Released in 2009, Dragonball Evolution quickly came under fire because it achieved a new milestone in being the most disappointing watch that has ever been created in the history of cinema. The flick soon became a hot topic of conversation among fans and critics, primarily because it was heavily different from the source material.
The film was a quagmire of mess and complications, from whitewashing the characters to deviating from the source material and subduing the magical essence that Akira Toriyama had spent his life creating. It could not get any worse, or could it?
James Marsters, who played Demon King Piccolo, claimed he was duped into agreeing and that the adaptation would be allegedly made by a well-known director with a large production budget.
James Marsters Recalls How He Was Allegedly Tricked Into Joining Dragonball Evolution
James Wong’s Dragon Ball Evolution peaks as the most unfortunate and ghastly blemish to the franchise. The film sits with a mere rating of 2.5/10 on IMDb and managed to gross only $56.5 million at the worldwide box office via The Numbers.
The film was a matter of conversation for several reasons, and to make matters worse, James Marsters opened up about how he was allegedly tricked into joining the cast of the film. While attending the 2014 Wizard World Convention in Atlanta via YouTube, he mentioned that film was important to him “as a father.”
Initially, the actor stated that the flick was supposed to have an alleged budget of $120 million, and Stephen Chow was going to direct the project. Marsters said,
Dragon Ball Z was important for me as a father, so I was really into it when I got the role. And they told me it was a $120 million picture, and that Stephen Chow was producing. And Stephen Chow is the director of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. Which if you guys haven’t seen his films, go get them, just fabulous. They’re funny, goofy, violent, scary: Everything you would need for Dragon Ball to work.
The actor added that when he went to the location, he learned two things: firstly, “it’s a $30 million picture” and, secondly, “Stephen Chow is just on paper to fool us down.”
As a result, safety was a major concern on the set, where James Marsters was put in harm’s way several times. He said,
I get out to Durango, Mexico and it’s a $30 million picture and Stephen Chow is just on paper to fool us down into the desert. And they don’t even want to pay for the stuntman to get made up like me, so they never used the stuntman; they just kept putting me up on wires. I still have a separated clavicle from the shoot, because it was just gnarly. But I still wanted my son to at least like my part in it.
Nevertheless, the actor emphasized how he was motivated to do the film because he wanted his son to like his role in the adaptation, which was more important to him than anything else in the world.
Why was Dragonball Evolution a Mess From The Title Itself?
There’s no denying that the 2009 live-action film was an utter disappointment that deviated heavily from the source material. Despite Akira Toriyama suggesting the changes, the screenwriters continued with what they had planned. Naturally, the film was met with backlash, resulting in the live-action curse.
The film not only failed to recreate the essence of the original show but also featured various heinous mistakes, like showcasing Goku as an airbender, his best friend Krillin being missing, and the VFX being straight-up ugly. Perhaps these mistakes were slight compared to what the film had done with its title.
The biggest mistake in the 2009 film was its title. In the original series, ‘Dragon’ and ‘Ball’ are separate words, but in the live adaptation, it could not even replicate the title correctly, which now does not make it surprising because it failed to respect the very fundamental aspect of the anime.
Dragonball Evolution can be rented on Amazon Video.
