Son Goku (Dragonball Evolution)

Goku (悟空) is a fictional character in the 2009 film Dragonball: Evolution. This article will only focused on the live-action version of the character portrayed by actor Justin Chatwin.

Why This Version of Goku Can't Find the Dragon Balls
Note: This article will only focused on the live-action version of the character.
 * 1) Justin Chatwin's portrayal of Goku has almost nothing to do with the classic beloved manga/anime hero.
 * 2) * In the original manga and anime, Goku is a naive, midget-sized 12-year-old kid who has no idea what a girl is and never had any proper schooling in favor of kung fu and karate at Turtle School, but in this film, Goku is a tall, angsty bullied 18-year-old high school student who already has a crush on his future wife, Chi-Chi. He is also a disrespectful team captain who is racist and sings in high school instead of the iconic character and warrior from the show.
 * 3) *His powers and abilities don't resemble anything like his classic counterpart:
 * 4) **In a scene where Goku uses the Kamehameha, he randomly starts flying up into Lord Piccolo for no reason whatsoever.
 * 5) **For some strange reason, this version tries to steal the Airbending technique from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is just... pointless!
 * 6) **He gets killed by an ordinary bullet in the film, while in both the original manga and the anime series bullets barely affected him to the point where they felt like mere bee stings.
 * 7) **He never has a tail which creates a massive plot-hole of how he will transform into a great ape.
 * 8) *The original version was a good-hearted Saiyan who although had an obsession with fighting doesn't often want to harm others and is mainly a pacifist who wants to protect his loved ones, while this version is a cocky, whiny high-schooler who's more interested in beating up the bullies who treated him poorly for being a "geek" (where they nicknamed him "Geeku") and getting the girl (Chi-Chi) than actually doing anything good.
 * 9) Speaking of Chatwin, his acting in the movie is horrendous, directionless, and super lifeless. Not to mention that he was miscast and looked nothing like his original counterpart, due to the fact that Goku was never white or an American while meant to be Asian.
 * 10) In fact, his hair style looks nothing like the original and it’s just a normal trapezoid hair.
 * 11) He's one of the many victims of terrible fight choreography. For example, in one fight, Goku somehow slides across a car using his head. And then there's all those CGI hand attack jesters that look like farts more than anything.
 * 12) He is somewhat uninteresting and just feels rather boring.
 * 13) He gets a lot of clichéd and poorly-written lines, something that the original Goku would never say.
 * 14) *Even his lines are indeed off like "Dragon! The test of seven has been fulfilled!" line, while waving up his arms to grant a wish with the seven collected Dragon Balls and a monotoned voice.
 * 15) Unlike the manga and anime, here in the film the romance between him and Chi-Chi is very forced and hadn't felt properly earned.
 * 16) In the manga/anime, Goku met Chi-Chi, when she was blade-attached-helmet wearing child riding on a flying nimbus cloud.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) His iconic Orange Turtle School uniform and hair style are good and much faithful.
 * 2) He was a much better character outside of the movie.

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