“Dragonball Evolution” sports the kind of transparency the President is always talking about. Based on the wildly popular Japanese manga series “Dragonball Z”, this film makes little effort to conceal its motives and becomes an archetype of Hollywood thrift.  Sloppily thrown together to make an easy buck off of an established fan base, this James Wong (Final Destination 3) directed film resides strictly in B movie, consumer-exploitation territory.

Our hero is Goku (Justin Chatwin), an 18-year old martial arts prodigy raised and trained by his wise grandfather Gohan (Randall Duk Kim). Early on, Gohan is killed by the evil monster/alien Lord Piccolo who is searching for seven dragonballs (small, glowing, tennis ball sized orbs with supernatural powers). Whomever acquires all seven dragonballs is granted one wish without restriction. Goku, now without his grandfather’s help, must find the dragonballs before Lord Piccolo and use his one wish to banish the evil being into oblivion and save the world. We know all of this because the characters tell us so. But, clunky, amateurish exposition is the least of this film’s worries.

The acting is laughable with the exception of Chow Yun-Fat who provides some intentional comic relief to counterbalance all the unintentional comedy as master Roshi, Goku’s surrogate sensei. The plot is unrivaled in inconsistency and incoherence, and little attention is paid to character development. Deficiencies in these critical areas can sometimes be forgiven if the film manages to deliver on what its target audience expects. That, however, is what I suspect will be this film’s biggest hindrance. There is no appeal whatsoever for a mainstream audience, which is to be expected, but this film fails so dramatically, and in such a variety of ways that it’s unlikely even hardcore fan boys will be able to force themselves to like it.

If there’s anything good to say about the picture it’s that it doesn’t try to pass itself off as a serious dramatic material, and it never drags with a swift running time of 85 minutes.  But, “Dragonball Evolution,” cares so little about its material, and is so lazily structured, that it fails to deliver even cheap thrills.

Lookout, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li,” you’ve got some competition for worst film of the year.