Dragonball Evolution 2009

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: The film is crammed with treats for old-school Dragonball fans. For everyone else, this amounts to another seen-it-before, probably-willing-to-see-it-again distraction, a passable collection of 'splosions and special effects for a slow film weekend. Read more

Joel Brown, Boston Globe: The giddy, anything-goes spirit of Japanese manga comics and Hong Kong martial arts flicks animates Dragonball Evolution. Not enough to make it a good movie, mind you, but enough so you won't hate yourself if you sit through it with the kids. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: It's hard to muster up fear for the end of the civilization when the whole production looks like an hour of network filler. Read more

Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly: Fans of the best-selling Dragonball comics (and cartoons, and videogames...) might have a shot at untangling the knotty dream-logic that strangles Dragonball: Evolution's live-action adaptation. Read more

Leigh Paatsch, New York Post: A hyperactively messy little adventure fantasy in which movement is everything and meaning means nothing. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: There are a few entertaining fight scenes. But there is also uneven CGI, bad dialogue and a host of cliched moments that make Dragonball Evolution just another disappointing matinee movie. Read more

Drew Toal, Time Out: Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Making no effort to be original, exciting, witty or even vaguely plausible, it may pass the time as sparkly fodder for 12-year-old boys with plenty of sugar in their bloodstream. Read more

Russell Edwards, Variety: Dragonball Evolution doesn't take itself too seriously, but avoids campiness. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Evolution is far more entertaining than it deserves to be, unless you're a 10-year-old boy, in which case it's only the greatest movie ever made. Read more