Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball is a 2025 American fantasy action comedy-drama film directed by James Gunn and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Toei Animation, and Amblin Entertainment. It is a live-action adaptation of the Japanese franchise of the same name, an the second official adaptation of the franchise after Fox's Dragonball Evolution. Gunn would also produce the film alongside Kevin Feige, Steven Spielberg, and the franchise's creator Akira Toriyama, while the film's screenplay was written by Justin Marks, Gunn, Chrsitina Hudson, and Tab Murphy, from an story by Gunn, Hudson, Marks, Murphy, Spielberg, Tom McCarthy, Michael Arndt, and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. The film would star Neel Sethi, Chloe Bennet, Benedict Wong, Sean Gunn, Ming-Na Wen, and the voices of Gilbert Godfried, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, Chrstopher Sabat, and Chris Cason, with the last two reprising their roles from the Funimation dub as Shenron and Shu, respectively, while the film's songwriter/performer, Phil Collins, would narrate the film.

Disney obtained the film rights of the Dragon Ball franchise after acquiring 20th Century Fox, who previously produced the critically panned live-action film Dragonball Evolution. Plans for a live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball would be announced at the D23 2021, along with the hirings of James Gunn as director, co-producer, and co-screenwriter, Christina Hudson, Justin Marks, and Tab Murphy as co-screenwriters, and Steven Spelberg, Kevin Feige, and Akira Toriyama as producers. In order to avoid developing a film similar to Evolution, which was highly criticized for its unfaithfulness to the franchise, the production team would develop the film similar to Disney's live-action remakes of animated films, while the team would adapt spefically the franchise's first saga in order to make sure audiences unfamiliar with the original manga would understand the film's events.

The film would be released on February 16, 2025, and would became a critical and commercial success, grossing 977 million dollars over a budget of 177 millions, and being praised for its direction, screenplay, emotional depth, faithfulness to the source material, humor, performances (particularly Seethi, Bennet, Wong, and Godfried's), visual effects, and music, with many critics praising it as an improvement over Evolution, and some even calling it one of the best films based on an anime/manga. The film would become the first in a live.action cinematic universe based on both Dragon Ball and the Dr. Slump franchise.

Synopsis
Far away in the mountians of Mount Paouz, a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku is taking care of the dearest posetion of his late grandfather, the fourth-star Dragon Ball, all while believing that it has his grandfather's soul. However, the boy's life would change when a young girl named Bulma sudenly comes in search of the seven Dragon Balls, which, when gathered together, can invoke the wish-granting dragon Shenron. Finding themselves in a once-in-a-lifetime journey, Goku, Bulma, and martial artist master Muten Roshi must find the Dragon Balls before the evil emperor Pilaf finds them and uses them to take over the world. During the journey, Goku and Bulma devlop a strong bond, and now Goku must choose between his "grandfather" or his new family.

Cast

 * Neel Sethi as Goku, a monkey-tailed boy who has spent his whole life in the mountains, and who thinks his Dragon Ball has his late grandfather's soul.
 * Chloe Bennet as Bulma, a highly intellingent girl from the city who meets Goku during her journey to gather the Dragon Balls in order to wish for a boyfriend.
 * Benedict Wong as Master Roshi, an old martial arts master who trained Goku's grandfather, and whom Goku and Bulma meet during their journey to gather the Dragon Balls.
 * Sean Gunn as Yamcha, a desert bandit who agrees to help Emperor Pilaf to gather the Dragon Balls under the assumption thet they will use them to cure Yamcha's fear of womens.
 * Ming-Na Wen as Mai, Emperor Pilaf's gun-wielding right-hand woman and most trusted minion.

Voices
Additionally, Phil Collins would act as the film's narrator.
 * Gilbert Godfried as Emperor Pilaf, an alien-looking, short-tempered "emperor of crime" who plans to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world.
 * Chris Cason as Shu, an antropomorphic dog who is Emperor Pilaf's personal ninja, assistant, and second most trusted minion, after Mai. Cason would reprise his role from the Funimation dub of the original anime.
 * Chris Pratt as Puar, an antropomorphic cat and shapeshifter who is one of Yamcha's two accomplices and his best friend, whom Puar always tries to advice to make the right choice, to various degrees of success.
 * Bradley Cooper as Oolong, an antropomorphic pig and shapeshifter who is one of Yamcha's two accomplices and Puar's bully, and who always tries to make sure Yamcha makes the wrong choice.
 * Christopher Sabat as Shenron, a wish-granting dragon who can only be called once the seven Dragon Balls are gathered. Sabat would reprise his role from the Funimation dub of the original anime.

Music
Henry Jackman would compose the film's score, which would contain motifs and elements from the anime's original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Goku's theme would be compsed of an instrumental orchestra, while Bulma's would be composed of a more technological orchestra.

Phil Collins would write and perform new songs for the film, as well as re-write and perform a cover of the anime's opening, "Mystical Adventure", for the film's end credits.

Critical reception
The film would have an aproval rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7/10. The critical consensus would read, "Faithful, heartwarming, and a wonderful visual spectacle, Dragon Ball goes close enougch to the original manga to leave fans pleased, yet still working as a good introduction to those unfamiliar with it." On Metacritc, the film would have an weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".