Is DBZ the anime equivlent of a Michael Bay movie?

[Kid Buu]

This was actually brought up in another thread a while ago and I thought it would make for an interesting discussion.

Basically, people were comparing Toriyama's manga to Bay's film in the sense that they have immature humor (poop on a stick), poor treatment of female characters (subjective discussion), and halting plot progression in favor of more action (such as the redundant fighting against Freeza's lesser forms).

So what do you think? Do people view us like how we view Bay films? I'm really curious to find out.

[RocktheDragon]

Well, I'd certainly say that the equivalency is best placed on the Cell arc. For me, the Saiyan-Freeza arcs are when DBZ shines brightest. The plot is intriguing, the cast of characters is well rounded, and there is some really great character interactions and acting taking place.

But when you get to the Cell arc there is just this magnified focus on getting one's power levels higher and higher (which had been seen before, but how many times does this occur in the Cell arc?), muscles get bigger and bigger, and etc. The Cell arc, for me at least, is the Michael Bay/big budget no brain explosives component of DBZ. It's still enjoyable to me, but it definitely is my personal low point for the series. So in that instance, I'd compare it to a Michael Bay film.

[chaosyoshimage]

One has well-choreographed, easy to follow action. The other is an incoherent mess of explosions and CG monstrosities passing themselves off as "good action". I wouldn't ever say Dragon Ball is the equivalent of a Michael Bay movie if only because Bay's films fundamentally fail at the one thing they're actually trying to do, be good pieces of action entertainment.

[Makaioshin]

Basically what chaosyoshimage said. I mean stories with immature humor and action-driven plot make up a large chunk of the action genre anyway. But there is action done well and then there is what Bay does.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I wouldn't say so. I actually care about the DBZ characters.

[ABED]

Bay has one good movie - The Rock. The rest are obnoxious, so I disagree that they are equivalent. I can tell what's going on in DBZ, and as has been said, Toriyama wrote good characters. As for the humor, at least Toriyama's funny.

[dbboxkaifan]

Cheesy, mostly explosions and a mediocre actress? No.

Michael Bay isn't that much better than Uwe Boll but some people still like his films for some reason. Despite being a horrendous filmmaker his new TMNT film actually looks pretty interesting and won't be around explosions but it still has Megan Fox.

Megan Fox is very pretty but for an actress just naw.

[Kamiccolo9]

Am I the only person who likes Armageddon?

It's cheesy, simple, lots of action, sometimes funny, and has the occasional poignant moment. Just like Dragon Ball.

And both are fun, to me at least. That's what I'm looking for in my entertainment. I don't particularly care about "poor characterization" or "plotholes" or "shallow characters," as long as I'm having fun. I dunno, I guess I can just distance myself from all of that or something.

As long as I can enjoy myself watching it, then it's good enough for me.

[ABED]

Cheesy, mostly explosions and a mediocre actress? No.

Michael Bay isn't that much better than Uwe Boll but some people still like his films for some reason. Despite being a horrendous filmmaker his new TMNT film actually looks pretty interesting and won't be around explosions but it still has Megan Fox.

Megan Fox is very pretty but for an actress just naw.

He's not the TMNT director, he's just producing.

I do enjoy Armageddon. I enjoy a good, fun film, but his movies can be obnoxious. If it's hard to follow the action, I check out.

[Kid Buu]

Well I did watch Bad Boys recently. It was kind of a generic buddy cop film with corny dialogue, but fun action scenes. Dragon Ball has somewhat of a generic plot, corny dialogue, and fun action scenes. It scares to to admit this, but I don't really see much difference. Will admit that Toriyama has more fun characters though.

Oh and in my opinion those Transformers films were just awful even for Bay, not a fan of the whole shakey cam thing.

[InfernalVegito]

Am I the only person who likes Armageddon?

Absolutely not! One of my all time favorite movies. Amazing visuals, an intense story and a timeless score. The goodbye scene always brings a tear to my eye as well.

[ABED]

I'm not sure I would consider DB's dialog corny.

I enjoyed Armageddon, and am a fan of Affleck BATFLECK FOREVER!

[Hellspawn28]

Am I the only person who likes Armageddon?

I like it as well since it's a hold lot of nostalgia to me. I won't call DBZ close to a Bay film. Sure DBZ does not have a super strong story, but I care about the story and characters. The TF failed to have care about anything and those movies are modern cinema trash in my opinion. The crude humor in DB has a charm to it while the humor in his movies made me want to slam my head to the wall. The humor in the TF movies feel like if they were written by Tom Green.

[Vijay]

Its an insult to Toriyama's creation to compare to crap like Bay's.

DBZ's appeal has always been its unique characters. Its epic action sequences are backed by decent plot, tied together by its likable cast of characters.

One can trash Bay all day long. Pure moronic screen-play, obnoxious & bitchy lead characters (Sam frm TF), plot as thin as toilet-tissue, CGI crap-fest & utter disregard to its target audience. Some well-choreographed fight aside, nothing works in his film. The fact that he treated Pearl Harbour as pop-corn flick reflects his respect towards his product, while Toriyama embraces his creation for more than 10 years.

[Hellspawn28]

I'm surprise no one compare DBZ to a Roland Emmerich movie? He's just as bad as Bay since The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC and 2012 will make you lose brain cells for being so stupid and bad.

[thatdbzguy]

Pretty much. The plot is just an excuse for explosions, women are mostly insignificant, has the depth of 3rd grader fanfiction, potty-humor, etc.

[ABED]

Pretty much. The plot is just an excuse for explosions, women are mostly insignificant, has the depth of 3rd grader fanfiction, potty-humor, etc.

Why are you on this forum? Please, I'm begging you to say something positive. Why would you ever join a forum about something you hate?

[thatdbzguy]

Pretty much. The plot is just an excuse for explosions, women are mostly insignificant, has the depth of 3rd grader fanfiction, potty-humor, etc.

Why are you on this forum? Please, I'm begging you to say something positive. Why would you ever join a forum about something you hate?

Define "positive". Do you want me to say something I genuinely think is good about DBZ, or just something I like about it?

[VegettoEX]

Pretty much. The plot is just an excuse for explosions, women are mostly insignificant, has the depth of 3rd grader fanfiction, potty-humor, etc.

Why are you on this forum? Please, I'm begging you to say something positive. Why would you ever join a forum about something you hate?

Unlike other posts/threads, this is not necessarily a "negative" post. This is a fine analysis. It can be backed up with precise examples.

Please stop attacking other users.

[ABED]

Pretty much. The plot is just an excuse for explosions, women are mostly insignificant, has the depth of 3rd grader fanfiction, potty-humor, etc.

Why are you on this forum? Please, I'm begging you to say something positive. Why would you ever join a forum about something you hate?

Unlike other posts/threads, this is not necessarily a "negative" post. This is a fine analysis. It can be backed up with precise examples.

Please stop attacking other users.

Sorry, I didn't see it as attacking, but point taken.

In any case, the show isn't about the explosions, it's more about the fighting, so the plot isn't an excuse for it, it's very upfront about what it's about. Do you read a lot of 3rd grader fan fiction? Toriyama's humor is still leaps and bounds above Bay's. His action scenes are also far more coherent than Bay's.