I did the one thing I swore I wouldn't do...and that's watch DBE online. I'm a pirate. I just couldn't resist seeing it. The anticipation was killing me. But here's my review anyway.
Ok, so this movie was pretty awesome in my opinion. At some parts it did feel a little rushed, but doesn't every movie at some point? Except Spider-Man 3. That movie had so much story and only a few action scenes that it didn't balance it self out.
The part where Goku actually holds a conversation with Chi Chi is where I first started liking this guy. He fumbled over his words and couldn't seem to get what he was meaning to say out. "Yeah, 'cause there are a lot stupider names out there than Chi Chi. I mean, Chi Chi isn't normal. I mean, I like you not being normal..." and so on.
I like Justin Chatwin as Goku. He makes him into a very likable person who you just want to root for through the movie. The only thing I had a problem with is that they didn't make him AS clueless as in the anime/manga. Only a fraction of that. But he did have some of the funniest facial expressions throughout the movie. (Is it bad that when he was turning into Oozaru, I thought he looked constipated?)
Bulma on the other hand, not so much. As much as I love Emmy Rossum, I'd have to say her Bulma was weak, even though she was supposed to be tough. Emmy just wasn't right for this role, sorry. I love all of Emmy's other movies, but this isn't her best work. The only time I felt connected to Bulma was when she had a moment alone with Yamcha and you could see the relationship just starting to spark. And that's another thing, not enough build up in their relationship. You don't really feel the connection.
Joon Park was excellent as Yamcha. It helped that he sounded like Chris Sabat's version of Yamcha from the FUNimation dub, which is what most people are used to. He also had the attitude. He put up a "Bad Boy" front, but was a kind person at heart. He was just doing what he needed to survive. He, along with Roshi, provided most of the comic relief.
Chow Yun Fat wasn't half bad as Roshi. Regardless of those official statements Fox put out about Roshi not being perverted, it's still there. Needless to say, it's not over the top like in the anime, but it's still there.
One example is when he, Bulma, and Goku are looking through his stuff trying to locate his Dragonball and Bulma finds a swimsuit model magazine.
Roshi was wise, and cracked a few jokes, and was overall, a good supporting role.
Mai...not much to say here. She didn't do much in the movie except get
Dragonballs. I wish her role was expanded more. Her shining moment was when she was fighting Goku in the volcano, trying to beat him to the Dragonball. So far, she was dodging all of his moves, and when she tried to punch him, it didn't hurt him at all. It had one of those classic anime moments when the hit lands and nothing happens except that the punch has moved the skin a little bit and it's frozen there for a second. Loved that.
Piccolo. Very imposing figure, but again, didn't do much. He looked amazing and the fight scene between him and Goku was awesome (but too freaking short). He had a chilling voice, too. I wish they had shown more character development for Piccolo.
Now for one of the most controversial parts of the film...the Kamehameha.
One word....Epic.
Now, this wasn't your standard Kamehameha. It was kinda like a combination of the Kamehameha and the punch through move that Goku did in the cartoon against Piccolo. I'll go through what happens step by step.
Piccolo :"blah blah blah"
Goku : *gets mad*
Piccolo: (paraphrased) "you're gonna die"
Goku: KAME *starts charging energy bringing it in from all around his body*
Piccolo: look of disgust and throws his Demon Wave attack.
Goku: HAME...*pulls all the energy all the way back to his side.*
the Demon wave is too close for comfort when Goku releases the blast
Goku: HA!!!
in a side view, Goku then goes flying through the air and the Kamehameha completely blasts through Piccolo's attack. Goku is still going toward Piccolo.
in a POV (point of view) shot, you see the Kamehameha completely surround piccolo as he writhes in pain in the middle of the air.
back to a side view, you see goku punch Piccolo w/ the Kamehameha and it causes a HUGE explosion.
Goku then drops to the ground in the classic anime pose in the foreground of the screen in bottom corner, kneeling on one knee and fist in the ground, head down and then slowly raises it up.
At this point i was expecting more classic anime moments, such as Piccolo having a delayed reaction to gravity and falling down a few seconds later behind him. But that didn't happen. You don't even see Piccolo fall at all, the next thing you see is piccolo already on the ground.
They definitely left room open for a sequel. Which is good. Cuz even though this wasn't exactly like the anime. Once you see the movie, the changes aren't really that big a deal because you're sucked into the fun. The changes work for this kind of movie.
But because they did make so many changes and some of the cast overacted or underacted, and some characters weren't used to their fullest potential, I'd have to give this film a 4 out of 5 stars.
I wish Bulma was a little more like in the manga, because as it turns out, the tough chick thing didn't work for this movie. And even though I was all for the change at first, I think the others were right when they said she should have been truer to her anime/manga counterpart.
I also would have loved to see more Mai and Piccolo. They were great, but not enough screen time.
Also, as incredible as the fight scenes were. I think they could have been a bit longer.
So like I said earlier, I give this a 4/5.