Anyone actually like DBE?

[Hellspawn28]

I don't know why people are calling DBE the GINO of Dragon Ball. G98 pretty much scarred the Godzilla fanbase forever, and fans today still hate the movie. I doubt DBE has effect Dragon Ball on that level, most fans knew the movie was going to suck.

[Kid Buu]

and the special effects look like something out of Power Rangers the Movie

How could you insult a film with the great Ivan Ooze?

Also, I thought this movie was okay. Yamcha was badass in it. And before you question my sanity, I am not possessed by anyone...I think.

[Bardo117]

I don't know why people are calling DBE the GINO of Dragon Ball. G98 pretty much scarred the Godzilla fanbase forever, and fans today still hate the movie. I doubt DBE has effect Dragon Ball on that level, most fans knew the movie was going to suck.

Well, I'm a huge Godzilla fan too, and I don't hate G98 THAT MUCH. It's a decent movie, not all that bad.

[Bussani]

How could you insult a film with the great Ivan Ooze?

I didn't mean it as an insult to Power Rangers the Movie. I remember thinking the CGI in that film was amazing when I first saw it...in 1995.

Who exactly are Cui, Zarbon and Dodoria and why do they work for Freeza? I never saw anyone bitching about that and the other numerous unexplained events in the original work.

I don't buy this comparison. Freeza has minions because he has an army. Why does movie-Piccolo have movie-Mai? He's been sealed for a thousand years, so was she the one to let him out? Why? Him getting out of his seal is what the movie revolves around, so not answering any of these questions is stupid.

But really, the lack of exposition ranks way below the acting, lines, choreography and special effects for me.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Also...are you talking about the androids' eyes? That's ridiculous.

How is that ridiculous? Asians have slanted eyes. Android 17 looks more Asian to me, than Gokū.

[Kid Buu]

How could you insult a film with the great Ivan Ooze?

I didn't mean it as an insult to Power Rangers the Movie. I remember thinking the CGI in that film was amazing when I first saw it...in 1995.

Still has better effects than any movie to date.


I was kidding with my last post and this one.

[Snail]

Also...are you talking about the androids' eyes? That's ridiculous.

How is that ridiculous? Asians have slanted eyes.

Forum member Jaruka, did not specify which android. That was in response to his thoughts of the androids' appearance as a collective. After all, Android 18 appears more to be a blonde caucasian woman.

[Kiyza]

Both sides here have a point. Something as simple as mere inclusion or omission of certain characters is not enough to single-handedly doom or save a movie. The film and its plot would have been just fine without Kuririn or Tenshinhan or Oolong... If it were a good movie.

And that's the kicker. Even apart from its differences from the original material, DBE just was a mediocre movie at best. In that vein I view it a lot like I do GT. It had a lot of overall good ideas and some particular elements that really shined, but really just failed in its execution.

I'm in agreement with Kaboom on this. It had potential, it could have been entertaining, both to fans and non fans.

You know I could gripe about Goku being in highschool, or Bulma's one strand of blue hair, but to be honest, I wouldn't care about that if it really felt like Dragon Ball to me. It was missing that charm that I feel the series has, the characters and their colorful personalities and the very spirit of it. That was what the movie was lacking for me.

If it had more entheuseastic actors, lasted a bit longer, had a higher budget, and was actually marketed by FOX, perhaps it would have been a success, perhaps I would have said, "This is how you do an adaption." I feel that so long as you keep the spirit of a series alive, aesthetic changes are probably the least of your issues. For instance, despite the Star Trek movie being very off course from the original series from what I understand, I felt that it kept the whole idea of going boldly where no man's gone before alive and kicking. That's what the handful of trekkie friends I have like it.

Though I will admit, like many others, it was a guilty pleasure of mine. I dragged my friend along to the movie. She had her head in a facepalm half the time and I was laughing my ass off at how cheesy the movie was. I will admit, I love a cheesy movie when I'm watching it as a cheesy movie and not expecting it to be over the top amazing. For what it was, I got some degree of entertainment out of it.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

No but I did like The Magic Begins fairly unironically so my opinion on movies probably shouldn't count.

[Kaboom]

Even the "Goku in school" thing had potential, in that it, if done right, could have served as a quick and easy way to show his character being so out-of-place in normal society (in a matter befitting Goku, that is, not the "I'm so alooone I don't wanna be special" way the film did). Kind of like that one manga chapter where Goku's in a city for the first time and getting into all sorts of shenanigans while trying to track down Bulma.

[Chuquita]

In-character Goku at school would have potential, I agree, Kaboom. I could see him bringing a gigantic lunch to school or having other students afraid to wrestle him in gym class because of how strong he is. I think in-school in-character Goku would probably have at least several sports-related friends; maybe he'd be part of a martial arts club at school. He'd probably still be awful on literature and science tests though.


I'm still a little surprised that they went with DB instead of DBZ to do a live action movie in the first place; what with Vegeta and all.

You'd think with how popular Vegeta is that they'd want to do a movie about an arc that he's a part of.

I feel kind of silly that in hindsight I was really worried about DBE being both wildly inaccurate and wildly popular; turned out it ended up only being the first one.
And I still don't like Chatku, but I don't hate the movie. I feel it's going to become one of those things that just kinda fades into obscurity over time.

Some of the ridiculousness of it all did inspire some artworks that I really had fun drawing though, so that was good. :3

I would like a reboot done by a different studio under better management/better staff/much higher budget. I see so many old TV shows or old brands getting really nice looking movies that I'd kind of like that for DBZ too. And even though I like 2-D animation best for it, I would not be opposed to high quality CGI like Pixar's work. I do think live action DB/DBZ could work as well, if done with a higher budget.

[nathantheguitarist]

I tried to like it, and in some degree I do... but I don't really lol. I liked the anticipation way more though. I had to go find out if my *shitty-small-town-theater was even going to get it after seeing the poster hidden behind a door in the back. I talked with the manager and he said they were using it as a "filler" movie (oh the irony), and that it may be up in three to 10 weeks if they have a slow release period. I must have bugged him and the other staff about 6 out of those 10 following weeks. Somewhere in there, I asked him if I could have the poster if they weren't going to get it in (since they took it down about a week and a half after it's release). They never got it in, and I got me a nice poster. So I then resorted to other means to watch it, and was disappointed and realized why they never got it in.

I'll buy the DVD if VegettoEX and the others get together and do one of those ____-tracks where they make fun of it as they watch it. The name of that totally slips my mind at the moment. Bah... Actually no... my library has it. Errm... *checks Amazon* ok, it's cheaper than dirt. I'll manage to buy it lol.

*My theater is dumb as hell. They never got Zombieland or The Expendables in (ticket takers said they were way too violent for the local demographic), yet they had fuckin' Machete in... I saw it first day, and asked a ticket taker if there were a lot of people in there and he says, "not really, it's pretty violent..." so I facepalmed and went in. There were some teens, some 20-30 people and two old couples (huh?). One of the old couples left halfway through, the others were laughing throughout the movie. The guy and his wife looked like 70+ lol. My theater is odd... /pointless rant

I do think live action DB/DBZ could work as well, if done with a higher budget.

Was it ever explained why they dropped the budget so much? Marsters, and some initial reports I remember, said that the budget was going to be around 100 million dollars. Then a time closer to release (maybe a couple months?) it came out that it was only 30 million dollars.

Would 70 million more have helped the movie? Or was that just a sign that Fox no longer gave a shat, if at all, about the movie?

[Chuquita]

I do think live action DB/DBZ could work as well, if done with a higher budget.

Was it ever explained why they dropped the budget so much? Marsters, and some initial reports I remember, said that the budget was going to be around 100 million dollars. Then a time closer to release (maybe a couple months?) it came out that it was only 30 million dollars.

Would 70 million more have helped the movie? Or was that just a sign that Fox no longer gave a shat, if at all, about the movie?

I remember all the initial reports about how it was going to be filmed in Canada, and how they were going to have Stephen Chow directing as well as producing, the 100 million, all that stuff; but I never found out why they dropped the budget.

Would it have helped? Well, the fights probably would've been longer, and the special effects would've looked a lot nicer, but I don't know if that bigger budget would've helped the script any. Lots of big budget movies with fantastic special effects can still wind up with bad scripts.

If they were to get the 100 million and use some of it to hire a better director/writer/group of actors who both know/understand the source material and at least make sure the director and writer have a passion for the series (or at least a vested interest), then that would've definitely helped.

I'm still hoping for a complete reboot in the future. All the weird inaccuracies and low budget aside, I also think FOX started the project itself at the wrong time. If they'd done it years ago they could've ridden off the high of DBZ's Toonami fame, if they were to start it now they could've ridden off of Kai. They picked this weird dead zone area in-between instead; my bet is that it was probably to get something out of the soon-to-expire license.


I still think this is pretty interesting though, the Who Is page for the official movie's website: http://whois.domaintools.com/dragonballthemovie.com
FOX has had that page since around the time "new" DBZ episodes were finishing up on Toonami. (May of 2003).

[nathantheguitarist]

Well, I know James Marsters became a fan through his son and apparently reading the whole freakin manga when he was cast for the part. But just one actor with only a few lines (even though he was the main villain...) doesn't/didn't really help much.

[ssj5goku]

Never seen DBE before and never will.

[Senzu_Bean]

I don't buy this comparison..

For an entire arc that revolves around Freeza and his army (is it even an army? IDK) we surely know pretty much nothing. So yeah, that is the fairest comparison you can make.

Was it ever explained why they dropped the budget so much?

Apparently the $100 million budget would be for the trilogy, not the first movie.

And you think the fans doomed DBE??

Of course. The Dragonball fandom is without a doubt the most childish and "retardish" fandom I ever had the unhappiness of meeting. Daizex is probably the only respectable and proper place for the Dragonball fandom.

[Piccolo Daimao]

And you think the fans doomed DBE??

Of course. The Dragonball fandom is without a doubt the most childish and "retardish" fandom I ever had the unhappiness of meeting. Daizex is probably the only respectable and proper place for the Dragonball fandom.

No, Fox doomed Dragon Ball: Evolution, in that they didn't make a good film. The fans only complained about the film after they'd watched it in the cinema. The fans did nothing to doom DBE; the filmmakers did. How can you think that the fans had anything to do with the failure of DBE?

[Senzu_Bean]

I'm repeating myself already. Last input on this thread.

No, Fox doomed Dragon Ball Evolution, in that they didn't make a good film.

That isn't reason for a film failing.

The fans only complained about the film after they'd watched it in the cinema.

I'm going to quote myself:

Even before the film went into production, much before the cast, the crew, etc. are assigned to the film pretty much everybody in the fandom disliked the project.

I followed the pre-production of the film pretty close. The majority of the comments are exactly like this:

"A Dragonball live-action film? ROTFL! It is going to suckz balls."; "WTF! Goku isn't Asian. It suckz!!!"; "Where are Piccolo's antennas? OMG! They raped my childhood." Etc., Etc. The film was doomed from the start cause there is no market for it. Is that possible with the Dragonball fandom being relatively large? Of course it is, cause the fandom is childish, ignorant and whining little bitches.

[Kaboom]

Of course it is, cause the fandom is childish, ignorant and whining little bitches.

You really need to check this attitude issue of yours. You don't have to reply if you really are done in this thread. Just... rein it in, seriously.


Anyway, every movie adaptation of an already-popular franchise gets these outspoken "critics." That just comes with the very concept itself. Even the aforementioned Star Trek XI had a very vocal minority of "hardcore" fans who were bitching and moaning. "The ship doesn't look the same as the cheesy-looking low-budget model from the 60's!" and "Why do they have touchscreens, it's 'only' the 23rd century!" and "blargle blargle why is it actually exciting instead of 'intellectual' blargle?!"

All in all, there was just as much, if not more in some areas, complaining about things that didn't deserve complaint in comparison to DB Evolution. The only difference was that Star Trek fans tend to be a bit older and "smarter" than DB fans, so their grammar was better.

Yet what happened when both movies came out?

The complaints about STXI dwindled down to a level of practically non-existence, and were massively overshadowed by the veritable torrent of praise for the film coming not only from critics, but the audiences. Both longtime Star Trek fans like myself and the thrill-seeking non-fan general public had overwhelmingly good things to say about it. It drew in audiences and made a whole lotta money. It had its minor flaws, as anything does, but just about everyone but a small, bitchy sub-set of Trek fans considered it all-in-all a "very good movie."

Dragon Ball: Evolution quietly popped into theaters and then left it after maybe a month. A few Dragon Ball fans saw it for kicks and got some amount of amusement out of it, but other than that I don't recall really ever getting a more general impression. Despite Dragon Ball being a big-name property, the film got mostly bad feedback and, if not for the somewhat better advertising and "big deal" made about it over in Asia... I doubt it would have even made its budget back. And why is this?

Because unlike Star Trek XI, Dragon Ball: Evolution was just plain not a good movie.

[SSJSteve]

I followed the pre-production of the film pretty close. The majority of the comments are exactly like this:

"A Dragonball live-action film? ROTFL! It is going to suckz balls."; "WTF! Goku isn't Asian. It suckz!!!"; "Where are Piccolo's antennas? OMG! They raped my childhood." Etc., Etc. The film was doomed from the start cause there is no market for it.

The only reason those type of comments got made was because the film looked bad. You can't blame the fans for that. All I'm trying to say is, if FOX made the film look good in pre-production, did everything right, those comments wouldn't have got made.