WIth Pokemon Live Action a thing, maybe a serious Live Action DB Series could work...

[Captain-Sora]

Brundle fly (that is the brundlefly isn't it? It's been 20 years since I saw that movie) isn't a great example as it's very limited and is on screen for a VERY brief amount of time and doesn't do a whole lot, and is also not in the light of day. Cell needs to move well and be seen in daylight. It's not impossible, but it's a difficult task.

Considering that we've had the likes of Davy Jones (an entirely mo-cap CGI character that outright fooled people into thinking he was merely Bill Nighy in makeup with only a few computer-generated embellishments) realized just over a decade ago, a creature like Cell doesn't seem like that much more of a burden to pull off.

[ABED]

Brundle fly (that is the brundlefly isn't it? It's been 20 years since I saw that movie) isn't a great example as it's very limited and is on screen for a VERY brief amount of time and doesn't do a whole lot, and is also not in the light of day. Cell needs to move well and be seen in daylight. It's not impossible, but it's a difficult task.

Considering that we've had the likes of Davy Jones (an entirely mo-cap CGI character that outright fooled people into thinking he was merely Bill Nighy in makeup with only a few computer-generated embellishments) realized just over a decade ago, a creature like Cell doesn't seem like that much more of a burden to pull off.

Really? Davey Jones looked good, but who the hell would think that was make up?

[Captain-Sora]

Really? Davey Jones looked good, but who the hell would think that was make up?

A fair bit of people. But as I said before, it wasn't that they thought ALL of him was makeup. They believed it was a blend of him wearing makeup AND CGI touches for his less human-looking features. The very realistic animation (particularly in the facial area), the organic details, the lighting, and how well he gelled with the surroundings looked ludicrously convincing, so some didn't realize that what we saw of him on-screen was all computer-generated.

[Yuli Ban]

Given how DBE was a critical and box office flop, I still doubt anyone in Hollywood would want to touch DB again anytime soon.

Kunzait_83 inadvertently opened my eyes to something I hadn't previously considered— why does everyone automatically assume that "Live Action DB" = "Hollywood/Western created"? Why not a series or movie made by a Chinese studio?
On that note;

You want some kind of a live action DBZ fix, just go pop in A Chinese Tall Story or a Buddha's Palm movie or something along those lines.

By that same metric, I don't need to play chess because checkers already exists.
Yes, fundamentally those tropes have been used, but those movies aren't specifically Dragon Ball, now are they? The spectacle of a competently done live-action Dragon Ball is its own reward anyhow.

[Kunzait_83]

Given how DBE was a critical and box office flop, I still doubt anyone in Hollywood would want to touch DB again anytime soon.

Kunzait_83 inadvertently opened my eyes to something I hadn't previously considered— why does everyone automatically assume that "Live Action DB" = "Hollywood/Western created"? Why not a series or movie made by a Chinese studio?
On that note;

You want some kind of a live action DBZ fix, just go pop in A Chinese Tall Story or a Buddha's Palm movie or something along those lines.

By that same metric, I don't need to play chess because checkers already exists.
Yes, fundamentally those tropes have been used, but those movies aren't specifically Dragon Ball, now are they? The spectacle of a competently done live-action Dragon Ball is its own reward anyhow.

Ideally, the best possible time to have had a live action Hong Kong-produced DB/Z movie produced would've been the early 90s, for three major reasons:

1) Dragon Ball itself, both creatively and commercially, was still in its white-hot peak in its native territory, to a degree that we'll almost certainly never see again.

2) The broader Hong Kong film landscape was right smack in the middle of what most (rightly) consider to be one of its greatest golden ages, with countless groundbreaking, revolutionary HK filmmakers in their respective creative primes (John Woo, Tsui Hark, Wong Kar-Wai, Ringo Lam, Ching Siu-Tung, Ann Hui, Johnnie To, Jeffrey Lau, Stephen Chow... *cough*Wong Jing*cough* ) along with countless more actors and martial arts stunt performers who are likewise industry legends also in their respective physical primes (motherfucking Jackie Chan AND Jet Li AND Chow Yun Fat AND Donnie Yen, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Ka Fai, Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Leslie Cheung, Yuen Wah, Stephen Chow again, Joey Wong, Simon Yam, Brigitte Lin, Anthony Wong, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Danny Lee, Leon Lai, Damien Lau, Gong Li, Michelle Reis, Francis Ng... Jesus fuck, the early 90s HK film landscape was just overloaded to the goddamned gills with raw talent) all working together at the same exact time. Likewise, the Hong Kong studio system at the time was in the midst of the New Wave era and was thus at its most (relatively speaking here) artist-friendly, adventurous, and experimental, with a huge emphasis on both raw originality and creative new spins on tired old works.

And 3) The New Wave-inspired genre-blending trend throughout Wuxia media was also in its absolute apex creative and commercial peak right during this same time: something which Dragon Ball itself was a direct product of.

All things considered, roughly 1991 through around 1994 or thereabouts would've been the absolute ideal PERFECT time for probably the best possible Hong Kong produced live action Dragon Ball film (and thus the best possible live action Dragon Ball film period) to have happened: provided a real A-list studio budget, production values, and star power got thrown at it.

As it stands, all we really got out of that period was The Magic Begins, which was an ultra-low budget D-list nothing of a film produced by a no-name Taiwanese studio with no-name "talent" behind it. Considering how ridiculously massive a name DB was right smack during that period (as well as the fact that industry heavy hitters like Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow were fans of both it and Toriyama in general), that all it got was a throwaway little shoestring Taiwanese cheapie during the absolute apex of one of the greatest golden eras of Wuxia filmmaking bar none is just downright inexplicable... not to mention SUPER fucking frustrating considering the raw once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a-bottle talent pool that was on hand right then and there over in Hong Kong right when Dragon Ball as a property was at its all-time most viable.

I mean, lets totally unrealistically fanboy out for a moment here: a Golden Harvest produced Hong Kong live action Dragon Ball Z film released circa 1993, written and adapted for the screen by Tsui Hark and Stephen Chow, Executive Produced by Wong Jing (on one of his mildly less intrusive to the production cocaine and hooker benders: getting him to stop entirely cold turkey for even one movie would probably be asking too much), Directed by Jeffrey Lau, with stuntwork and fight choreography by either Ching Siu Tung or Corey Yuen (or fuck it, both of them working together), and starring I dunno... either Jet Li or Stephen Chow as Goku, Donnie Yen as Vegeta, Yuen Biao as Kuririn, Simon Yam as Freeza, Maggie Cheung as Bulma, Anita Mui as Chi Chi, Chow Yun Fat as Piccolo, Jackie Chan (then young but in old-age makeup) as Muten Roshi, Tony Leung Ka Fai as Tenshinhan, Wu Ma as Kaio-sama, and some VERY talented child actor/martial arts stunt performer as Gohan, or something along those lines? And if we allowed ourselves to dip into OG DB any, perhaps Yuen Wah as Tao Pai Pai, acting as a suitable and befitting stand-in for Hwang Jang Lee (as he'd certainly be too old by then)?

Basically make it (ONLY in this one single aspect mind you) the Harry Potter of 90s Hong Kong martial arts/Wuxia film franchises, in that anyone who was anyone in the Hong Kong film & martial arts stunt performance industry during the peak of its 80s and 90s glory days would get some sort of a role in this or these film(s), the same way that the Potter films were like a magnet for top-class British actors.

The universe as we know it would've likely imploded in on itself with the sheer, overflowing amount of absolute bugfuck deranged madness that would've certainly resulted from that sort of unhinged cinematic concoction of raw mega-talent and mega-egos all unloading everything they've got into bringing to life THIS fucked up little Toriyama-ism of a Dr. Slumpian love letter to the very same genre that many of them owed their entire careers to in the first place.

The resulting movie would either be the most fascinatingly hypnotic ultra-budget studio trainwreck of a clusterfuck in film history, or one of the single all time fist-pumpingly greatest wire-infested martial arts epics of our lifetimes bar none. Either way, there'd certainly be almost NO room in between those extremes for anything that even vaguely resembles "boring" or "by-the-numbers". Not with THAT level of talent behind it during THAT particular timeframe for THAT particular global corner of filmmaking drawing from THIS particular bit of source material here.

Alas, we're a LONG ways out from that specific heyday for both this franchise and this type of filmmaking in general.

Nonetheless though, IF another crack at a live action DB film WERE to somehow happen in the future... abso-fucking-lutely would I still implicitly trust a Hong Kong studio with it WAAAAAAAY the hell long before I EVER would a U.S. Hollywood film studio. Simply no question. Even with the Hong Kong film industry in the fairly awkward, vaguely middling period that its currently in, the relative odds of getting something that's even partway genuinely respectful and befitting to DB's source material is still ASTRONOMICALLY higher with an HK studio behind it than it would be with a Hollywood studio having a second go at it: particularly a Hollywood studio in today's still-PG-13-ified, Disney Mega-Merged, "Cinematic Universe" era of milquetoast blockbuster tentpole filmmaking. You'd have to be out of your fucking mind to roll the dice with a U.S. studio at this point in time.

And if something along the lines of the MCU is indeed what one actually wants out of this adaptation... then once more, we are all UNDOUBTEDLY fans of two VERY drastically and opposingly different ideas and takes on what Dragon Ball is theoretically "supposed" to be when all's said and done.

[jjgp1112]

The only thing I'd use the MCU as a referendum for is that all of the special effects and batshit comic book elements can be pulled off. But the tone and style is way off from what DB should be.

[8000 Saiyan]

I'm not usually optimistic about live-action anime adaptations, but I guess a 90's DB movie from Hong Kong could have worked. Oh, and Christopher Doyle would have been the best pick for cinematographer.

[Gligarman]

No. It won't work because most of it would be animated anyway so why bother. Also it would be silly. Not the good kind of silly.

[Yuli Ban]

No. It won't work because most of it would be animated anyway so why bother. Also it would be silly. Not the good kind of silly.

It would be the best kind of silly. Kung Fu Hustle was a good example of what a live-action Dragon Ball would look like, what with its cartooniness and wackiness mixed with proper over-the-top martial artistry. Hell, the absolute closest we might ever get to a competent live-action Dragon Ball is a film made by that movie's director about a decade later: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. Just see this scene.

Hence why I say that only the Chinese can do it right since Hollywood would butcher the entire thing. As Kunzait said: early '90s Hong Kong studio with a Hollywood-tier budget would have given us the absolute dream we've all wanted. Alas, we'll just have to wait until photorealistic CGI is a thing.

[Gligarman]

No. It won't work because most of it would be animated anyway so why bother. Also it would be silly. Not the good kind of silly.

It would be the best kind of silly. Kung Fu Hustle was a good example of what a live-action Dragon Ball would look like, what with its cartooniness and wackiness mixed with proper over-the-top martial artistry. Hell, the absolute closest we might ever get to a competent live-action Dragon Ball is a film made by that movie's director about a decade later: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. Just see this scene.

Hence why I say that only the Chinese can do it right since Hollywood would butcher the entire thing. As Kunzait said: early '90s Hong Kong studio with a Hollywood-tier budget would have given us the absolute dream we've all wanted. Alas, we'll just have to wait until photorealistic CGI is a thing.

You are aware that there’s already a live action Chinese Dragon Ball movie right? It’s bad.

[Yuli Ban]

You are aware that there’s already a live action Chinese Dragon Ball movie right?

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

You are aware that there’s already a live action Chinese Dragon Ball movie right? It’s bad.

And? Does that mean any other attempt will inherently be bad?

[ABED]

You are aware that there’s already a live action Chinese Dragon Ball movie right? It’s bad.

And? Does that mean any other attempt will inherently be bad?

Not inherently, but if history is any indication, the chances are so slim. What's the point?

[Gligarman]

You are aware that there’s already a live action Chinese Dragon Ball movie right? It’s bad.

And? Does that mean any other attempt will inherently be bad?

Yes. DB simply does not suit live action.

Not inherently, but if history is any indication, the chances are so slim. What's the point?

I’m not as optimistic but you do have a point.

[MasenkoHA]

Yes. DB simply does not suit live action.
.

What specifically about Dragon Ball wouldn’t fit live action? Certain characters that may be harder to adapt in live action like Oolong and Puar are pretty expendable and could easily be omitted.

Pew pew pew blast have been in cinema forever

[Gligarman]

Yes. DB simply does not suit live action.
.

What specifically about Dragon Ball wouldn’t fit live action? Certain characters that may be harder to adapt in live action like Oolong and Puar are pretty expendable and could easily be omitted.

Pew pew pew blast have been in cinema forever

Everything! They’ve already done it twice and everything was wrong. The cast, the story, the personality quirks, the visuals, nothing translated to screen properly. There is absolutely nothing about Dragon Ball that would be improved with a live action adaptaion so why bother?

[jjgp1112]

Yes. DB simply does not suit live action.
.

What specifically about Dragon Ball wouldn’t fit live action? Certain characters that may be harder to adapt in live action like Oolong and Puar are pretty expendable and could easily be omitted.

Pew pew pew blast have been in cinema forever

Everything! They’ve already done it twice and everything was wrong. The cast, the story, the personality quirks, the visuals, nothing translated to screen properly. There is absolutely nothing about Dragon Ball that would be improved with a live action adaptaion so why bother?

Just because the people involved in the live action movie did a carelessly bad job doesn't mean it's impossible. I mean...have you seen any CG driven action movie since the 90s...? The oddest bits of Dragon Ball are hardly new to live action film. Even characters like Puar and Oolong could be believably computer generated, and stuff like flying and Ki blasts are simple.

Fox didn't even attempt to translate Dragon Ball to live action. They made a cliche '00s action superhero movie and slapped Dragon Ball names and story elements onto it. And the previous attempt was a low (and that's putting it modestly) budget bootleg movie from the early 90s

[MasenkoHA]

[

Everything!

That’s incredibly broad

They’ve already done it twice and everything was wrong.

The Korean version was done on a super low budget

The American version was a case of them not caring about the source material and doing what they thought was hot at the time.

Neither of those are indication a live action version couldn’t work.

Imagine, if you will, that James Cameron’s craptastic Spider-man movie became a thing in the 90s. Now imagine how many would say a live action Spider-man coudn’t work based soley on the failures of the shitty 70s CBS tv series and the James Cameron movie

. There is absolutely nothing about Dragon Ball that would be improved with a live action adaptaion so why bother?

I’m inclined to agree with you on this but “A live action adaptation would add nothing” is not the same argument
as “it couldn’t work in live action”

[Gligarman]

Spider-Man was held back by technology. Dragon Ball is held back by material that simply doesn't work with live action because it's too bombastic and silly. If nothing is going to be improved or on the same level then what's the point? Also, for the record, the best Spider-Man movie was released last year and it's also animated.

[Jackalope89]

Certain things just wouldn't translate well to live action. Like the spikey hair that Goku and other Saiyans tend to have. I know its supposed to look odd, but good luck making a believable wig.

Special effects have come a long way since Evolution, so that shouldn't be too big of an issue. And though I loathe Man of Steel, they did do a good job of showing a live action fight between super strong and super fast beings.