Live Action Movie Discussion Thread

[SonEric84]

(Though really, the only person I have seen going to the absolute extreme on that end of things is this DTX guy.)

Where the hell I said anything like "you should not post your opinion if you are FOR the movie"
I am being extreme about the movie itself, not to members of this forum.

That's what I meant....

[DominatorLost]

I don't understand the outrage myself. I mean really, what do you want them to do?

Start at the beginning and make a movie out of the Pilaf Saga? You can't have a live action movie where a little kid goes through the beatings Goku did nowadays.

Or you could start at the beginning of Z and have a 5 minute summarization of the entirety of Dragon Ball during the opening credits to give the audience a vague understanding that there are 7 Dragon Balls that summon a dragon to grant a wish when they are gathered together, Goku is a very strong martial artist that has saved the world, and these are his friends, wife, son, teacher, yadda yadda...

The best they can do is just pick and choose parts of Dragon Ball and try to piece together a movie out of what they've got. Some of you are getting so upset when you need to sit back and realize that there is absolutely no chance of a live action Dragon Ball movie pleasing the long time fans that are readers of the manga and lovers of the original Japanese version of the show.

It's just not gonna happen people. It never had a chance, never will have a chance. That is why I can love this new live action endeavour to death and laugh my ass off at everything I see. I can't freaking wait.

Somehow, things just started to look up for me.

[Artificial Human #887]

Honestly, the more I read, the more torn I become about this movie.

On one hand, there's nothing I'd love to see more than a DB movie on the big screen. It has a lot of potential, what with all the history it has. There's so many stories to work from, and Piccolo Daimao and or Ma Jr is a great place to start, especially if they're planning on making sequels. It's totally understandable that things HAVE to be changed, what to appeal to mass market audiences and things of the like. I have no problem with the casting thus far, either. I think Chatwin will be able to pull off the role, Marsters is a great villain, and Emmy Rossum is just a great actress period. If they have a good script to work with, it'll be a great movie - IF you take it for what it's worth. A general story with elements of the DB universe and a basic framework from the manga.

On the other hand, will it still FEEL like DB without Toriyama having a true hand in the project? I know that sounds kind of like a cop out, but let's be serious for a second here. Toriyama had a minor hand in GT, and even that in itself didn't really feel like DragonBall, and I don't generally find it canonical with the manga. Or much else for that matter. There are certain aspects of the story that will never need to be changed to appeal to mass market. With the special effects available to us in this day and age, we can easily pull off things like capsule cars and whatnot. Though I feel it's unlikely that they'll be used.

But it's not so much those things that bother me. And even the "Goku in school" thing, though that irks me a bit as well that is making me lean the other way. It's the idea of original characters. When you have a cast of amazingly well-developed (and some minor as well), there's no reason to introduce characters that never existed in the manga, or even the anime for that matter. That's straying into a whole new tangent of things that lessen the feel of a DB universe. We've already seen Goku lacking his crazy hair, and does that mean Bulma will just be an average brunette or blonde, because purple or bright blue won't fit? Probably. Again, details that aren't a big deal, but definitely take away from the character.

I think all of us here in the DB community will certainly be the most analytical of the movie. I'm obviously going to spend the 11 bucks to see it, and I'll do even more to enjoy it, taking it for what it's worth. A DB based movie. But I really don't think it'll have the heart or fire that I've come to love in both the manga and the anime.

[Bura]

I've gotten my hands on more (bad quality though) set photos.



Nothing exactly new, though.

[omegacwa]

I know some people might shit all over this idea, but remember in "the waterboy" he went to college but was a complete dumb ass. Maybe they are doing something like that for this movie.

[Bura]

I hope so. I like Goku as an idiot.

[Kendamu]

They could've at least made Chatwin's hair black.

[snaku]

They could've at least made Chatwin's hair black.

They still could. They don't begin shooting until January, right?

[Kendamu]

They could've at least made Chatwin's hair black.

They still could. They don't begin shooting until January, right?

Let's hope so.

[landoku]

They could've at least made Chatwin's hair black.

They still could. They don't begin shooting until January, right?

No they already started filming in the mexico set. They move to the durango set on jan 2nd. There is also gonna be a set in L.A.

Oh and here is a link to somemore NEW set pics of Goku (chatwin) just scroll down. (It's a spanish site)

http://blogs.hoycinema.com/movieland/po ... l-y-set-se

[snaku]

Chow tried unsuccessfully to get more Chinese actors into the cast.

Dragon Ball producer said to have been unable to add more Chinese stars
The Japanese news website Searchina picked up on Chinese newspaper reports on December 17 that Stephen Chow, the director of Shaolin Soccer and a producer on Twentieth Century Fox's live-action Dragon Ball movie, unsuccessfully tried to bring more Chinese actors into the cast of Dragon Ball. The reports name Edison Chen (Infernal Affairs, Initial D, The Grudge 2) and Kitty Zhang Yuqi (Chow's upcoming CJ7) among the actors and actresses that Chow attempted to hire for the production. The movie is an adaptation of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. The announced cast includes Justin Chatwin (Son Goku), James Marsters (Piccolo), Jamie Chung (Chi Chi), Emmy Rossum (Bulma), Eriko Tamura (Mai), and Joon Park (Yamcha).

Well he tried.

[Kendamu]

At least he tried. I can give that much to this movie.

[John Pannozzi]

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?

*raises hand*

Anyone watch Superman: Doomsday?

[MisterFlashdude]

I really don't get why people don't think you can faithfully sum up Dragonball in one movie. It's really not impossible. Here, let me try...

~~

Movie starts off with Pilaf scrounging around and unearthing Piccolo's rice cooker, with a dramatic "I've found it!"
Shifts to a more cheerful scene that's faithful to how Dragonball begins. Goku catches a fish, gets hit by Bulma, learns about the Dragonballs and agrees to go with her as she tries to collect the rest of the balls.
Shift to a mostly unseen, ominous Piccolo figure conversing with Pilaf and his henchmen, begins his nefarious plotting.

Back with Goku and Bulma, they're waylaid by a monstrous bull who turns out to be Oolong, but their introductions are cut short as Yamcha swoops in to steal their Hoi-poi capsules. Goku and Yamcha fight. Yamcha runs away after seeing Bulma, but starts to follow the group.

Shift back to Piccolo, who has apparently gotten around to blasting his way into Red Ribbon HQ. He dethrones Red and takes control of the RRA, with Pilaf groveling at his side.

Meanwhile, Goku's crew is halted by a sea turtle in the road. They help turtle find his way back to the ocean, and he fetches Kame-sen'nin to give the crew a reward, Goku's Kintoun. As Kame-sen'nin marvels at Goku's ability to ride the cloud, a group of RR soldiers attack after tracking a group of Dragonballs to their location. Kame-sen'nin admires Goku as he wipes out most of the troops, and then fires off a super-powered Kamehameha at a tank or a sub or some red ribbon mech suit. Just as Goku is about to get clonked on the head with.. y'kno, a bullet or something.. He's saved by Yamcha, who had held back from the fight until that moment.
As they mutter about the suprising attack, Goku casually figures out how to fire his own Kamehameha.
Shocked at Goku's ability to learn his own move and ride Kintoun, Kame-sen'nin mentions that he intended to enroll a student of his into the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai which is conveniently a few days away, and invites Goku and crew to join him. Bulma objects, since she wants to find the Dragonballs, but gives in since she's glad to already four. (Her original two, Goku's, and Kame-senin's.)

Now at the Tenkaichi Budokai, Goku is introduced to Kuririn, who seems somewhat jealous and offended that Kame-sen'nin is impressed with the boy. They're joined with the introductions of Tenshinhan, Tsuru-sen'nin, and Chaozu who are here to show up Kame-sen'nin's pupil.

As we skip over the pointless preliminaries, we cut back to Piccolo's furious reaction at the soldiers failure to obtain the Dragonballs, and is disturbed that the fighters described remind him of the man and his students who sealed him away in the rice cooker. Though it weakens him, he barfs up his first spawn.

We see a few of the final matches, say.. Goku against Kuririn, Yamcha against Tenshinhan, and of course, Tenshinhan against Kame-sen'nin. Moved by the young people he's met recently, Kame-sen'nin praises the new generation and their spirit and abilities, and implores Tenshinhan to turn away from Tsuru-sen'nin's teachings.

Move on the finals, Goku is about to fight Tenshinhan when all hell breaks loose. The arena is raided by the RRA, lead by Piccolo's spawn. Though Tsuru-sen'nin immediately flees, Tenshinhan decides to stay to join Goku and the crew in combating the RRA forces.
In the course of the fray, someone is killed by Piccolo's spawn... Let's say, Yamcha... He always fails anyway...
Outraged at the return of Piccolo and death of one of the young people he'd came to admire, Kame-sen'nin goes off on his own to confront Piccolo and attempt to seal him away once more. He fails and dies.
Piccolo taunts the world over the television that anyone else who tries to comfront him will meet the same fate.

Come to the climax, Goku, Tenshinhan, and Kuririn attack the RR base in a rage, easily decimating the RRA. As Goku deals with tanks, mechs and soldiers, Tenshinhan is confronted by none other than Tao Pai Pai, and Kuririn is confront by Piccolo himself. Tenshinhan and Tao have dialogue before Tao is defeated, and Kuririn is killed. Tenshinhan attempts to fight Piccolo and loses, Goku finally gets around to fighting him and destroys him.
Pilaf and his henchman manage to flee without anyone caring.

Using the three Dragonballs that Piccolo had collected, and being joined by Bulma and the four she had, they summon the Dragon and wish all the dead back to life.
As our heroes celebrate, we're gifted with the ominous scene of one of Piccolo's spawns, who one looks suspiciously like him, slipping away unnoticed.

~~

Well, that includes most of the major interesting events in Dragonball, introduces all the major characters you need, and could put done in a reasonable amount of time.
Granted, I took a lot of ideas from Path to Ultimate Strength and pretty much come up with the rest off the top of my head... Most of the begging, the attack on the beach, the raid at the end... It was in Path to Ultimate Strength, and that movie was only 82 minutes long. I even left out the scene of Goku decimating muscle tower.
Still, I think it shows it's not impossible to get something that sums up Dragonball, and even leaving open the possibility to sequels.

[landoku]

I really don't get why people don't think you can faithfully sum up Dragonball in one movie. It's really not impossible. Here, let me try...

~~

Movie starts off with Pilaf scrounging around and unearthing Piccolo's rice cooker, with a dramatic "I've found it!"
Shifts to a more cheerful scene that's faithful to how Dragonball begins. Goku catches a fish, gets hit by Bulma, learns about the Dragonballs and agrees to go with her as she tries to collect the rest of the balls.
Shift to a mostly unseen, ominous Piccolo figure conversing with Pilaf and his henchmen, begins his nefarious plotting.

Back with Goku and Bulma, they're waylaid by a monstrous bull who turns out to be Oolong, but their introductions are cut short as Yamcha swoops in to steal their Hoi-poi capsules. Goku and Yamcha fight. Yamcha runs away after seeing Bulma, but starts to follow the group.

Shift back to Piccolo, who has apparently gotten around to blasting his way into Red Ribbon HQ. He dethrones Red and takes control of the RRA, with Pilaf groveling at his side.

Meanwhile, Goku's crew is halted by a sea turtle in the road. They help turtle find his way back to the ocean, and he fetches Kame-sen'nin to give the crew a reward, Goku's Kintoun. As Kame-sen'nin marvels at Goku's ability to ride the cloud, a group of RR soldiers attack after tracking a group of Dragonballs to their location. Kame-sen'nin admires Goku as he wipes out most of the troops, and then fires off a super-powered Kamehameha at a tank or a sub or some red ribbon mech suit. Just as Goku is about to get clonked on the head with.. y'kno, a bullet or something.. He's saved by Yamcha, who had held back from the fight until that moment.
As they mutter about the suprising attack, Goku casually figures out how to fire his own Kamehameha.
Shocked at Goku's ability to learn his own move and ride Kintoun, Kame-sen'nin mentions that he intended to enroll a student of his into the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai which is conveniently a few days away, and invites Goku and crew to join him. Bulma objects, since she wants to find the Dragonballs, but gives in since she's glad to already four. (Her original two, Goku's, and Kame-senin's.)

Now at the Tenkaichi Budokai, Goku is introduced to Kuririn, who seems somewhat jealous and offended that Kame-sen'nin is impressed with the boy. They're joined with the introductions of Tenshinhan, Tsuru-sen'nin, and Chaozu who are here to show up Kame-sen'nin's pupil.

As we skip over the pointless preliminaries, we cut back to Piccolo's furious reaction at the soldiers failure to obtain the Dragonballs, and is disturbed that the fighters described remind him of the man and his students who sealed him away in the rice cooker. Though it weakens him, he barfs up his first spawn.

We see a few of the final matches, say.. Goku against Kuririn, Yamcha against Tenshinhan, and of course, Tenshinhan against Kame-sen'nin. Moved by the young people he's met recently, Kame-sen'nin praises the new generation and their spirit and abilities, and implores Tenshinhan to turn away from Tsuru-sen'nin's teachings.

Move on the finals, Goku is about to fight Tenshinhan when all hell breaks loose. The arena is raided by the RRA, lead by Piccolo's spawn. Though Tsuru-sen'nin immediately flees, Tenshinhan decides to stay to join Goku and the crew in combating the RRA forces.
In the course of the fray, someone is killed by Piccolo's spawn... Let's say, Yamcha... He always fails anyway...
Outraged at the return of Piccolo and death of one of the young people he'd came to admire, Kame-sen'nin goes off on his own to confront Piccolo and attempt to seal him away once more. He fails and dies.
Piccolo taunts the world over the television that anyone else who tries to comfront him will meet the same fate.

Come to the climax, Goku, Tenshinhan, and Kuririn attack the RR base in a rage, easily decimating the RRA. As Goku deals with tanks, mechs and soldiers, Tenshinhan is confronted by none other than Tao Pai Pai, and Kuririn is confront by Piccolo himself. Tenshinhan and Tao have dialogue before Tao is defeated, and Kuririn is killed. Tenshinhan attempts to fight Piccolo and loses, Goku finally gets around to fighting him and destroys him.
Pilaf and his henchman manage to flee without anyone caring.

Using the three Dragonballs that Piccolo had collected, and being joined by Bulma and the four she had, they summon the Dragon and wish all the dead back to life.
As our heroes celebrate, we're gifted with the ominous scene of one of Piccolo's spawns, who one looks suspiciously like him, slipping away unnoticed.

~~

Well, that includes most of the major interesting events in Dragonball, introduces all the major characters you need, and could put done in a reasonable amount of time.
Granted, I took a lot of ideas from Path to Ultimate Strength and pretty much come up with the rest off the top of my head... Most of the begging, the attack on the beach, the raid at the end... It was in Path to Ultimate Strength, and that movie was only 82 minutes long. I even left out the scene of Goku decimating muscle tower.
Still, I think it shows it's not impossible to get something that sums up Dragonball, and even leaving open the possibility to sequels.

yeah, But....thats not the story plot for the movie. Thats why we call it a "ADAPTATION". They add things and take out things but still have a good film that safises to there time limit. So you pretty much just typed like 4 paragraphs for...no reason at all. No point in it. lol

[MisterFlashdude]

yeah, But....thats not the story plot for the movie. Thats why we call it a "ADAPTATION". They add things and take out things but still have a good film that safises to there time limit. So you pretty much just typed like 4 paragraphs for...no reason at all. No point in it. lol

That's precisely what it is. Rather than adapting a single story arc, however, I tried adapting the entire series with a bit of help from another movie. Plenty was "taken out" and "added" to allow for time constraints.

Of course, it's not a serious proposal for how the movie should be. I didn't put any great deal of thought into it. But the point was to demonstrate that it's not impossible to-
A) Find means of introducing more characters such as Kuririn and Tenshinhan, who we would want around should a sequel ever be made.
B) Reflect more events from the Dragonball series.
C) Keep the general feel of the movie closer to the original source.

Now, I know I always put a little effort into what I have to say in an attempt to get my point across, and it results in overly long posts. I also know that no matter what I say, there will be people who disagree with my opinion or just my means of expressing my opinion.
But rest assured, I always have a point. Even if you don't get it.

[Acid_Reign]

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...

To be fair, Speed Racer does not take place in the "real world" any moreso than Dragon Ball does, and I don't really think the Wachowski brothers have any intention of taking it there. I'm sure the movie will have some realistic elements to it, as it is live-action, but just look at the trailer. The racetracks aren't real racetracks, the cars are all going upside down, spinning through the air, doing flips and jumping over each other. The producer himself even admits that it's unrealistic: (1:40 onwards) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEgsJk4nn7c, and seeing as SR was a cartoon of the '60s I think that's very much the point.

[TheGreatness25]

To be fair here, yeah Dragon Ball can't be summed up in a movie, but why try? Why would you try to make a movie about it and destroy everything about the entire series? It's one thing to change around a super hero movie. None of the super hero movies are exactly faithful to the story, but at least the concept is there. Yeah in Batman Begins, Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow had no business there, but the idea was still the same. Plus, comics change origins all the time so it's no big deal. As for this, I mean why even attempt it? Just because it sells? That's horrible.

[Castor Troy]

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?

*raises hand*

Anyone watch Superman: Doomsday?

Kevin Smith should play Bacterian.

[FindKenshi]

Why the hell are people making a big issue about the race of the cast in this movie? Dragonball takes place on a fantasy Earth. There is no continent called Asia on that planet. There is no China. There is no Japan. Hell, there is no America either. This should be the LAST issue people are bitching about. Seriously, they're turning Goku into a geeky emo kid in high school, and you're bitching about him being played by a Caucasian? What the hell?

Please note: this message is not aimed at anyone in particular, just at general to anyone who may be complaining about that aspect. I'm not meaning to call anyone or two people out specifically, with this post, just saying this in general.

Seriously though, Toei made Goku's skin color white in the anime (except in GT), there's no denying that. There's also the fact that he comes from outer space. He's a Saiyan, he isn't even a human being. I just do not for the life of me understand, why is this an issue for some people? Some even went as far as to call it racist on Hollywood's part... I would've liked to continue thinking that they were just trolling, but are people really that offended over this? Why in the world?