| Dragon Ball | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Michael B. Jordan |
| Produced by | Jac Schaeffer Michael B. Jordan Steven Spielberg Norihiro Hayashida Akio Iyoku Rioko Tominaga |
| Executive producer(s) | Victoria Alonso Nikolas Korda Jeremy Latcham Atsushi Suzuki Hirotsugu Usui |
| Screenplay by | Michael B. Jordan Justin Marks Christina Hudson Jac Schaeffer |
| Based on | Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama |
| Starring | Neel Sethi Chloe Bennet Jackie Chan Simu Liu Dana Snyder Ming-Na Wen Bradley Cooper Paul Rudd Chris Cason Jason Douglas Christopher Sabat |
| Narrated by | Sean Schemmel |
| Score by | Michael Giacchino |
| Themes by | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Edited by | Fred Raskin Craig Wood Hughes Winborne |
| Production company |
Paramount Pictures Toei Company Outlier Society Productions Amblin Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date | February 16, 2025 |
| Country | United States Japan |
| Next | Dr. Slump: Arale's First Live-action Movie |
Dragon Ball is a 2025 American-Japanese road buddy fantasy action comedy film directed by Michael B. Jordan and produced by Paramount Pictures, Toei Company, Outlier Society Productions, and Amblin Entertainment. It is a live-action adaptation of the Japanese franchise of the same name, and the second official live-action adaptation of the franchise after Fox's Dragonball Evolution. Jordan also produced the film, alongside Steven Spielberg, Jac Schaeffer, Norihiro Hayashida, and Rioko Tominaga, while the film's screenplay is written by Justin Marks, Chrsitina Hudson, and Schaeffer.
The film stars Neel Sethi, Chloe Bennet, Jackie Chan, Simu Liu, Ming-Na Wen, and the voices of Dana Snyder, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Mark Hamill, Jason Douglas, Christopher Sabat, and Chris Cason, with the last two reprising their roles from the original anime's Funimation dub as Shenron and Shu, respectively, while Sean Schemmel would narrate the film. The film's score is composed by Michael Giacchino, while Pharrell Williams curated the soundtrack.
Paramount obtained the film rights of the Dragon Ball franchise after acquiring them in a bidding. Plans for a live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball would be announced in 2021, along with the hirings of Michael B. Jordan as director and co-producer, Tom McCarthy, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Arndt as co-screenwriters, and Spielberg and Schaeffer as producers, while the cast and additional screenwriters joining during the next 4 years.
In order to avoid developing a film similar to Evolution, which was highly criticized for its unfaithfulness to the franchise, the team would work closely with Toei in their approach to the source material, while the writers would adapt specifically the franchise's first saga in order to make sure audiences unfamiliar with the original manga would understand the film's events. Other inspirations for the film included The Wizard of Oz and The Muppet Movie. The film's visual effects team would create new systems in order to create visual effects that resembled the original anime's designs.
The film was released on February 16, 2025, and became a critical and commercial success, grossing 977 million dollars over a budget of 177 million, and was praised for its direction, screenplay, emotional depth, faithfulness to the source material, humor, performances (particularly Seethi, Bennet, Chan, and Snyder'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 also earn Academy Award and British Academy Film Awards nominations for its visual effects. The film would become the first entry in a live-action cinematic universe based on both Dragon Ball and the Dr. Slump franchise. A sequel, titled Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure, will be released on 2028 to similar critical and commercial success.
Synopsis[]
Far away in the mountians of Mount Paozu, 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.
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. Producer Steven Spielberg would describe the film's take on Goku as "someone whom everyone can relate to" arguing that kids would relate to the character's "innocence, naivety, and open-wided vision of the world outside the mountains", while more adult audiences would relate to "the emotional coming-of-age arc he goes through", noting the story is about "Goku learning to love the world and developing this wish to explore it". Jordan said that Goku "wants to honor his grandfather, and through this jourbey and the friends he makes he finds a way to do so". Jordan would allow Sethi to eat food during filming, as well as personaly give him food, in order to feature Goku's love for food from the manga. Seethi and the cast would also improvise certain scenes involving Goku eating. - Chloe Bennet as Bulma:
A highly intelligent girl from the West City who meets Goku during her journey to gather the Dragon Balls in order to wish for a boyfriend. Bennet would describe the character as "the straight girl to Goku's wild antics". Jordan said her character arc is "one of self-improvement" and that "she starts trying to form connections but eventually realizes the problem with that is her, she's just too selfish, and then, thanks to this adventure, she outgrows that". - Jackie Chan 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. Schaeffer would say that the character's perverted traits in the manga would be toned down in the film "to keep it more PG", througth the film would still feature several "subtle" allusions to his pervertion. Additionally, producer Akio Iyoku would say that Roshi "becomes Goku's substitute grandpa" in the film, and that the project would allow the character "to be more than the old perverted man he's known to be". while still featuring elements from the original version. - Simu Liu 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. According to Wen, the role would allow her to "display her comedic range like few other roles did".
- J.J. Abrams as Sabanto, Emperor Pilaf's majordomo.
Voices[]
- Dana Snyder as Emperor Pilaf:
An small, alien-looking, short-tempered "emperor of crime" who plans to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world. Snyder would describe Pilaf as "a spoiled brat who wants to get what he wants", and that his performance would be that of "a combination of an spoiled brat and a guy with over-the-top anger issues". According to Schaeffer, the writers would aim to make Pilaf "the less-threatening, funniest, most enjoyable villain in cinematic history". PIlaf's characterization in the film would be based on the Disney Villains Cruella DeVil and Prince John. - 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.
- Zeno Robinson 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. The character would be explicity potrayed as a man because director Michael B. Jordan would feel it would be weird to potray Puar as a woman due to Yamcha's fear of women. Robinson previously voiced Ganma 2 in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
- Aleks Le as Oolong:
An antropomorphic pig and shapeshifter who is one of Yamcha's two accomplices and Puar's bully, and who only wants Yamcha to make the choice that shall give them more money. Le previously voiced Gamma 1 in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. - Jason Douglas as Claw, an antropomorphic pterodactyl and assassin who is hired by Emperor Pilaf to help in his plans to gather the Dragon Balls by killing any possible owner they may have. Claw would be loosely inspired by an unnamed pterodactyl who appeared in the first Dragon Ball manga. Douglas also voices a monkey near the start of the film and a rabbit chef. He has voiced Beerus in the English dub for multiple Dragon Ball projects.
- 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. Sabat also voices one of Pilaf's minions, a restaurant client, and a guard on Ox-King's castle.
- Travis Willingham as Turtle, Master Roshi's pet and long-time friend who lives with him in Kame House.
Additionally, Sean Schemmel, who voices an adult Goku in the anime, would act as the film's narrator, in addution to voicing a guard in Ox-King's house. Producer Steven Spielberg would voice a toy soldier. Linda Young, who voices Frieza in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z, would voice a sabertooth at the start of the film. Tom Kenny would make a vocal cameo as a radio announcer. Kyle Herbert, Gohan's voice actor in the Funimation dub, voices Pilaf's alert system. J. Michael Tatum, who voiced Mira in the videogame Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, makes a cameo as the AI voice in Bulma's tech.
Frank Welker would provide the vocal effects for Goku's Great Ape form. Steve Blum would make a vocal cameo as a monkey near the start of the film; he previously voiced Goku in the videogame Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout. Monica Rial, who has been Bulma's English voice since the Dragon Ball Kai Funimation dub, would make a vocal cameo appearance as a caterpillar waiter in a restaurant. Stephanie Nadolny, who voiced Goku as a kid in the original Funimation dub, would make a brief cameo as the voice of a wolf child watching the battle against Boss Rabbit's forces, while Chi-Chi's original Funimation voice actress Laura Bailey would make a voice cameo as the child's mother. Dee Bradley Baker would provide animal vocal effects.
Production[]
Casting[]
On April 14, 2022, director Michael B. Jordan would reveal that Neel Sethi would be cast as Goku, whom he would confirm would have a tail in the film. On May 24, 2022, Chloe Bennet and Jackie Chan would reveal that they would be cast on the film as Bulma and Master Roshi, respctively. During the San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Jordan would reveal that Simu Liu and Ming-Na Wen would be cast as Yamcha and Mai respectively, while Dana Snyder and Aleks Le would be revealed to be voicing Emperor Pilaf and Oolong, respectively, and Sean Schemmel would be announced as the film's narrator. During August 2022, Jordan would reveal that Christopher Sabat and Chris Cason would be reprising their roles as Shenron and Shu in the film. On January 23, 2023, Zeno Robinson would reveal that he would be voicing Puar.
Filming[]
Filming for the film would start on November 20, 2023, in Pinewood Studios, and would last until June 24, 2024. During filming, an animatroic tail would be used on Neel Sethi, in order to represt his character's tail in the movie. While filming scenes featuring the Flying Nimbus, Sethi would use a small gonodola, which would serve as an stand-in for the Nimbus, which would be created enterily in CGI.
The film would make heavy use of practical efects and puppetry during filming, with puppets and effects created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop, which Jordan would say would be done because "[he] wanted that film to have not only the manga's magic, but also Jim Henson's". However, the film would still "use CGI when needed", according to Jordan. Characters such as Claws and Sewanin were created by combining puppetry and remote-controlled animatronics, while others such as Turtle were creared with traditional puppetry.
For the scene where Great Ape Goku rampages througth Pilaf's castle, the filmmakers would use similar techniques to those used to film the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man in Ghostbusters, with an stunt artist potraying Great Ape Goku via a costume and being filmed in a miniature set for shots were he is shown fully, while remote-controlled plane toys would be used during said shots as Pilaf's attack planes. Meanwhile, Pilaf's robot would be potrayed thorugth a motion-capture performance
Recording sessions[]
Voice recording for the film would begin in July 1, 2023. Unlike most films, the voice cast would record their voices together, throught not all the voice cast would be together, instead only doing their recording sessions with any other voice cast member the scene would feature.
The voice actors would record their lines before filming began, in order to allow them to improvise, with the wroters subsequently adding their addlibs to the script. Most of Pilaf's angry tatrums would be improvised by Snyder, with the script only showing in which moments his character would be angry. Similarly, Le would improvise some of his lines during recording, particulatly the sequence at the climax in which Oolong tries to run away.
Visual effects[]
The Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Framestore would create the film's visual effects, with Toriyama and Dragon Ball Super manga's illustrator Toyotaro acting as visual effects consultants. Unlike previous anime adaptations, which aimed for more realistic designs, Dragon Ball would feature character and visual designs closely resembling those featured in the source material, with Jordan stating that "not only because [the film] is live-action means it has to look realistic", and arguing that the original designs are "too iconic" to be altered. Framestore would creat a new software system for the Flying Nimbus, in order to create a Nimbus that looked like a cloud yet still would look believable when being ridden.
Music[]
Score[]
Michael Giacchino would compose the film's score, which would contain motifs and elements from the anime's original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Guacchino wanyed the score to have echoes of John Williams' work for Star Wars and Alan Silvestri's Super Mario Bros. score while being reminiscent of Kikuche's work for the anime. According to Giacchino, Goku's theme would be composed of an instrumental orchestra "with a jungle vibe", while Bulma's would be composef of a more technological orchestra. According to Giacchino, the difference in Goku and Bulma's themes would be due to the "opposite places where these two live", so they would create a score that could "showcase those differences". Giachinno would work closely with the film's screenwriters in order to create a score "that focuses more on what the characters feel than in what they do".
Track list[]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Storytelling This All Over Again | 1:54 |
| 2 | A Wild Goku Chase | 1:02 |
| 3 | Goku's Wild Life | 3:45 |
| 4 | To Be Right On The Bulma | 2:45 |
| 5 | Goku Has A Fishy Business | 1:32 |
| 6 | So Weird We Crashed Into Each Other | 2:56 |
| 7 | You've Got Dragon Balls, Kid | 4:59 |
| 8 | Dragon Soul Search | 1:49 |
| 9 | Jurassic Fight | 2:51 |
| 10 | Steal, Plunder, and Pilaf | 3:54 |
| 11 | Goku Round the House | 1:54 |
| 12 | A Heart-to-Hearty Breakfast | 5:46 |
| 13 | Turtle Tracks | 1:56 |
| 14 | Okie, Dokie, Roshi | 1:37 |
| 16 | Old Ties Connect Us | 1:45 |
| 17 | Crashing the House | 1:37 |
| 18 | 100 Nimbus Dash | 1:23 |
| 19 | You Have a Big Train to Catch | 2:11 |
| 21 | He Stole My Desert | 5:40 |
| 22 | I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Food | 3:45 |
| 23 | Pilaf Pissed | 1:25 |
| 34 | World's Worst Full Moon | 1:32 |
| 35 | Great Ape-ctations | 6:45 |
| 36 | Bulma's Monkey Business | 4:54 |
| 40 | You're Dragon Me Around | 2:30 |
| 41 | Grandpa, Can You Hear Me? | 2:45 |
| 43 | KamehameHouse | 1:45 |
Soundtrack[]
Pharrell Williams would be hired to produce the film's soundtrack. Jordan wanted the film to have its own original songs in the vein of Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "but with a modern edge", so he hired Williams, an anime fan, to work on the soundtrack. Williams would hire multiple collaborators "to have multiples ideas on how to make the best soundtrack possible". The soundtrack would feature covers of the anime's songs "Mystical Adventure" and "I'll Give You Romance".
Track list[]
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Me and You | Pharrell Williams | Pharrell Williams and Donald Glover | 2:31 |
| 2 | Mystical Adventure | Fall Out Boy | Takeshi Ike and Yuriko Mori | 3:42 |
| 3 | My House | Pharrell Williams and SZA | Donald Glover and SZA | 3:41 |
| 4 | Take It All | Blush | Austin Zudeck and Justin Thunstrom | 2:54 |
| 5 | Getting Tough | Eli "Paperboy" Reed | Raphael Saadiq and Pharrell Williams | 1:57 |
| 6 | Time | Diamond White | Taura Stinson | 3:43 |
| 7 | Ballroom Blitz | The Sweet | Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman | 4:06 |
| 8 | Let's Go | Jane Haddock | Taura Stinston | 4:16 |
| 9 | Dragon Ball | Pitbull | Pitbull | 3:23 |
| 10 | Memories | Maroon 5 | Adam Levine, Stefan Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jon Bellion, and Vincent Ford. | 2:34 |
| 11 | TechnoLife (Bulma's Theme) | Pharrell Williams | Taura Stinston | 3:50 |
| 12 | I'll Give You Romance | Anna Akana | Takeshi Ike and Takemi Yoshida | 3:45 |
Reception[]
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, "A heartwarming and wonderful visual spectacle that stays faithful to its roots, Dragon Ball goes close enough 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".
Franchise and sequel[]
- Main article: Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure
- Main article: Dragon Ball Live-action Universe
While announcing the film at the D23 2021, director Michael B. Jordan would reveal Dragon Ball would be expected to become "the first in a very large universe of films". On September 22, 2022, producer Akira Toriyama would confirm Jordan's statements, stating that they would have "a plan for the first twenty years of movies" set in the same unverse as Dragon Ball, which would say would "expand the Dragon Ball unverse, expand the franchise's mytholgy, and expand other franchises' too", and would reveal that films based on Dr. Slump and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, set in the same universe as Dragon Ball, would be in development. While promoting the film in a San Diego Comic-Con 2024 panel, Toriyama would reveal that a Dragon Ball sequel, based on the first part of the Red Ribbon Army Saga and starring Krillin, would be in development.
Trivia[]
- While the film would a reboot unrelated to Dragonball Evolution, it would contain a small in-joke to the previous film: When being explained about the Dragon Balls by Bulma, Goku would ask if a ritual would be needed to invoke Shenron, an idea Bulma would dimiss as "ridiculous" and "no sense". The line would be a reference to the ritual needed to call Shenron in Evolution.
- At one point in the film, Bulma would refer to the Power Pola as a "magic stick", a reference to its name in the infamous "Big Green Dub" of the original anime.
- Two possible second post-credits scenes would have been considered by the studio:
- The Red Ribbon Army preparing themselves to gather the Dragon Balls in a year.
- An unknown person scaning Arale Norimaki's house, and discovering her Android nature, foreshadowing a Dr. Slump film.
- The film's logo would be an exact re-creation of the original manga's logo.
- This would be the Flying Nimbus' first live-action appeareance.
- The film would feature the first time in the franchise that Bulma would actually be involved in a fight, with the use of an armor, which would also mark the first time a character uses a battle armor that actually has weapons.
- During the final battle, Puar would shapshift into a Dilophosaurus to save Oolong, a nod to producer Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993). According to Jordan, the reason a Dilophosaurus would be used instead of a Tyrannosaurus Rex would be because he would want "a little nod to Jurassic Park without distractig people or doing something more in the lines of what would happen in Dr. Slump".
- Director Michael B. Jordan noted that, due to the humor of the original series being outdated, the team instead sought for humor "in the vein" of the franchise; Dragon Ball DAIMA was cited as an inspiration.