No one likes Dragonball Evolution, but it's an especially sore topic among Dragon Ball Z fans. The film bears so little resemblance to the original Dragon Ball series that it doesn't even include the space between "Dragon" and "Ball" in its official title. Fans hoping to see their favorites, like Goku and Piccolo, brought to the big screen were incredibly disappointed with the end result.
However, there might have been far better Dragon Ball live-action films lurking just out of sight the whole time. Sure, the films are necessarily "good," but they might be "so bad they're good." Two bootleg Dragon Ball live-action films, one from China and the other from Korea, released in the early '90s might be the closest fans will ever get to seeing a live-action adaptation of the early days of Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins
The more famous of the two is Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins, released in China in 1991. This film isn't a straight (or even official) adaptation of Dragon Ball. It combines the show with its source material's inspiration, The Journey to the West, while also adapting the plot of the first Dragon Ball animated movie, Curse of the Blood Rubies, which itself is a recreation of the first arc of Dragon Ball, substituting the beloved adversary Emperor Pilaf with King Gourmeth, a greedy human transformed into a titanic monster.
In The Magic Begins, we meet the greedy King Horn, who is seeking out the seven Dragon Pearls (yes, you read that correctly) to gain ultimate power. He has two and is after the remaining five, which are in the possession of several heroes. One of these is a hero named Sparkle. When King Horn kidnaps him, Sparkle's grandson, Monkey Boy, goes out to find all the remaining possessors of the Dragon Pearls, including Seetoe, Piggy, La Ping and the Turtle Man. Together, they aim to stop King Horn from doing whatever it is he wants to do with the Pearls.
Obviously, Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins renames every single character from Dragon Ball. Sparkle is Grandpa Gohan, Monkey Boy is Goku, La Ping is Yamcha, Seetoe is Bulma, Piggy is Oolong and Turtle Man is Master Roshi. There's also Jen-Jen, a character who is a combination of Goku's future wife Chi-Chi and Blood Rubies's Pansy. The reason all the names were changed was, of course, legal reasons. The Magic Begins never acquired the official rights for Dragon Ball and its characters, so to dodge international copyright law, they changed the names around.
Aside from that, the whole movie is very odd. Seetoe (Bulma) wears a different outfit in every scene, some of which are incredibly bizarre. The running gag might be a reference to how Bulma frequently wears different outfits throughout the series. Even odder are these two details: Bulma actually kills people in the series -- which she never does in the original -- and, even more remarkably, this is the only property in the entire Dragon Ball library where Grandpa Gohan lives.
Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku
As strange as Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins is, it's not even the first bootleg live-action Dragon Ball film. That honor goes to Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku, an unofficial Korean film released the year before The Magic Begins. While The Magic Begins is a loose adaptation of a Dragon Ball movie, this one is a far more faithful adaptation of the first arc with a couple of surprising alterations.
If you've seen the Pilaf Saga, you're mostly familiar with the plot here. Goku fights Pilaf with Bulma, Yamcha and Oolong alongside Master Roshi. They go off to fight Pilaf, later running into Chi-Chi, who ends up working alongside them. But Pilaf is not alone. He's got his loyal henchmen Mai and Nappa on his side to help him out. Yes. Nappa. With hair, strangely enough.
This film is a far more faithful adaptation of the Dragon Ball property, but very few people stateside know of its existence, while The Magic Begins is fairly well-known. The reasons for this are pretty simple: you couldn't buy Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku in the states. While The Magic Begins did have a direct-to-video release, this film never saw release outside of Korea due to the far stricter copyright laws. Unlike The Magic Begins, Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku doesn't change any of its character names. Due to how close it sticks to the source material, it actually could not be released thanks to Toei Animation's strict hold of the license. They even play a scene from Dragon Ball the anime in the movie!
Why Are Both Better than Evolution?
What is immediately apparent when watching both films is that neither is exactly high-budget. While much of the martial arts is of the same quality as tokusatsu shows and low-budget kung-fu movies from the '80s and early '90s, the special effects and costumes are downright hilarious. In Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku, Puar appears as a literal stuffed animal and Nappa's Saiyan armor is clearly a Halloween costume. The most accurate character portrayal in each is Master Roshi.
However, each movie captures the spirit of early Dragon Ball: goofy comedy with light-hearted action that never takes itself too seriously. In contrast, Dragonball Evolution seems so embarrassed to be a Dragon Ball film it strays as far from the lore as possible, right down to the point where Goku's motivation goes from finding strong opponents to fight to just eating strawberries with Chi-Chi.
Dragonball Evolution is slicker and it employed better technology and cinematic technique when crafting its story, yet the whole affair feels soulless. By contrast, the bootleg films are overflowing with energy. It is clear that these products are tributes to something the filmmakers held in high regard and respected, right down to their creative -- albeit lackluster -- attempts to bring it to life. Neither film is good, but never once are they boring. They are perfect so-bad-they're-good movies that capture the spirit of early Dragon Ball. Unlike Dragonball Evolution, you never want to forget these films.