Exclusive: Sean Schemmel Shares His Real Thoughts About ‘Dragonball Evolution’

You may not wish to recall it, but Dragonball Evolution is a real thing that happened. The 2009 film is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s biggest blunders, and Dragon Ball fans have yet to recover from the tragic blow. Over the years, some of the anime’s biggest stars have opened up about the film, and Sean Schemmel did just that with ComicBook in a recent interview.

During New York Comic Con, the Goku voice actor chatted with ComicBook about his work on Dragon Ball Super. It was there the topic of Dragonball Evolution came around, and Schemmel admitted he was a bit impressed by what the movie did do.

“I was really impressed with what the cast did with it actually,” the actor said. “At first, I was like who are these people, but they are actually good… Very fine actors who I could tell were trying to put something to nothing, and they tried really hard.”

Schemmel went on to say that he didn’t want to pry deeper into the film’s fallout thanks to some insider knowledge. The actor corroborated the story that Dragonball Evolution had a director switch-up which derailed it. The vetted voice actor doesn’t seem to share the same vitriol hatred which fans have towards the film, but Schemmel did stress the adaptation has very little to do with Akira Toriyama’s series.

“I guess if you’re going to watch a Dragon Ball-inspired parallel movie that’s not canon [and] not too bad a film,” Schemmel trailed. “Other than that, what were you thinking person who made it?”

Dragonball Evolution was no doubt a failed attempt to bring Son Goku to life, but there are plenty of fan-projects out there which prove the feat is doable. Earlier this month, Robot Underdog finally published its full short-film Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope. Despite the film’s pitfalls, the movie proves that Toriyama’s dynamic series can be translated to film if enough heart goes into filming. So, if Hollywood ever gets another chance to tackle the franchise, they better not muck it up.

Do you agree with Schemmel’s opinions when it comes to Dragonball Evolution? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things anime!

Dragon Ball Super‘s “Universal Survival” saga is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturdays at 7:15 p.m. CST. Toonami airs the English dub on Adult Swim Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.