The international trailer for Dragonball: Evolution, aka The Film Formerly Known As Dragonball Until About Five Minutes Ago, has just gone online over at IGN.
Ever since James Wong’s movie, based on a long-running manga about a young man who must fulfil his destiny and become a kick-arse fighter while stopping evil overlords from getting their hands on seven mystical objects known as Dragon Balls, was announced, we haven’t been able to make our minds up about it. Is it genius? Or is it goat?
And the trailer, to be honest, hasn’t helped – but it looks absolutely bonkers, in a good way. It starts with the Godlike Chow Yun-fat, as Roshi, banging on about the Dragon Balls and an eclipse, and then we’re quickly introduced to Justin Chatwin’s Goku, a hero with hair so big that it makes Robert Pattinson’s barnet look like Patrick Stewart’s, as he embarks upon a voyage of discovery.
Of course, given that this is produced by Stephen Chow and is therefore quite possibly demented, his voyage of discovery involves lots of slo-mo fighting, and some banter with Emmy Rossum’s Bulma, a heroine with hair even bigger than Goku's and a name that’s a couple of vowels away from a hideous eating disorder.
We also get some glimpses of Buffy’s James Marsters, twirling a non-existent moustache as bad guy Piccolo, some decent-looking fight scenes and a big old effects scene in which a massive explosion engulfs a city.
So far, so good, then. Well, we think, for there are disturbing echoes of **DOA: Dead Or Alive **and Bulletproof Monk here. Hopefully they’ll pass, and this might well turn out to be barnstorming, family-friendly fun.
Click here to see the new trailer for Dragonball: Evolution.