tell that people TRIED to make something with this, James Marsters, God bless him tried. Stephen Chow got cheated, and was people were cheated by his name usage too. The knowledge that not only did this burn the director, but so many others too, but the only one's who left unscathed were Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Chow Yun Fat, because they still get major work.
I actually really liked Chow Yun Fat in this movie, if only because he looked like he was having fun and was trying to play a live-action anime character. His performance was goofy, but it was the kind of goofy that would've worked in a more faithful Dragon Ball movie.
As for James Marsters, he looked like he was really trying to make Piccolo an interesting character, but he didn't have the screen time to pull it off. I really got the feeling that his best stuff was cut for time. I feel bad for him, too. He was clearly a huge fan of the source material and seem really excited at the prospect of being in this movie.
Her last name is fat?
At least Masters got to play Zamasu later.
I mean, let's be real, a Dragonball adaptation is not an easy thing to do. It's a story that was published over the course of well over a decade, it has a massive amount of lore and continuity, and the most famous and iconic part of the franchise doesn't kick off until relatively late.
@@misterbadguy7325 eh I believe the continuity isn’t that great at times lol
You know your film is good when it’s filmed in a jeans factory.
They could've used some leftover jeans to make an Android 18 outfit.
Just like the 1993 disaster-piece, that was filmed in a cement factory.
When Man of Steel is the Best live-action DBZ adaptation.
Shit i was thinking the DBZ fights all the time during the Smallvile/Metropolis fights. I was like, dude this is how it could look on screen. Before Man Of Steel, the best DBZ live fight i could remember was the final fight in Matrix Revolution. Imagine during these fights with Superman, if you could see a Ki blast attack from someone and there you are....
I was also thinking this and told a college buddy. I honestly expected a dragon ball movie after man of steel
Yep, that is what I was thinking when I watched Man of Steel... And the third Matrix movie too, but that one didn't do it well. That style of combat wasn't very superman-y but it looked just like DBZ. Should have given the director seat to Zack Snyder after all.
In terms of battle scope?
Yeah, maybe.
In terms of tone???
Comparing something as fun and quirky as Dragon Ball with something as grim, gritty, depressing and edgy like the Snyderverse is like comparing day and night.
Honestly. I doubt Dragon Ball due to Toriyama's more comedic nature would ever get a proper live action adaptation in either west or east.
“Where’d you learn to fight, Kakarot? In a barn?”
TL;DR, the budget was almost non-existent, so they had to cut every corner until there were nothing left but the names of characters.
even if budget was an issue, there is no reason to make goku a high school pervert.
@@firmanchristiansianturi4794 Goku isn't a pervert. He doesn't even get the concept of female vs. male genitals in his introduction and thought marriage was something you ate.
Oolong, Roshi? Perverts without question but there is a distinction between them and Goku.
Well, they could have taken another route. i dunno, make a movie about the world martial arts tournament, have Master Shen, Tien, Chiaotzu and Mercenary Tao to be the antagonists, mix events of the first two tournaments if they really need a great ape going apeshit scene and keep the power level of the characters overall lower to be more of affordable with the initial budget - meaning, more martial arts! Just like the original DB series was. For me, the script of DBE is the most unforgivable part of it.
@@firmanchristiansianturi4794 Goku in the original Dragon Ball is the most innocent boy you can know. He doesn't know what is a male and a female, doesn't know the value of money, is unable to use a lift, though marriage is some kind of food, was unable to discover that Roshi is a pervert and was victim of almost every trap if he considers you a friend.
@@jdredalert Let's be honest, this was a no-win situation. Well your idea would of made a lot more sense, the fact of the matter is that most fans only care about DBZ, and probably would of hated the film just as much if it focused on classic DB.
A Lucas cut of Dragonball?
"Did you ever hear the tragedy of Yamcha the fool? He could make everyone look like an important and strong character, but in the end he couldn't stay important himself."
Yes
"It's not a story the saiyans would tell you"
@@Agent-yw1kj "It's an earthling legend"
Fans: How much stuff are you gonna screw up from the anime?
DBE: Yes
@Sarah Jane Sarah Hello
DBE: "What is a anime?"
DBE: What is a movie?
“It’s Goku’s rival, Piccolo! Now you see, he’s a Saipan just like Raditz”
I want to live in the universe where George Lucas made this movie, I don't care if it still sucks, I want to see Jar Jar Pilaf and "I don't like sand" Goku
Pilaf is the key to all of this.
And one final point that was sadly missed over: James Marsters, having made a mark as a relative bright spot in a terrible Dragon Ball movie, got his chance to return to the role of villain, as he was chosen to voice Zamasu in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super.
Spiderman Turn off the Dark will be the perfect episode
Oh hell yes!
+1000
Wow, Zero's "What am I fighting FOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooor!" goes perfect with 14:11. Well done there.
I think that maybe once enough information has come out, you could do “Mulan (2020) - What Happened?”.
@SNES Nes i third this
I fourth this
China
Despite the name value of Jet Li, Gong Li and Donnie Yen, the live action Mulan film flopped. Stick with the classic animated film, folks
@@KeyBladeMaster-Dan that’s why I want a “Wha Happun?” on Mulan (2020).
I still remember seeing the trailer for this steaming pile and being so convinced it was going to be an abject failure I wrote an entire essay venting about it as part of my college Film Studies course, and against all odds actually getting a good grade for it.
"The biggest insult to Japanese culture since Hiroshima." ---- Honest Trailer of Dragonball Evolution
Idk man Godzilla 1998 was pretty fucking bad.
@@cboelcke694 true but Godzilla the animated series put God back in it's name, and its a sequel to the movie
@@Feasco It's one of the opening lines.
@@cboelcke694 At leat the japanese had the last laugh by killing him in one of their moves
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Indeed
Imagine doing a ton of research for a part only to find out the movie you're gonna be in is nothing like all the information you just absorbed.
Fist of the North Star Live Action film... the hundred rending fist scene alone is worth an entire episode!
Love your videos man. Great stuff.
I was a huge fan of the 86 anime film so in the mid 90s we saw Fist of The North Star listed in the TV guide. Lo and behold it wasn't the anime, but it was a live action movie! We got soooooooo hyped at that moment. 90 minutes later, we were all like "what the hell was that crap?!?!"
I asked James Marsters to sign my copy of the film at a convention which also happened to be the weekend of the film's anniversary (as well as my birthday weekend). His composure fell apart and he was super chill about it. Clearly gave him a good laugh and mentioned how the cast didn't know how badly the budget had been slashed until they were all down in mexico about to start shooting. Definitely one of my favorite autographs.
I didn’t know that Chatwin did all that research for the role. I have to give him respect for that. At least he got to redeem himself in Doctor Who.
Agreed, kinda hope they give his DW character some Big Finish audios at some point
Almost any Japanese live-action adaptation of an anime could qualify for What Happened.
Fun fact: Justin Chatwin, the actor who played as goku, apologized to akira toriyama at his funeral.
James Marsters is actually now the voice actor for Zamasu, so I guess he'll have a legacy playing green DB villains.
Calling the original script "More Faithful" is a bit of a stretch, given it was still set in modern times and featured the Ox-King as the leader of a biker gang, for starters. lol
I think you could still make the modern day high school setting work by including krillian and making a contrasting fish out of water story have krill be a monk wanting to see the outside world and indulge in its commodities (mainly girls) as he tries to fit in and contrast that with goku who at the request of his grandpa travels to this modern world to see what’s out thier while unlike krill not really caring about fitting in and just taking things in his own way would that be good? Ehh idk but it would certainly have been better than just jamming goku into the bog standard teen super hero hole
Dragon Ball is set in modern times, actually more "modern" than our time, this part isn't really a problem
ok that actually makes sense with his outfit though and in a modern world it would give oxking a reason to be a great fighter for a human
Yeah it's one hell of a weird read. Oolong is introduced and then killed because villain, Pilaf's gang are also Nameks, the backstory is a children's card game or something? What we would have gotten woulda been a bit different, but it wouldn't have been "more faithful" and I don't even know if it would have been better!
@@ryanholter6820 oh i think thats refering to dragon ball heros a side series of games and clips and manga about humans using machines to put themselves into the dragon ball universe with custom made characters but since its a gacha game they show up as digital "Cards" its pretyy decent story wise but certainly is not the first movie id make about dragon ball
I have a ton more respect now for Justin Chatwin. I loved him in Shameless and other series, he's a good actor. To know he spent all that time trying to get Goku right to give fans what they want....but that all his work was just shat on by the writer and director....makes me look at him now with admiration.
I think he did a decent job playing the movie's version of Goku, he has an arc and becomes more Goku-like as the movie goes on.
One of the things I always found kinda funny is that a couple years after this movie came out, Emmy Rossum and Justin Chatwin would go on to star in the American version of Shameless, playing characters who were romantically involved. So in a few scenes it's almost as if Goku and Bulma were...y'know...
Lemme tell ya a good one, Matt if you happen to read this: 20th Century Fox's mexican branch flat out lied to Mexican media reporting on the movie saying Durango was chosen because the wilderness there has an uncanny ressemblance to the wilderness areas in DragonBall Z where Goku and company fought Vegeta and Nappa, then the Androids, and so (which admitedly does). It inspired genuine confidence from like half of the Mexican DB fandom, falling into the "oh they do care about us! They know DB is insanely popular here! The movie might NOT be a dumpster fire!" trap.
It even led to ha successful fan movement of having the DB voice actors for adult Goku and Piccolo to voice the Evolution version of Goku and Piccolo in Evolution's LatAm Spanish dub.
I’m reading this comment two years late but this is so interesting, awful that they gave Mexican fans false hope but the movement working and the fans all coming together is so cool!
@@musicinmymind623 Aye, but it was still kind of "I shouldn't be surprised that's the real reason" for me to hear the actual reasoning. What a horrible travesty of a movie Evolution was lol.
7:01 I love how whenever people wanna talk about akira toriyama they always bust out a go nagai picture with a dragon ball background
that's what I thought too
Wait, that's Go Nagai? I expected him to have massive sideburns and I'm very disappointed.
Every single video about DB:E shows a picture of Go Nagai dubbed as Akira Toriyama. LOL
Apparently the editor for this video threw that in as a little jab towards SuperEyePatchWolf'a video where he made a similar mistake
@@Calvin_Coolage Oh i didn't know that, that's a very cool node
James Marsters got his redemption at least by doing a great job playing Zamasu in the Funi Dub for Dragon Ball Super!
Painful to see but at least we got another show out of it.
And angry OG DragonBall fanboys out of it. Don’t forget the greatest Christmas gift of all, Vic Migyoggy’s underage fan club defending him against those “dastardly villains” who ruined his career.*
*Vic was a creep who ruined his own career, and Quinton Flynn is a creep too.
One that James Marsters got another chance to be a Dragon Ball villain in!
@@alverdeo965 Super had some cool moments, but a lot of shitty ones too
@@alverdeo965my guy calm down its everyone to enjoy something and hate something no need to insult people
@@alverdeo965 Oh no I agree. It amplifies what was bad about Z and was agonizing to watch most of the time with all the antagonists (except Beerus) and asspulls. The Broly movie was lit tho
I remember this movie being recorded in my homeland: Durango, México. I was pretty hyped about it when I was a kid.
There´s even a restaurant outside of the city in which the actors went to eat in there and there is some stuff autographed by the actors of this movie, and also there are a lot of pictures of them.
That's nothing to be proud of.
When are we getting a Wha Happun on Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li?
And delve even further with the Kof movie and Tekken.
The one bad movie I’ve seen that makes it so I’m more inclined to like divisive bad movies.
Balrog punched someone so hard they got cancer. That was perfect.
@@SmrtPhonRtistCF The furthest down that rabbit hole definitely has to be the Dead or Alive movie that exists for some reason.
Also, the Fist of the North Star and Catwoman movies should totally be given their own What Happened episodes, too.
I find it funny that Goku and Bulma’s actors were also a toxic couple on Shameless. Small world in show business lol
Now I'm imagining a Showtime producer watching Dragonball Evolution and thinking THAT'S IT, WE FOUND OUR LEADING COUPLE
You could say that DB: Evolution...spirit bombed at the box office.
take my like and leave
"Shit that's good."
I remember going into theaters to see this with my buddy thinking it looked absolutely awful, and with those expectations, it went from being an incredibly insulting, cynical piece of Hollywood trash, to comedy of the year. Great stuff. Plus we got the new movies and DB Super. Yay!
And to think, I once tried defending this tire fire. And before anyone says anything, I was a kid. Influenced by articles from Shonen Jump, and in denial. As an adult, I know better now.
Shonen Jump said something _nice_ about the blasphemy of their God, the flagship franchise of SJ and all shonen?
@@autobotstarscream765 No. They just said it was a thing.
*This... WAS RELEASED IN CINEMAS?!*
Fun Fact: You can also thank James Masters for Piccolo being green in this film; the director was so intent on getting everything wrong that Piccolo's skin colour is actually grey, but made green in post. Yeah.
I'll never forget when I spent $5 to rent this on demand at my grandma's house. Worst $5 I ever spent.
I bought this for $5 on DVD at a Walmart.
This was one of my first introductions to Dragon Ball and I regret it...
I must whole heartedly thank you for doing this review.
It's interesting, though unsurprising, to note that the fault looks to be heavily on the studio executives. They recognized Dragonball's world-wide popularity, but still wanted to spend as little as they could get away with.
Of course it also didn't help they decided to do the one story arc that, while exciting, would probably require the most special effects usage over other DB arcs. An arc that involves a large cast due to how late in DB it came. A cast that had, not including Piccolo and his children, already been introduced before. There was simply too much to be explained in an hour and half.
They doomed themselves between the money-grubbing studio and picking a bad arc to start an adaptation with.
They wanted to bridge into Z and using Piccolo makes sense since he was the big bad of DB before Z.
*sigh* What were they thinking....
Can you do The Last Airbender?
20th Century Fox had a piece of every DBZ film since Evolution to this day since Funimation had to arrange a deal with them to even bring Battle of the Gods to the US , yes Disney owns the theatrical rights for the DBZ movies made after 2009.
@@Shantae1188 Yeah, 20th Century Fox has been releasing the DBZ movies made after Evolution in Japan and internationally. I think it’s part of the deal but since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, they now have those rights so Disney gets a small chunk of revenue from every Dragon Ball related animated movie
Can you please make an episode on Action 52, the story is so insane and I have heard different parts from different people so I hope for a video with it all in one place, and yor quips will be the cherry on top!
I rememeber watching this movie on
premiere day.
The Cinema owner was an huge DBZ fan so he had some DBZ event 30m before the screening,
However only 3 people did show up.
That's Sad
i remember "gt final bout" being almost something of legend back when i was young. when i finally got to play it.. it sucked
Lmaoo begged my mom for that after I had Ultimate Battle 22😭 good times
*Has anyone seen the 2006 Jet Li movie Fearless?* It's about a legendary fighter taking on the world's best fighters in a tournament, while flashbacks show what led up to him participating in it. I always felt THAT would be the best way to do a DB movie. Start with Goku already at the World Martials Arts Tournament fighting his way to the finals, while showing us flashbacks in-between of him training with Krillen & Roshi and meeting Bulma and Chi Chi.
I watched it when i was 12 years old i think and i was at the cinema like: "why master roshi is not bald? Why bulma's hair is not cyan, where is the turtle, WHERE IS KRILLIN"
Would love to see a Plumber's Don't Wear Ties - What Happened. O_O
I wanna know what was being smoked during the production of that thinly-veiled porno of a video game.....and where I can get some
Damn, at least the writer came to and apologized. Takes a lot of courage to swollow that pill.
Thank you for making this. I’m glad to hear the creative team at least had some interest in keeping things faithful to source. It’s a shame this movie found itself being produced by the wrong studio at the wrong time.
Best thing to come out of this movie
"I did the best I could, but at the end of the day, I 'dropped the dragon ball"
It’s still pretty cool how James Marsters got to eventually come back to Dragon Ball as Zamasu.
I love the end. Thank you Dragon Ball Evolution for making Toriyama go Super Saiyan and bring about the renaissance of Dragon Ball.
You know, I would be very interested in an episode about Sonic chronicles: The dark brotherhood. I always wondered how Mass Effect era Bioware did such a game.
It also was the catalyst to what would be the future of the Archie run.
Oooh. Been wondering when you'd cover this.
James Marsters actually is actually still involved in Dragonball, he is the English voice for Zamasu
A Wha Happun on the Yakuza movie is a for sure, dude.
So my mom wasn't a huge DBZ fan but she knew the characters enough. She randomly watched it and she was like "Why did they call this Dragon Ball? This is nothing like the show..."
I have a suggestion for a future, what happened streetfighter the legend of Chun Li.
I had to sit through a Stadia ad during this video. That’ll be perfect for What Happened.
Only thing I really remember about this movie is that I thought the actress who plays Chi-Chi (looked up name, which is Jamie Chung), is pretty hot.
16:35 Majima what did they do to you?!
I saw this movie in cinemas back when it came out. It was an umpleasant experience and it killed my interest in the franchise until I discovered DragonBall Z Abridged.
This was by far the easiest missed layup of a movie ever...decades of source material...manga ...anime... movies...Video games and 100s of millions of built in fans ... they could've made billions had they handled this right
Started watching DBZ in '94. Own all available series, episodes, & movies.
I have never seen this movie and never will.
Who needs Dragonball Evolution when you have Possum's feature-length teardown of DBE? 😂
ruclips.net/video/jpDWG15fIuk/видео.html
I can't even make it 5 minutes in, even with TFS riff-track playing.
idk how acurate this is but i saw someone saying "I love how every character is asian except the main ones, goddam it Hollywood"
I'm pissed we didn't get the George Lucas version. Not because it would have been any good, but because it would've been the most hilarious shitshow the world has ever seen. The Room and Birdemic would be blown away by George's insanity.
Followed by an absolutely wretched JJ Abrams remake
The one thing I love about this movie, was that it was shot in Mexico City (where I'm from)...so I recognized all the locations 🤣 including the street from across my university...that was fun
I could see what they were TRYING to do with the making Bulma a tech genius gunner aka Lucca from Chrono Trigger (really loved Bulma as a gunner who didn’t pee herself asking for Goku’s help all day) and Goku...who was a discount Crono from Chrono Trigger. They modernized even Master Roshi a bit by making his apartment secluded. I thought the idea was great but...the execution just failed everywhere. You could tell the actors didn’t even want to be in it and so neither did we.
Wait, Matt, actually, "Battle Royale 2" could be an interesting one
Imagine being such a diehard Dragon Ball fan that you read its very inspiration.
I bet Justin felt even worse about doing his research for nothing when he found out how radically different his character was from the manga.
11:54 James Marsters and Chow Yun Fat sitting defeated in the desert because they got bamboozled is a hilarious image.
Why did you show Go Nagai at 07:03?
He's the creator of Mazinger and Devilman, not Dragon Ball
I think its a joke
I saw this on my birthday, when it came out, and I took a bunch of friends with me to go watch it, opening day. I knew what a dumpster fire I was in for and was ready to enjoy the show, and so was a completely packed theatre. The entire room laughed at every horrible moment, every butchery of Dragonball, and every dumb decision brought to life. We all broke into applause, too; once during the kamehameha at the end, once for the credits, and most importantly, Goku using ki to blow out the candles as he goes in for the kiss.
Possibly the best cinema experience I've ever had. Probably should've told my friends we were going to laugh at it, not actually watch it.
Oh hell yes! One of THE MOST "Wha happeney" things right here.
Goku knows what girls are and Bulma duel wields guns. Also, the Kamehamaha was a jumping dash.
I’m glad they kept this so close to the original… in the sequel, Goku will be on the brink of death and Krillen will singlehandedly kill the invading Saiyans.
I can't wait for the inevitable Cyberpunk 2077 Wha Happun? SEVEN years in development and launches with more bugs than an NYC apartment building.
Hi Matt,
Thank you for this video. Awesome, informative and funny content as always.
I would be so happy to see an episode of Wha Happun on the development of either Xenogears or the Xenosaga trilogy.
Everyone, do yourself a favor and do a youtube search for "dragon ball evolution car slide"
You're welcome.
My mother would be a chef for the staff in Durango Mexico, and while i couldn't meet any actors, i was able to see the sets. It wasn't JUST an abandoned warehouse, there were actual practical sets placed in the deserted areas arround. But it was indeed lacking any comforting conditions that were only less stressful by the fact that Durango is oddly enough, very low on hot temperatures, especially back then.
However, one thing for sure, due to many implications with production, there would be times where the sets would just stay abandoned, and people would just stay there hoping for something to make sense. In Durango this production is remembered quite fondly due to the almost-religious love for the IP, and i can confirm that the sequel was going to be about the Saiyan Saga, as the staff would tell me and mom that the next main thing was going to be about getting casting for Gohan, but obviously, nothing went beyond conversations while they were eating milanesas.
Ah I can't stop watching you "What Happened" episodes! I would love to see a What happened to Jet set radio or jet grind radio
That GT Final Bout joke is how you know Mr. McMuscles is low key part of the FGC. I know you wanted to say kusoge there
Is this a re-upload, because I swear I seen uou cover this one before.
Imma rewatch just in case
The fact this connects back to Final destination and the X files astounds me. Fun fact final destination was supposed to be a one off x files episode but got turned into a movie instead.
Snyder would have gotten the fights right at least.
imagine making a movie adaption so bad, the original creator revives the franchise out of spite
7:02 that's Go Nagai, my dude
Goku looks like someone tried to draw Billy Joe Armstrong from memory after a concussion