Live Action Movie Thread

omegacwa · Post by **omegacwa** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:24 pm

I agree Kaboom. I am going to judge this movie on whether or not it is good, as a movie by itself, not by how faithful to the original source material it is. At least it is a faithful as it is. I have seen adaptations that were far worse, and I haven't even seen this movie yet. *cough* resident evil, super mario brothers, street fighter *cough*

You want to talk about a movie that was extremely faithful yet ended up awful. Mortal Kombat Annihilation.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:26 pm

Kaboom, I get where you're coming from. But even in Spider-Man when they made the Green Goblin look like a "Power Ranger," he was still green and he still looked like a goblin.

So, unless I see some pictures of a green Piccolo that goes along with people's theories based on what Marsters said, the Piccolo in this movie isn't really that great in terms of adapting the comic to the screen. Its barely based on Piccolo.

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:29 pm

I don't expect a mirror of the manga, that's what the anime is for.

But when you look at those movies you mentioned, you're practically proving my point. They're successful because of how similar they were to the source material.
In fact, the closer these deviants stay to the source, the more successful they usually are.

How much would people have enjoyed the Passion if they showed Christ in highschool, totally unawares of his uber son-of-the-Holy-Father powers?
And there are very few movies that put more effort into replicating it's source than the Lord of the Rings, right down to Bilbo's brass buttons.

Yes, you have to put effort to summing up the story in a reasonable amount of time... but it's also expected for these movies to stay true to their source.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:31 pm

Kendamu wrote:Kaboom, I get where you're coming from. But even in Spider-Man when they made the Green Goblin look like a "Power Ranger," he was still green and he still looked like a goblin.

So, unless I see some pictures of a green Piccolo that goes along with people's theories based on what Marsters said, the Piccolo in this movie isn't really that great in terms of adapting the comic to the screen. Its barely based on Piccolo.

I'll have to respectfully disagree... the color seems to be the only area where he's really lacking, for now. Otherwise, he's got the pointed ears, he's got the devilish, fanged face, he's got the structures on his forehead which greatly resemble and could even still be antennae, and his outfit consists of black, baggy gi pants and boots on the bottom and the armor on the top has patterns meant to resemble the ones originally on his skin in the series.

It's just the color (or lack of it) that's got everyone going, "it's horrible." If he were green, I don't think anyone would have anything to complain about.

MisterFlashdude wrote:Yes, you have to put effort to summing up the story in a reasonable amount of time... but it's also expected for these movies to stay true to their source.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. But the reason I plucked out those various movies is to demonstrate that there's all different levels of adaptation, sticking closer or farther to their source that could be considered "good." Spidey and Iron Man are the most similar to how DragonBall's being treated, what with how the stories were condensed and tweaked, as well as the characters' looks, histories, and motivations. Very few people would take those as grounds to deny that those films were "bad" or "nothing like the source" for it, though, and the movies have been all-around well-received. For all the Lord of the Rings trilogy has going for it in terms of visual and periodical accuracy, there were still adjustments to the story. Passion is an example of about how amazingly close to something you can get, being almost a literal "reenactment" more than an interpretation, to the point where they even had everyone speaking Aramaic.

DragonBall is in the same boat as Spidey and Iron Man; similar and heavily drawn from the source material, but not exactly similar. It's a bit of a looser adaptation than others, but still an adaptation nonetheless.

Rocketman wrote:
MisterFlashdude wrote:How much would people have enjoyed the Passion if they showed Christ in highschool, totally unawares of his uber son-of-the-Holy-Father powers?
I think Dragonball is on a slightly different level than Christianity.

Yeah, this. Besides, Jesus didn't start his teaching until he was 30-ish... if he wasn't being raised as a carpenter by profession, he probably would have attended whatever equivalent of High School they had (i.e. sitting around and chatting about the Torah with Joseph, or something). Not like he even needed it.

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:38 pm

MisterFlashdude wrote:How much would people have enjoyed the Passion if they showed Christ in highschool, totally unawares of his uber son-of-the-Holy-Father powers?

I think Dragonball is on a slightly different level than Christianity.

omegacwa · Post by **omegacwa** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:39 pm

I disagree Kendamu. I think there are a lot of similarities between movie Piccolo's appearance and Manga Piccolo. I will list them.

Both are bald
Both look like aliens
Both have fangs/sharp teeth
Both have pointed ears
Both have pronounced facial features and lack of eyebrow hair
Both have antenna, if you look closely at the one picture, he definitely has a ridge or something, most likely antenna just subdued and not ridiculous.

As for the costume, a purple Gi probably wouldn't have looked very good. But here is why I don't have a problem with the costume.
A. Marsters isn't a jacked guy, so the armor is used to make him look more muscular.
B. Black was substituted for Purple. Not a big deal to me. Even though on close inspection of the pictures we have seen, there appears to be Purple involved in his costume.
C. He still has baggy Gi pants.
D. The arms of the suit have swirl designs in order to replicate the Namekian Arm bands. I am sure everyone will agree this looks better than Marsters bare arms exposed with make up.
E. His armor appears to have Red and Purple in it, which were both colors worn by Daimao and Jr.

So, everyone's major complaint is that he isn't green, even though we have yet to receive confirmation that he is in fact not green. It could be lighting used in the photos, or it could just be a very pale green/yellow color, or as some people have said maybe he only looks that way at first. Until we see the trailer I don't think we will know definitively.

EDIT: Damn Kaboom basically said what I said.

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:46 pm

I disagree Kendamu. I think there are a lot of similarities between movie Piccolo's appearance and Manga Piccolo. I will list them.

Both are bald
Both look like aliens
Both have fangs/sharp teeth
Both have pointed ears
Both have pronounced facial features and lack of eyebrow hair
Both have antenna, if you look closely at the one picture, he definitely has a ridge or something, most likely antenna just subdued and not ridiculous

You forgot to list that they are both white!

(Well, you know what I mean)

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:49 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:DragonBall is in the same boat as Spidey and Iron Man; similar and heavily drawn from the source material, but not exactly similar. It's a bit of a looser adaptation than others, but still an adaptation nonetheless.

But like I've said before, that's how you have to treat American comics. How many people who went to see Spider-man have read the first issue of the Amazing Spider-man comic book?
Now, how many Dragonball fans have read/watched the beginning of Dragonball?
How successful would LotR have been if they skipped the Fellowship of the Ring?

Rocketman wrote:
MisterFlashdude wrote:How much would people have enjoyed the Passion if they showed Christ in highschool, totally unawares of his uber son-of-the-Holy-Father powers?
I think Dragonball is on a slightly different level than Christianity.

In a grander perspective, of course. As far as stories adapted for the big screen and as far as this discussion goes, it's all the same to me.
Besides, I wasn't the one who brought it up. /shrug

Chrono Trigger · Post by **Chrono Trigger** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:27 pm

It's not like Dragon Ball fans are going to be the only people seeing this movie. You're gonna have all sorts of different people viewing it. From people like us, People that only know about Z, People that know about Dragon Ball but don't care for it, People that have never heard of Dragon Ball, and people that just remember it as "That cartoon I used to watch with my little brother and or cousins." How many people do you think are gonna be in that theater watching the movie and say "Wait wasn't he living in the forest alone ? Shouldn't he have a tail ? Why is he in High School ? People are just going to be sitting there WATCHING a movie. Not sitting there going "Oh they completely ignored the source material. You're talking about millions of people and that's who the producers are thinking about.

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:40 pm

Chrono Trigger wrote:How many people do you think are gonna be in that theater watching the movie and say "Wait wasn't he living in the forest alone ? Shouldn't he have a tail ? Why is he in High School ? People are just going to be sitting there WATCHING a movie. Not sitting there going "Oh they completely ignored the source material.

You know, even if we forget that we're talking about an adaptation of Dragon Ball (after all, Hollywood sure did)... what makes some of you people think this movie is going to be any good? Did I miss something?

Chrono Trigger · Post by **Chrono Trigger** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:43 pm

All I've seen about this movie is a bunch of images of questionable quality and translated interviews and set Reports from Mexico and Japan. I don't know if this movie is going to be good or not. No one really does. We could debate over and over again (just like we are now) but it always comes down to "wait for the trailer/April 2009."

Super Ghost Kamikaze · Post by **Super Ghost Kamikaze** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:27 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:their source.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. But the reason I plucked out those various movies is to demonstrate that there's all different levels of adaptation, sticking closer or farther to their source that could be considered "good." Spidey and Iron Man are the most similar to how DragonBall's being treated, what with how the stories were condensed and tweaked, as well as the characters' looks, histories, and motivations. Very few people would take those as grounds to deny that those films were "bad" or "nothing like the source" for it, though, and the movies have been all-around well-received. For all the Lord of the Rings trilogy has going for it in terms of visual and periodical accuracy, there were still adjustments to the story. Passion is an example of about how amazingly close to something you can get, being almost a literal "reenactment" more than an interpretation, to the point where they even had everyone speaking Aramaic.

DragonBall is in the same boat as Spidey and Iron Man; similar and heavily drawn from the source material, but not exactly similar. It's a bit of a looser adaptation than others, but still an adaptation nonetheless.
[/quote]

I personally *hate* the Spider-Man live action movies. They stripped the characters of Peter Parker and Spider-Man characters of everything that makes them endearing.

I say "characters" and "them" because Parker definitely lets a few inner aspects of his personality shine through far more while in the suit than as Peter.

On the other hand, I have found Iron Man, Batman Begins and Dark Knight to be AMAZING adaptations, DESPITE changes to the look or exact events of the original material. This is because these two franchises met the movie challenge by capturing the essence of the characters and the universe they come from.

Batman Begins and Dark Knight change the source material in several ways, a couple of which I wasn't too happy with at face value. But when you watch the film, you see that it captures the source material about as well as it can be in a film. It's nice, because Batman got some pretty nice consolations(BTAS and this new franchise) for all the CRAP he got with the TV show and(this is going to be controversial) THOSE HORRIBLE, GOD-FORSAKEN BURTON MOVIES. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM DIOSJFIOSDJ:ODJFWSDJFOISDJF:OSJF:SZDJF.

Moving on.

Further, Spider-Man, at face value, looked amazing. They got the look of the character, they had the look of the city, they had the look of everything just so amazingly right.

But they screwed up the character, in my opinion. And for that I pretty much have forsaken the series. I truly and honestly find myself enjoying the video game adaptations 1,000% more than the films themselves.

And this is why I mostly am trying to reserve judgment until I get more information or footage. Because I've been burned by judging outer looks before. For example:

-I hated the Batmobile for Begins
-I hated the Joker costume in Dark Knight from the stills
-I hated that they made a new girlfriend character for Begins
-I loved the look of Spider-Man

My experience with movie adaptations has led me to see face-value materials can be insanely fucking deceiving.

But geez.

What the hell were they THINKING with Roshi?

Chrono Trigger · Post by **Chrono Trigger** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:36 pm

Super Ghost Kamikaze said : What the hell were they THINKING with Roshi?

They were too scared to take any real chances ?

Remix · Post by **Remix** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:00 pm

Super Ghost Kamikaze wrote:THOSE HORRIBLE, GOD-FORSAKEN BURTON MOVIES. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM DIOSJFIOSDJ:ODJFWSDJFOISDJF:OSJF:SZDJF.

A-freakin'-men.

omegacwa · Post by **omegacwa** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:11 pm

Remix wrote:
Super Ghost Kamikaze wrote:THOSE HORRIBLE, GOD-FORSAKEN BURTON MOVIES. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM DIOSJFIOSDJ:ODJFWSDJFOISDJF:OSJF:SZDJF.
A-freakin'-men.

I think you two mean the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, those were horrible. Tim Burton did Batman and Batman Returns only. And Batman Returns is my second favorite Batman behind Dark Knight.

Well, if we are talking Master Roshi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjTokKH ... re=related

Super Ghost Kamikaze · Post by **Super Ghost Kamikaze** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:16 pm

omegacwa wrote:
Remix wrote:
Super Ghost Kamikaze wrote:THOSE HORRIBLE, GOD-FORSAKEN BURTON MOVIES. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM DIOSJFIOSDJ:ODJFWSDJFOISDJF:OSJF:SZDJF.
A-freakin'-men.
I think you two mean the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, those were horrible. Tim Burton did Batman and Batman Returns only. And Batman Returns is my second favorite Batman behind Dark Knight.

Well, if we are talking Master Roshi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjTokKH ... re=related

Batman and Batman Returns BOTH STUNK. I hated them. The Joker in Batman was, frankly, horrible. But I suppose I can't blame Burton for as many bad films as I have been blaming him for.

Also, I actually thought that the Master Roshi presented in that live action movie was done...extremely well. In fact, I really liked the Chinese live action movie.

omegacwa · Post by **omegacwa** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:21 pm

Really. I agree that Batman 1 is on the boring side, but a lot of people love Jack Nicholson's Joker. I prefer Heath Ledger though. And Batman returns is just wacky and weird, with a ton of action. I like it a lot. And Michelle Pieffer is so hot as catwoman, (drools).

I like the chinese movie also. I think the only boring part is when they are all at Roshi's island. It drags so much.

Onikage725 · Post by **Onikage725** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:36 pm

Daburcor wrote: I love the 'Buffyverse' (mostly Angel) and am a fan of James Marsters, and I don't trust his word on this one iota. He can say "Yeah, it's Dragon Ball!" all day long, but that doesn't mean he's right or truthful... whether he's a fan or not. Someone telling me something's good, especially when they're involved in making it (and even more so when it's something that isn't out yet), means nothing to me. I find it best to form my own opinion on things.

I love the Buffyverse too (just showing some love, since it's taking heat). I don't think what JM (or anyone) says has too much weight, but I don't blame them for that. What they film and what makes it into the final cut are potentially two very different beasts. And unless they are on the production staff, they have no say in the matter (and possibly no knowledge until they watch the final film).

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:04 pm

Rocketman wrote:
MisterFlashdude wrote:How much would people have enjoyed the Passion if they showed Christ in highschool, totally unawares of his uber son-of-the-Holy-Father powers?
I think Dragonball is on a slightly different level than Christianity.

As a christian, I gotta say, that would be one heck of a movie!

As for the Dragonball movie. Until the movie comes out, we should all chill out, stop discussing it for now, and watch The Forbidden Kingdom together.

Remix · Post by **Remix** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:43 pm

Super Ghost Kamikaze wrote:
omegacwa wrote:
Remix wrote: A-freakin'-men.
I think you two mean the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, those were horrible. Tim Burton did Batman and Batman Returns only. And Batman Returns is my second favorite Batman behind Dark Knight.

Well, if we are talking Master Roshi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjTokKH ... re=related
Batman and Batman Returns BOTH STUNK. I hated them. The Joker in Batman was, frankly, horrible. But I suppose I can't blame Burton for as many bad films as I have been blaming him for.

Also, I actually thought that the Master Roshi presented in that live action movie was done...extremely well. In fact, I really liked the Chinese live action movie.

The Chinese movie was horrible. The acting was really painful to watch.

Oh, and Batman Returns is awful. Batman is pretty bad too.

I would actually pick Forever over both... its so funny...