Live Action Movie Discussion Thread

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:49 pm

Wait, website devoted to live-action anime adaptations?!

//joins//

VEGETA_DTX · Post by **VEGETA_DTX** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:57 pm

@SSj Kaboom,
Well there ARE some actors that have acceptable fangirls, not "eeeeek!" stupid bitches.
I have strong filling he is going to be one of "hollywood stars" in future...though he already is somewhat.

And I fight always, even in my dreams

@JAPPO

Please... I beg of you... stop bitching until we get some actual pictures and videos... not just some lame set photos that reveal nothing at all.

Does pure letters makes you sick so much?
Ok If you beg me, I guess it means to you much

, then I'LL TRY
BUT! When even one picture comes out, for which it is sure that is from actual scene, or if trailer comes out, EXPECT FROM ME A BITCHING OF THE MILLENNIUM! + later than you may see/hear something about me on the news

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:09 pm

I'm so dreadfully confused looking through all this, here.

I've avoided this thread because I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle the expected "It's gonna be great!/It's gonna suck ass!" back-and-forth, but with more and more definitive details of the movie having cropped up over the past few weeks, I decided to pop in here and mine for anything I might have missed.

What. The. Fuck?

Look, I understand that a lot of people are apprehensive about the movie. It's very existence entitles it to mass scrutiny by the fanbase, and we're all going to have opinions. Hell, we've had opinions since before we ever knew for certain that the shit was ever gonna get made.

Well thought-out opinions would be nice, though, particularly if they tend to be negative. It's all well and good to be hard on the movie, but can't we have opinions that are based on something a little better than "Goku's not Asian" and whatnot? I have my reservations just like the next guy-- all of us do-- but there has to be room allowed for creative license so that the movie can breathe, IMHO. We're not going to get an exact, direct adaptation of the DragonBall manga/anime; even if the movie were being made in JAPAN, it wouldn't be exact. The very medium in which this is taking place means that it's an entirely different animal in almost every respect. So why are some of us holding it to such unrealistic standards?

I think that the movie can be fun and worthwhile even if it's not 100% recognizable as DragonBall. No, it's not shaping up to be perfect, but it's hardly shaping up to be the crap it could have, either; we have a decent cast who looks the part, some noteworthy, professional leads and a very general adherence to the story with some minor tweaks here and there. What we have is more DragonBall-ish than I thought it was gonna turn out back when this was all rumor and speculation; I'm actually rather surprised by just how much has been retained.

Nitpicking is fine an' all, but do we really hafta resort to using small details to bash something that's otherwise not even fully formed yet? Let alone that none of us have even seen the movie; we don't even know all the details yet-- there's still so much left to find.

Maybe there's something about what's already been revealed that you don't like. Okay, then what if there's two or three more important ones that pop up to compensate for it? Let's say that James Marsters will make an awesome Piccolo. Will that be negated by the fact that Chatwin's "Goku" hairstyle can't poke Piccolo's eyes out? I think there's going to be a lot of instances just like this where the good outweighs the bad, and I think that we should look for them with hope and an open mind.

The movie is an adaptation, an interpretation, not a directly scripted retelling. Would we all like that? Sure, why not? Are we gonna get it? Nah. Does that mean that anything else coming down the pike will automatically suck? Hell no.

What we seem to have here is DragonBall for a broader audience. If you're going to put it down before it's even up, then don't be in the audience. What else is there?

Ngh.

~Da Lemmy

Captain Awesome · Post by **Captain Awesome** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:11 pm

VEGETA_DTX wrote: if trailer comes out, EXPECT FROM ME A BITCHING OF THE MILLENNIUM! + later than you may see something about me in the news

And everyone will dismiss it, just like all of the rubbish you have posted so far, we all know your stance on the movie, and that the only thing you have to offer is restating the same thing again and again, making less and less sense each time.

I personally don't expect the movie to be great, or even good, however it's way to early to be deciding what this movie is going to be, sure there is a bunch of things I've seen so far that I don't like, but I'm still going to go see the movie and then decide for myself, instead of taking a page from your book and subjecting everyone to incoherent bluster about how horrible it is, when you clearly know very little about it.

I have no idea what you are trying to achieve here, only that it annoys me.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:27 pm

Captain Awesome wrote:I have no idea what you are trying to achieve here, only that it annoys me.

Then I think he's succeeding.

Anyway, thanks for popping in and being a voice of unbiased reason, Lemmy. It's a shame most of it will be ignored...

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:37 pm

Blah. You said most of it already; I merely added a second opinion that happens to coincide with your feelings on the movie.

I just don't get it, is all. I think this can be awesome. IS there a chance it'll suck balls? Sure, anything's possible. But what the fuck? Y'gotta give it a chance, at the very least. If you're against the movie being made out of principle, I say that that's fine; there's some of us here who have said for years that live-action DragonBall should never be made, and I won't blame those people for sticking to their guns now that it's finally happening. Fuck, I can respect that. But when we have people who are otherwise amenable to the idea that bash it simply because it doesn't exactly reflect every single detail of what they think it should be, that's what pisses me off. It makes no sense.

Having the movie look exactly like the source material would be great . . . OR, there's a chance that even that could suck too. Ever stop to think of that? Following the script exactly as we know it might not necessarily work for broad audience live-action if it wants to be successful; hell, it might not even work for some of the hardcore among us. I love the anime, but I also personally think that having Chatwin walk around with ten pounds of gel in his hair to recreate the impossible geometric shape of Goku's hair would be terribly stupid. Maybe, just maybe, some small changes are in order for this to work on the big screen.

~Da Lemmy

FindKenshi · Post by **FindKenshi** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:21 am

Anyone here who knows a lot about Hollywood, and/or copyright laws in general? I'm curious about something. Once this movie comes out (assuming it does good enough to spawn merchandise sales), does Fox have the rights to sell the rights to the MOVIE-ADAPTATION, so that they could make the video game, Dragonball: The movie: the game. Or a comic book (considering most of the major action movies that have been coming out all end up getting Movie: The Comic Book)?

I just can't imagine the hillarity of playing Dragonball: The Movie: The Game, where you are high school student Goku, or even if they made a comic based on the movie.

I'm just not sure how the rights and liscensing goes. I mean, Dragonball is licensed TO Fox by Shueshia, right? So it's probably more likely that they wouldn't be able to make all that stuff based on the movie, eh? Or would they? I almost hope they do, just because of how funny it would be.

Shenron · Post by **Shenron** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:32 am

SSJ Kaboom wrote:2. WRONG again. FOX brings terrible movies? Ever heard of Star Wars? If you're referring to the fact that they're doing a live-action version of an anime movie, well then you still have nothing to base that on, as I'm pretty sure DragonBall will be the first anime property that FOX has handled.

Ahem, to be fair, the original trilogy is 30 years old. Now, a huge part of their movies are, well, not that good, if not crappy.

JulieYBM · Post by **JulieYBM** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:42 pm

Well, let's be real here. Things do not look too good right now and I am a little displeased by the changing of Son Gokû's character into a quasi-Gohan role in that he's some love-struck teen or whatever. To be perfectly honest if Son's mountain hickness was retained and "while in the care of Rôshi it was decided that they move to a larger island so the lad could receive an education while preparing for the Tenka'ichi Budôkai under Rôshi's eye" then yeah, I'd be a little more--no, a lot more--receiving of the prospect but as of this point I am more weary then excited.

EDIT:

After reading Kaboom's posts I've decided to be optimistic. I cannot say I was expecting the wacky hair to ever be translated over into the adaption because...well, I don't have to spell it out for y'all do I?

I'm going to keep a close eye on this movie and how production progresses. Hopefully my optimism will grow.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:50 pm

20th Century Fox sometimes can surprise you with a great movie (Star Wars, X-Men). Some people don't like the X-men movies, but I loved all three. Yes, even the third. If Dragon Ball turns out like the X-Men trilogy, I will be more than happy (obviously not the same story but you get the idea).

Let's not forget about independent films they have released that were good too... Juno, Little Miss Sunshine... okay, that's off-topic but still. Just because FOX plants their huge logo over the movie, doesn't mean it will suck.

(Oh, and I watch a few shows on their TV station too. Prison Break, 24, etc. they are kind of like movies).

DominatorLost · Post by **DominatorLost** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:31 pm

VEGETA_DTX wrote: if trailer comes out, EXPECT FROM ME A BITCHING OF THE MILLENNIUM! + later than you may see something about me in the news

"You are still at school! So you have to fight behind the mask: neither BIDEL or the others must know... But above all, you love wearing this get-up! With varied techniques of a good level, GOHAN is not very strong in the attack. Out masked avenger does not have the experience of GOHAN ... And in any case, not in the manga or TV series. Luckily, you are a good potential GOHAN! So forward, avenger!"

Artificial Human #887 · Post by **Artificial Human #887** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:42 pm

JAPPO wrote:20th Century Fox sometimes can surprise you with a great movie (Star Wars, X-Men). Some people don't like the X-men movies, but I loved all three. Yes, even the third. If Dragon Ball turns out like the X-Men trilogy, I will be more than happy (obviously not the same story but you get the idea).

Let's not forget about independent films they have released that were good too... Juno, Little Miss Sunshine... okay, that's off-topic but still. Just because FOX plants their huge logo over the movie, doesn't mean it will suck.

(Oh, and I watch a few shows on their TV station too. Prison Break, 24, etc. they are kind of like movies).

the third x-men movie was an abortion to all things x-men. As on the fence as I may be with this movie, I believe the DB movie will still be far superior to that disaster area.

Please Fox, don't destroy my two favorite comic/manga entities in your movies.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:38 pm

What was so horrible about X-men 3?

daveeb · Post by **daveeb** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:53 pm

JAPPO wrote:What was so horrible about X-men 3?

The new director? The plot? The fact that special effects told the story? The fact that Colossus showed up to carry around a TV? The Phoenix origin?

The list goes on.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:11 pm

Li'l Lemmy wrote:What we seem to have here is DragonBall for a broader audience.

Yeah, and the dub of Dragonball Z with Fulconer's music is "Dragonball for a broader audience" as well. Look how that turned out compared to the original.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:21 pm

Kendamu wrote:
Li'l Lemmy wrote:What we seem to have here is DragonBall for a broader audience.
Yeah, and the dub of Dragonball Z with Fulconer's music is "Dragonball for a broader audience" as well. Look how that turned out compared to the original.

The key words there being compared to the original.

There's no doubt that the movie will be based more off "dub logic" than anything from the original version, but a lot of people like the dub anyway. I don't even HAFTA tell you that most of us started on the dub and then went backwards to discover the original; hell, the dub is responsible for DragonBall in America and what stirred from it . . . and that's despite that it's terribly, terribly flawed.

This is why I'm semi-confident that the movie can work-- the dub has problems, but the basic story is still retained, and is thus popular. DBZ would have been popular in this country even if the characters were voiced by the cast of The Simpsons so long as the story is more-or-less intact; the movie is likely to have a similar effect. Will everyone like it? Hell no. Will the majority of us still watch it? Shit, y'all know you will. Will people who have no feelings or connection to the anime/manga give it a chance, too? Well, there of course is your wild card, but I'm not watching the movie to contribute toward how popular it may or may not be. But that "broader audience" just might take the bait, anyways.

But all in all, will it be enjoyable DragonBall? . . . I tend to think that the potential is there, at the very least. The dub is far from perfect, but it did well enough for me before I found out about Masako Nozawa an' all them, and I can still like it on the level of a somewhat different take on the series. The movie can work the same way for me, and for a lot of us, I would suspect.

~Da Lemmy

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:24 pm

I never said that it wouldn't be popular. I bet a lot of teens who were kids watching the dub will get into this. However, amongst the more strict "ZOMG JAPANESE VERSION" portion of the community (such as myself most of the time) is already throwing a shitfit over this movie and will continue to do so even after the movie comes out.

So, what's the point in telling people not to complain when all it'll do is start the argument of why we should or shouldn't express our opinions on the movie until we're satisfied doing so.

There's no point in one side telling the other to "shut up" because it's not going to happen. If you like it, say you like it, reply to others who like it, or reply to someone who doesn't like it for the exact reasons you do like it and say so! Same rules apply for people who don't like it. No need to tell people to shut up if they like it.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:31 pm

Li'l Lemmy wrote:
The movie is an adaptation, an interpretation, not a directly scripted retelling. Would we all like that? Sure, why not? Are we gonna get it? Nah. Does that mean that anything else coming down the pike will automatically suck? Hell no.

Also remember, can any of you guys think of any tv show based movies aside from Starsky & Hutch and Scooby 2 that was similar to the original show and not a parody or departure?

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:59 pm

daveeb wrote:
JAPPO wrote:What was so horrible about X-men 3?
The new director? The plot? The fact that special effects told the story? The fact that Colossus showed up to carry around a TV? The Phoenix origin?

The list goes on.

Not to sound like an asshole, but um... wasn't the movie for the general public? Who cares if the special effects told the story... the effects were great and I enjoyed some pretty cool scenes...

I haven't read the comics, so maybe that helps.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:06 pm

JAPPO wrote:
daveeb wrote:
JAPPO wrote:What was so horrible about X-men 3?
The new director? The plot? The fact that special effects told the story? The fact that Colossus showed up to carry around a TV? The Phoenix origin?

The list goes on.
Not to sound like an asshole, but um... wasn't the movie for the general public? Who cares if the special effects told the story... the effects were great and I enjoyed some pretty cool scenes...

I haven't read the comics, so maybe that helps.

The problem with the story was that when the new guys came in they were told to take about two movies worth of material and cram it together and try to make it work despite the fact that it was like a square peg in a round hole. While it was a "general public" movie, at least the first two kept some comic book integrity.

Back to Dragonball, it seems that Emmy Rossum is doing martial arts and firearms training for her role as Bulma.

http://www.dragonballmovieblog.com/

Kanzenshuu

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