Live Action Movie Discussion Thread

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:12 pm

MisterFlashdude wrote:*Long and hilarious tangent that, when summed up, says "Fuck this movie."

You win the thread! Seriously, that's the best description I've seen of this so far.

COCONUT MILK · Post by **COCONUT MILK** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:03 pm

When i first heard about this movie years ago i felt insulted and angry because i knew that it would be bad. I'm real upset that something i love is being turned into a school boys daydream...

I don't care how good the movie is, its not dragonball!

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:59 pm

I'll read through the almost fifty pages of this thread and read the posts from those who say that this movie can't be made and shouldn't be made. But nowhere have I read any reasonable reasons on why. So please, someone tell me why. And don't use the lame "it won't be exactly how I envision the manga/anime in my head" way of thinking. Cuz if that was the only deciding factor we wouldn't have the thouusands of great movie that have been released that were based on other properties.

I can understand people getting upset at the transporting from Dragonball World to our world. I can slightly understand the frustrations about Goku being in high school, to a certain degree, but all that means is that he is enrolled in school. You don't have to be smart to be in high school. You don't have to be mannered to be in high school. All it really means is that he lives in a particular area thar requires that he has to attend school until he reaches a certain age.

The only thing I can really counter is the "Namekian High Ninja" comment, which can be taken many ways. And even if it is the worst way imaginable, I'm still onboard.

Basically, we can't really gauge how good or bad this movie will be until it's finished. All we would have until we watched the movie is a couple hundred pages filled with rants everytime the tiniest bit of information, pictures, videos or whatever is released or leaked because the makers of this movie decided to do something different. And to be honest, this is their Dragonball movie, not yours (I'm not directing this at anyone specific, just people in general who question and object to every single change made from the original material).

In fact, if it where your Dragonball movie we would probably have a three to four hour movie for each story arc in the series while you try tro make sure that every line in the movie is word for word to the series.

I'm not saying that everyone has to love the idea of a Live Action movie, but we are here to discuss it not go on and on and on in such a manner and tone that it would cause the topic to be closed and never to be discussed again here. So just relax, light some candles, brew some tea, and tell me again why this movie should not be made and why it is destined to ruin this seamingly unruinable (GT tried but was utterly unsuccessful) franchise.

COCONUT MILK · Post by **COCONUT MILK** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:19 pm

I'm saying it should be made like dragonball. Not dress a guy up call him goku and change everything else..

It's like putting luke skywalker in a mall shop working as a asistant who has to fight darth vaders ninjas to save the world, then calling it "starwars". It's nothing like starwars, Oh look they put in the fact that darthvader is his dad! WOW just like in the real starwars!!

VEGETA_DTX · Post by **VEGETA_DTX** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:34 pm

COCONUT MILK wrote:When i first heard about this movie years ago i felt insulted and angry because i knew that it would be bad. I'm real upset that something i love is being turned into a school boys daydream...

I don't care how good the movie is, its not dragonball!

100% agree, me too.

@Anonymous Friend, No.... I said it almost in every post, but you obvieusly midread them.

BTW some things can not be explained so easily, like - "why the hell I like Carrot!?" I don't know why! I simply like it!
But let's say this can be somewhat explained:

Because It will ruin spirit of DBZ for 9999 time!

How!?
1.Like COCONUT MILK and I already said - moving from anime to live action is more than enough...I don't care if it is good or bad, it is already bad by the fact that it is Live action!...it would be ok for 3D movie, but live action, no...

2.Changing the story, almost to stupid teenage movie.

3.putting some idiotic famous actors in the place of something that is holly for me.

4.Don't giving a damn even for Hairstyle(which, if it is not important for DBZ than I don't know what it is!?) but instead they make GOKU look like...ahhh I already wrote that combo name....
I don't want to write it again for the sake of polite conversation.

All in all if I somehow survive this disaster, I'll make sure that James Nintendo Nerd make special vid for it and to bitch about it so much that fox will cover their selves with their ears...

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:35 pm

COCONUT MILK wrote:I'm saying it should be made like dragonball. Not dress a guy up call him Goku and change everything else.

"Change everything?"

They've set Goku as a teenager (which, y'know, he WAS at one point), and put him in a school which he's likely not very good or proficient at. That's all they've so-called "changed."

They haven't revealed anything else about his personality, only a few points about his interaction with other characters...

... Though he's mentioned offhand as being unpopular, he's still an extraordinarily gifted martial artist. He lives with and is trained by Grandpa Gohan, who is soon killed. He meets Bulma and joins her on her hunt for the Dragon Balls. He meets and is trained by Master Roshi. He meets and befriends the once-antagonistic Yamcha. Chi-Chi has been his friend / betrothed since they were kids. He fights King / "Lord" Piccolo in order to save the world from conquest and doom.

I don't know about anyone else, but that all still pretty much screams "Goku" to me. Hell, even in his civilian outfit he's still wearing orange and black!

EDIT: In hindsight, I figured I'd better try one more time to get this out here.

THE DAMN HIGH SCHOOL WILL NOT BE THE FOCUS OF THE MOVIE!

What's been revealed about the plot so far is a perfectly acceptable, "real-world-style" adaptation of the King Piccolo saga, which manages to creatively and practically work other fan-favorite characters into the story. It's been shown to center around the hunt for the Dragon Balls.

But then once, just ONCE the word "school" was mentioned, and that's enough to send you people on a BAAAAWWWing rampage? That's certifiably pathetic.

Also, DTX, learn to spell, stop being a troll, and maybe then we'll take you seriously.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:42 pm

Sorry, Anonymous. I don't buy it. I don't like the idea of this Dragonball movie because it looks and sounds nothing like Dragonball to me except for some character names and the Dragon Balls themselves. To say it's unreasonable for me to not like this movie is unreasonable in itself. That's like saying that it would be unreasonable for me to dislike a Superman movie where Superman can't fly, has no cape, has soldiers and polar bears to guard the Fortress of Solitude, Brainiac has a goofy sidekick, and Supes has to fight a giant spider at the end.

Any Kevin Smith fans in the thread?

VEGETA_DTX · Post by **VEGETA_DTX** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:45 pm

They've set Goku as a teenager (which, y'know, he WAS at one point), and put him in a school which he's likely not very good or proficient at. That's all they've so-called "changed."

WTF?! that is only they've changed?!?!?
Ok now, run some DBZ episode! no matter what episode, and open that pic of Chatwin!

If you see ANY similarity in those two, than really way to go!!!

he is wearing orange t-shirt so he looks like GOKU!!! I MEAN WTF!
It's like someone said, my father like to drink water so he is Namek.

I think that Trans-dimensional toilet brush and hysteric beaver have more similarity than Chatwin and GOKU.

Which is most SAD is the fact that this Chinese movie will be waaayy less disaster and more DBZ-looking, then this shit. I AM DEAD SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:48 pm

VEGETA_DTX wrote: *A bunch of stuff*

Y'know this thread finally turns into something slightly resembling an educated debate and you have to come in here with bad grammar and flame everyone making completely illegitimate points. Please just stop, we get your point you don't like the movie.

To SSJKaboom could you just answer this question for me? Why is it say Harry Potter, Spiderman or Batman all get stories exactly like their original source yet Dragonball has to change many things? They are all equally out there in terms of reality so why does Dragonball have to totally reform its plot while the previously mentioned films basically just get a novel to movie adaptation?

Post by **desirecampbell** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:53 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:Why is it say Harry Potter, Spiderman or Batman all get stories exactly like there original source...?

They get really similar stories, but not nearly 'exact'. The HP movies were pretty close, nothing that off; the Batman and Spider-Man movies, again, close, but not close enough for me to be happy with (but I've gone into that before, so I'll leave it there).

Still, much better than what we're seeing for Dragon Ball.

VEGETA_DTX · Post by **VEGETA_DTX** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:56 pm

Y'know this thread finally turns into something slightly resembling an educated debate and you have to come in here with bad grammar and flame everyone making completely illegitimate points. Please just stop, we get your point you don't like the movie.

What are you talking about, do you even read my posts...?
quote me freely if I ever flamed anyone here?!?!

Second, don't see much grammar mistakes in that previous post.

I don't want to stop, and I am not repeating because I want you to get my point, I simply answered his question!

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:57 pm

desirecampbell wrote:
NeptuneKai wrote:Why is it say Harry Potter, Spiderman or Batman all get stories exactly like there original source...?
They get really similar stories, but not nearly 'exact'. The HP movies were pretty close, nothing that off; the Batman and Spider-Man movies, again, close, but not close enough for me to be happy with (but I've gone into that before, so I'll leave it there).

Still, much better than what we're seeing for Dragon Ball.

Well that is true enough, my main point there was the fact that Harry Potter didn't live with Dumbledore or Peter Parker wasn't a jock who was bitten by a spider while playing a game of football so on and so fourth. They all retained their original backgrounds unlike my boy Goku who turned into an unpopular city kid with this new movie.
(I'm actually one of those nerds who was pissed off Spidey didn't make his web cartridges.)

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:58 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote:I'll read through the almost fifty pages of this thread and read the posts from those who say that this movie can't be made and shouldn't be made. But nowhere have I read any reasonable reasons on why. So please, someone tell me why. And don't use the lame "it won't be exactly how I envision the manga/anime in my head" way of thinking. Cuz if that was the only deciding factor we wouldn't have the thouusands of great movie that have been released that were based on other properties.

To clarify my own post, I never said the film shouldn't be made, and definitely said it could be made, easily.

But I think they've gotten off to a bad really bad start. And sometimes fans have to get pissed. Let's go for an example from the past, shall we? How about from one of these 'great movies' that have been released, one which was also adapted from a source material held dear to fan's hearts...

While filming the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Peter Jackson had the brilliant idea to have the character of Arwen actually lead the army of Elves that came to reinforce the humans at Helm's Deep, and have her fight alongside Aragorn.
They went as far as to put Liv Tyler through stage combat training along with the rest of the actors, and filmed a number of scenes from Helm's Deep with her in it.
When news of this leaked to the internet, the fans threw a fit, and rightfully so.
When the production crew discovered their new ideas didn't go over well, they scrapped it.
Sometimes the fans need to speak up and say "Hey, I think that's a really bad idea."

A Dragonball movie can be made. But what they have so far shouldn't be it. The reason you get a rant with every bit of information that is revealed is because every bit of information revealed adds to just how awful this movie is going to be.
I think they need to try a lot harder to get a movie that actually resembles Dragonball in more than just it's name. For all my specific reasons as to why this film is thus far failing to accomplish that, please read my last post.
What do we get when a movie is only kind of like it's source? We get Super Mario Bros., damn it. And I personally don't want this be a joke of a movie.
And I'll continue to voice my displeasure with every bad decision made in this production. Why? Really, what's 10 to 20 minutes of effort in writing about a movie that we desperately want to be good, when every person on this board has been waiting for this movie and knows that this is the one shot it has for a decent live-action adaptation. Period.
It's not like our super hero movies. If they suck, it's okay, because a new Hulk/Fantastic Four/Spider-man/Superman/Batman movie will be made. It might take 10 years, but there will be more.
How many chances do we get for a big screen, live-action Dragonball?
With what's been shared with us so far, every fan who wants to see this done correctly has a right to be upset.

If you're so desperate for good reasons, give me a good reason for the decisions they've made so far.
Please, tell us what you see about this movie that's being done correctly.

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:03 pm

MisterFlashdude wrote:Long and pointless post that 'proves' the movie is nothing like the series.

Hmm. Alright. Let's see.

12 year old Frank is on his way home from fishing when he gets hit by Lisa's car. After a quick exchance the two had back to Frank's place and Lisa learns that he had an artifact she's been searching for, one of seven items said to grant a wish when all are gathered. She and Frank set out to collect the rest and along the way are attacked by, and then befriend, Mike and Steve.

They also run into the major criminal military power known as the Evil Army who are after the artifacts to conquer the world. But Frank's martial arts skills lets him defeat them on their first encounter. later they meet the martial arts master that trained Frank's dead grandfather and Frank learns a powerful attack from him. But him and Frank's friends are captured by the Evil Army and Frank has to go save them, and the world!

So, there's DB Movie 4 given the same treatment as the liveaction movie. Hmmm. Guess what? Looks exactly the same too. Nothing like Dragonball. I guess that proves the movie will be nothing like Dragonball either, because we all know that Movie 4 was absolutely nothing like the series.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:04 pm

Attitude... attitude...

Last chance, everyone...

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:05 pm

Xyex wrote:
MisterFlashdude wrote:Long and pointless post that 'proves' the movie is nothing like the series.
Hmm. Alright. Let's see.

Is my post any more "pointless" than your post attempting to make mine out to be pointless?

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:11 pm

Xyex wrote:
MisterFlashdude wrote:Long and pointless post that 'proves' the movie is nothing like the series.
Hmm. Alright. Let's see.

12 year old Frank is on his way home from fishing when he gets hit by Lisa's car. After a quick exchance the two had back to Frank's place and Lisa learns that he had an artifact she's been searching for, one of seven items said to grant a wish when all are gathered. She and Frank set out to collect the rest and along the way are attacked by, and then befriend, Mike and Steve.

They also run into the major criminal military power known as the Evil Army who are after the artifacts to conquer the world. But Frank's martial arts skills lets him defeat them on their first encounter. later they meet the martial arts master that trained Frank's dead grandfather and Frank learns a powerful attack from him. But him and Frank's friends are captured by the Evil Army and Frank has to go save them, and the world!

So, there's DB Movie 4 given the same treatment as the liveaction movie. Hmmm. Guess what? Looks exactly the same too. Nothing like Dragonball. I guess that proves the movie will be nothing like Dragonball either, because we all know that Movie 4 was absolutely nothing like the series.

Actually, as soon as you jumped from Mike and Steve to an evil criminal military power I knew it was DB Movie 4. It doesn't work the other way around because you're taking an actual Dragonball movie and throwing on different names. MisterFlashdude's works because the premise of the new Dragonball movie can really apply to any movie as long as you change the names and what they're searching for. The point was that the premise is that different.

The little things do count, believe it or not. "LAWL PANKISH GUKO VERSAS BIG GREEN" isn't enough to call it Dragonball.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:12 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:They all retained their original backgrounds unlike my boy Goku who turned into an unpopular city kid with this new movie.

Basic origins are pretty hard to screw up. But it goes beyond that. A big part of, let's say Spider-man, is his relationship with Mary Jane.

Parker is supposed to meet MJ after becoming Spider-man. She's supposed to be set up as a blind date for Peter through her aunt and his aunt. He's supposed to have difficulty managing this new relationship with his responsibilities as Spider-man.

But no, we can't wait a movie or two before seeing a lasting love interest; so she shows up in the first movie. And she turns out to know Peter... from school... and she lives next door...

Love interest... interesting long courtship... fucked up into a short immediate TA payoff? Anyone feeling deja vu?

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:17 pm

*Ignores DTX's trollish bullcrap, and tries to continue with some form of a "discussion."*

NeptuneKai wrote:To SSjKaboom could you just answer this question for me? Why is it say Harry Potter, Spider-Man or Batman all get stories exactly like their original source yet Dragonball has to change many things?

Because DragonBall is a LOT more goofy and whimsical than those properties in terms of it's visual and storytelling style, especially in the earlier parts of the story. They COULD try to exactly match the look and feel of the anime. It's seeming to work very well for Speed Racer. But even SR is about real people, driving cars, in the real world. The Dragon Ball series doesn't have that going for it. It's a world where people commune and interact with animal-people (one of which is the King of the entire world...) and drive flying skycars and live in weird mushroom-shaped buildings and pop advanced technology out of little capsules and so on and so on...

Dragon Ball Z, however, lends itself better to movie-making. The animal-people all but dissapear, the villains are sadistic, scary, and monstrous, it has fast-paced kung fu, space-travel, large-scale destruction, etc, etc... THAT, I believe, is what the studio wants to be making movies about.

However, you can't have "Dragon Ball Z" without some form of "Dragon Ball" before it. I'd rather them make a DB-adaptation with the idea of continuing to DBZ in mind than for them to just do some short, crappy recap before introducing the Saiyans. For the purpose of setting things up for DBZ, the way this movie is setting up so far is perfectly logical. The movie is being given a more "DBZ" feel, while having a DB-centered story. Why do you think they're having him face off against Piccolo, instead of Pilaf or the Red Ribbon Army? Because the Piccolo Daimou arc was the point in DragonBall when things began to take a more serious, dark, intense, and "DBZ"-ish turn.

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:22 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:*Ignores DTX's trollish bullcrap, and tries to continue with some form of a "discussion."*

NeptuneKai wrote:To SSjKaboom could you just answer this question for me? Why is it say Harry Potter, Spider-Man or Batman all get stories exactly like their original source yet Dragonball has to change many things?
Because DragonBall is a LOT more goofy and whimsical than those properties in terms of it's visual and storytelling style, especially in the earlier parts of the story. They COULD try to exactly match the look and feel of the anime. It's seeming to work very well for Speed Racer. But even SR is about real people, driving cars, in the real world. The Dragon Ball series doesn't have that going for it. It's a world where people commune and interact with animal-people (one of which is the King of the entire world...) and drive flying skycars and live in weird mushroom-shaped buildings and pop advanced technology out of little capsules and so on and so on...

Dragon Ball Z, however, lends itself better to movie-making. The animal-people all but dissapear, the villains are sadistic, scary, and monstrous, it has, fast-paced kung fu, space-travel, large-scale destruction, etc, etc... THAT, I believe, is what the studio wants to be making movies about.

However, you can't have "Dragon Ball Z" without some form of "Dragon Ball" before it. I'd rather them make a DB-adaptation with the idea of continuing to DBZ in mind than for them to just do some short, crappy recap before introducing the Saiyans. For the purpose of setting things up for DBZ, the way this movie is more than logical. The movie is being given a more "DBZ" feel, while having a DB-centered story. Why do you think they're having him face off against Piccolo, instead of Pilaf or the Red Ribbon Army? Because the Piccolo Daimou arc was the point in DragonBall when things began to take a more serious, dark, intense, and "DBZ"-ish turn.

That is a very good point and I actually am slightly persuaded by it. But why couldn't Goku still be a forest boy who lives in some distant jungle with his grandfather? I feel they could still set up the story with a classic Dragonball plot and still have a natural feel. If he ends up living in the forest and going to school is some awesome futuristic speedey way like Gohan I will apologize for this post and feel really dumb in the process, touche’ Mr.Kaboom…touché.