Live Action Movie Discussion Thread

[Olivier Hague]

besides, Goku didn't have it anymore when he was 18 anyway.

If you go there, Gokû didn't have to deal with Piccolo Daimaô or his grandfather's death at 18 either...

If he doesn't have his tail in the movie (and it doesn't look like he does, indeed), that's yet another departure...

[XxAtarisCorexX]

I wonder if they'll keep in Goku's tail...

There's no indication they have. And besides, Goku didn't have it anymore when he was 18 anyway.

Goku doesn't seem to be a lot of the things we remember at this stage.

But anyways: my two cents. Though I think it's a bit to early to start going in depth and being picky about what's been given...I still think it's a far cry away from warranting defense. I'm getting my bitching and whining in now and keeping my expectations low. That way...when we're handed a piece of shit, whether it grow from this or some completely new plot, I won't be let down. Could they do a good job on this? Yes, I know they could, but seeing as what's happened in the past with Hollywood I'll stick to dreaming about the badass fights instead of the "intense, true to story" plot.

[Dragon Ball Daisuki]

What is this "Hollywood" that everyone seems to know so much about? Have you ever seen a movie you liked? I mean really, really liked, in a way that subdued you? For me, those movies are Magnolia, I <3 Huckabees, The Royal Tenenbaums, Punch Drunk Love, Thank You for Smoking... I could go on. And though all of these films have visionary directors, at the end of the day, they are all produced by EVIL HOLLYWOOD. I'm not saying no one's ever seen a quality film that was 100% independently created (I know I certainly have), but what I am saying is that there have been plenty of amazing movies that Hollywood produced.

Yes, the lion's share of movies today are cheap and easy, the big companies never straying from the formula they know that 2/3 of America will eat up. Does that make every movie (or even every franchise movie) fundamentally flawed by extension? Of course not. That's ridiculous.

It's that sort of "Every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square" thing.

Hollywood isn't some bigwig club that meets every Wednesday to discuss how best and effortlessly to steal our money. It's not one entity. It's the collective film industry. To even suggest that every one of those companies puts style over substance is downright conceited.

[Contra Deus]

I think Daisuki hit the nail on the head.

Depending on the director or producer, the film could turn out either surprisingly good or irrevocably bad. X-Men was pretty damn good, so was Spiderman; those two movies prove that if done right, films based on graphic novels can work, and work well.

[Olivier Hague]

What is this "Hollywood" that everyone seems to know so much about? Have you ever seen a movie you liked? I mean really, really liked, in a way that subdued you? For me, those movies are Magnolia, I <3 Huckabees, The Royal Tenenbaums, Punch Drunk Love, Thank You for Smoking... I could go on.

Try that again with comic book movies.
The few good comic book movies were good because of their directors (Singer, Raimi... does Wong belong?), not because of their studios ("comic book movies make money, now? OK, let's do one of these things... what do we have?").
They barely get their own comic books right, what do you expect for a manga?

X-Men was pretty damn good, so was Spiderman; those two movies prove that if done right, films based on graphic novels can work, and work well.

Yeah, with a good director, maybe, but we already have... Wait, no, probably not even with a good director.
I mean... Of all the "manga turned into live action movie" projects I've heard about (Akira, Yamato, Gundam, Monster, Lupin III, Death Note, Mach Go Go Go, Macross, etc), Dragon Ball probably is the trickiest of the bunch. All these other titles are a lot more grounded in reality.

[Rocketman]

Just you wait, they'll ruin your beloved Chichi too.

James Wong... for what you did that night, this city will be your grave.

[Contra Deus]

Yeah, with a good director, maybe, but we already have... Wait, no, probably not even with a good director.
I mean... Of all the "manga turned into live action movie" projects I've heard about (Akira, Yamato, Gundam, Monster, Lupin III, Death Note, Mach Go Go Go, Macross, etc), Dragon Ball probably is the trickiest of the bunch. All these other titles are a lot more grounded in reality.

I've seen both Japanese Death Note films (and am a big fan of the series overall), and aside from the hokey CGI renderings of the shinigami, they were excellent.

But you're right about DBZ; it's going to be much trickier to adapt it to live-action. Obviously, the hokey hair and outlandishly colorful outfits of the characters would be a giggle-fest on the big screen, so something is going to have to be done about that.

But when you look at movies like Kung Fu Hustle, there is a ray of hope that with the right mindstate and director, this film could have a chance.

[SSJmole]

My thoughts on what they announced sorry if others have said this but here it goes.

I like it , We all knew it was going to be diffrent but I like the changes , seems to make it have a more movie feel to it , I wish they had started with saiyan saga but only because I'm a Vegeta fanboy

However starting with Piccolo is great as when they get to the saiyan saga it'll mean more that he turns good. However I think they have also done this to eliminate some elements

E.g if all the "Namek-Jins" are evil then frieza saga it's cuts out them going to namek as they are evil.

Also seems like now Raditz has no point. His whole point was to reveal goku was saiyan and kill him but it looks like Piccolo will do that so next time we will most likely get just Vegeta and Nappa

but again it was to be expected that it would change like this look at spider-man and how much they changed his first time as Spider-man (M.j not gwen , organic webbing , power ranger looking goblin who was never his first villain)

I'm looking forward to it as it's still live action DBZ which i've been hoping for , for years.

[Bardock the Mexican]

Earlier in this thread I put a kind of lame statement out about what I thoght about this idea of a DBZ movie. Now I want to bring up one big subject that is probably the unasked question of the fandom. Now I bring you one of the biggest questions ever:

What movie/story arc/plot should be the source for this movie? Are they going to start at the beginning or what? Can this be done and done well? Who is going to be directing it, handling special effects, etc. In order to have a good response, this has to be believable and having good visuals is a huge part of that. Everyone knows this and everyone is aware of when somthing looks bad. You want bad? Watch the Mortal Kombat movies, you know the live action ones. That is bad and worse than bad has been seen before. You could say that this was due to the fact they didn't have the technology to make nice energy blasts and explosions and stuff. That is part of it and is a good reason. Last word? Maybe there won't be a last word until this gets more news and more evidence of coming to a head. God willing though, it won't be TOO BAD.
NOTE: Coming back to Daizex and I am hammering out this, can't belive it. Sorry if this is kind of hard to read and lacking in the English proficency and spelling. Mi español es más listo que mi inglés, te juro. ¡Arriba la Raza!

[Dragon Ball Daisuki]

Try that again with comic book movies.
The few good comic book movies were good because of their directors (Singer, Raimi... does Wong belong?), not because of their studios ("comic book movies make money, now? OK, let's do one of these things... what do we have?").
They barely get their own comic books right, what do you expect for a manga?

We know nothing of James Wong. For all we know, he could have been as big of a Dragon Ball fan growing up as Sam Raimi was a Spider-Man fan. We just don't know.

You made a valid point when you said that the execution of a comic book movie well done has always been in the hands of the director, not the benefactors. X-Men sunk in the hands of a hack like Ratner.

But to be honest, I hadn't considered Raimi for a Spider-Man director at the time of its filming. I, like everyone else, knew of him largely on the basis of the Evil Dead movies, plus the adaptation of A Simple Plan. Needless to say, The American Dream Gone Wrong: the Movie doesn't necessarily equate to "Spider-Man" for most people.

The only thing we can deduce from the idea of "great directors=great movie" is that we know nothing. We are in no position to critique a director's competence armed with no knowledge of the person outside of which movies he's directed (it's not like he writes the script, you know). Which brings us back to square one: if given fifteen minutes, someone like me can come up with a moderately satisfying (albeit half-assed) interpretation, what makes you think the trained professionals can't?

You're missing the point entirely.

[SSJmole]

But to be honest, I hadn't considered Raimi for a Spider-Man director at the time of its filming. I, like everyone else, knew of him largely on the basis of the Evil Dead movies, plus the adaptation of A Simple Plan. Needless to say, The American Dream Gone Wrong: the Movie doesn't necessarily equate to "Spider-Man" for most people.

I was the same way.



Also adding to what you were saying , A good comic book director may also get it wrong. My example = Bryan Singer. He did a fantastic job on X-men 1 + 2 however Superman returns sucked.

So yeah like you said James Wong may end up been perfect for job. From sound of it they are going for a good story not just an over the top cgi film. that gives me hope.

[Dragon Ball Daisuki]

Bryan Singer is such a terrific example because it's generally agreed upon by X-Men fans that he created a fairly faithful translation in the first two films. Which sort of amuses me when I try to remember a teenage Rogue or an insecure Cyclops or a religious Nightcrawler. I'm not saying these changes aren't welcome (aside from Cyclops being a walking vagina, I applauded nearly every one of them); what I am saying is changes were made.

Did fanboys mind the de-aging of several mutants? That Wolverine wasn't a hairy Canadian midget? That the Pheonix didn't eat any planets? Sure. Did that get in the way of their having a quality movie experience? I doubt it.

[Ambassador Vegeta]

I don't know about the other fanboys, but I sure as hell minded that Phoenix didn't eat planets or do anything remotely Phoenix-like. She was more like Scarlet With with cool lighting, with Callisto taking the place of Quicksilver. I hate X3 so much...

But back on topic, I wouldn't mind them making changes if we got a better story out of it but based on those descriptions, this movie has a kinda "been there, done that" feel to it. An unpopular high school protagonist? A ladies man sidekick? At this very early stage, this film seems to lack the unique quirkiness that I love about Dragonball.

I'm still psyched for a movie, but I think I'll keep my expectations low.

[Olivier Hague]

We know nothing of James Wong. For all we know, he could have been as big of a Dragon Ball fan growing up as Sam Raimi was a Spider-Man fan.

Are you kidding me? ^^;

to be honest, I hadn't considered Raimi for a Spider-Man director at the time of its filming. I, like everyone else, knew of him largely on the basis of the Evil Dead movies

"Like everyone else"?
Horror movie fans already knew he was a good director back then. Same thing for Peter Jackson, more than 15 years ago.

if given fifteen minutes, someone like me can come up with a moderately satisfying (albeit half-assed) interpretation, what makes you think the trained professionals can't?

You're not quite in the same position as they are, you know? They're the ones who made the shitty casting sides, based on their script. They're not trying to come up with "decent interpretations" of these casting sides, right now.
You're thinking backwards, here.

You're missing the point entirely.

Sure.

[Gaiash]

The main problem I have is that Goku just isn't like Goku in anyway.
That plus 3 STAR DRAGON BALL? WTF?!

[tarrin4ever]

I suppose what it comes down to is at what point do changes go from necessary adaptation to turning the characters into something they're not.

They've already mentioned Goku being a schoolkid, minus one point. If they leave out the "tail" aspect, that'd be another point off. How many more points can this guy loose before he isn't Goku anymore?

[MajinVejitaXV]

I'm just waiting for the update that says Son Goku will fight a giant spider robot at the end.

-Corey

[Gaiash]

I suppose what it comes down to is at what point do changes go from necessary adaptation to turning the characters into something they're not.

They've already mentioned Goku being a schoolkid, minus one point. If they leave out the "tail" aspect, that'd be another point off. How many more points can this guy loose before he isn't Goku anymore?

He might be smart *shudders*

I think his appitite is the only thing hes got left, although we'll have to wait until we learn how big this feast is before getting hopefull.

[Contra Deus]

Wonder if he'll be able to use ki? I'm sure they could produce a pretty spectacular kamehameha with a big budget. Although, considering what a tounge-twister kamehameha can be, I wonder if they won't rename it?

[Jerseymilk]

I'm just waiting for the update that says Son Goku will fight a giant spider robot at the end.

-Corey

That won't happen unless Jon Peters is producing it. XD