Live Action Film Question

[Captain Awesome]

They are doing this:



And the "they" is Tim Hill, the director of the recent Garfield movie.

I know.

Oh god no.

I named my cat after Alvin, now his memory is going to be insulted by this terrible movie.

[ect5150]

Don't get why so many people are opposed to live action. Really the only arguments are "the hair won't look right" and "Hollywood will ruin it," which no one's really poised to say as it isn't currently in production or even pre-production... animé-to-live action has been successfully done before. Just look at Death Note. Or Transformers, as Ex-Dubbie just mentioned.

While the above points are some of the arguments I stand behind, that is a good point about the movies mentioned. Recent stuff like Transformers and Spiderman and whatnot have turned out well.

I guess we're all just afraid it'll end up like Street Fighter the Movie (after all, look how FUNI has changed the focus in the US compared to how it was in Japan).

[Acid_Reign]

There really is no God if they degrade Dragon Ball to a posterboy actor and a bunch of CGI crap. That's all that Superhero movies are these days, Spiderman would've fallen through that crack if they didn't have whatever director they had. Also, nothing is original in Hollywood anymore, it's either sequels, film adaptations of books, or live-action films of cartoon shows. Has Hollywood really run out of ideas? Good lord!

It's not that they've run out of ideas, they just despise new ones. If there aren't enough numbers to show that something can be successfully marketed, they won't do it. It's a sad fact of the industry nowadays. Hopefully the rising popularity of indie filmmakers through new mediums such as YouTube, etc. will do something to curtail that in the near future though.

[Sebastian (SB)]

I guess we're all just afraid it'll end up like Street Fighter the Movie (after all, look how FUNI has changed the focus in the US compared to how it was in Japan).

That's what I fear the most. It's bad what FUNi has done to the series, but can you imagine the horrors of what Hollywood can do.*Burns his eyes*

[TripleRach]

Sunday roast line stolen from Angel, episode 20: The Girl in Question.

You mean 108. (Though I know you probably meant 5x20, I just had to be a dork.)

Anyway, I still hold to the belief that Hollywood could never make a decent DB movie that wasn't Americanized beyond recognition. Even if the general story was relatively faithful, there is absolutely no way I will ever believe a character with a personality like Gokuu's could ever star in a big budget American movie. He'll either be turned into a reluctant, angsty goofball, a rugged, cocky badass, or the ridiculous Power Ranger justice man that FUNimation seems to think he is.

But if I'm wrong (assuming this movie ever happens, which I also don't believe), I'll...um, find some way to shame myself in apology.

[SatoSky]

Sunday roast line stolen from Angel, episode 20: The Girl in Question.

You mean 108. (Though I know you probably meant 5x20, I just had to be a dork.)

Oops you're right. I forgot to add the 5x... thing.

[Kaboom]

The Street Fighter movie is bad because it's ten-odd something years old and hence didn't have the technology behind it to make it look good, and partially because it tried to keep everyone too close to the game in terms of visual design.

A modern DragonBall film would definitely not suffer from the first, and hopefully not suffer from the second.

Like in Spider-Man. They may have been able to keep Spidey's costume both close to the original and realistic, but if they'd had the Green Goblin in purple tights, it'd have been laughable.

[SatoSky]

The Street Fighter movie is bad because ten years old and hence didn't have the technology behind it to make it look good, and partially because it tried to keep everyone too close to the game in terms of visual design.

A modern DragonBall film would definitely not suffer from the first, and hopefully not suffer from the second.

Like in Spider-Man. They may have been able to keep Spidey's costume both close to the original and realistic, but if they'd had the Green Goblin in purple tights, it'd have been laughable.

Is it wrong that I loved the Goblin's battle armor? Anway, as far as visual design goes I know re-creating the hair would be a really bad thing. It's just outlandish to even begin to ponder it. I would assume that the clothing is a different story though. I believe the clothing would be fairly easy to pull off. Anyone have opinions about that?

[Anonymous Friend]

When you dig a hole and find lots of money you don't stop and move 500 feet to the left hoping that there's even more over there. It's the same with Hollywood. They're gonna stick with what they know makes money until either that well runs dry or something more profitable comes along.

As for a Dragonball movie, I'm all aboard. It should start with DB then move towards Z.

And for all you nay-sayers, when has a bad movie adaption ever hurt the property it was based on? That has got to be the retarted piece of poo I've ever encountered. Ita be like we saw the movie and we burn our Dragonboxes, smash all of the video games and shred our manga. And follow that up by arresting Akira Toriyama, tossing him in some dungeon and put an iron mask over his face.

If anything a new movie will focus more light on the series. And with any major film release, there's tobs of new merchandise such as action figures, video games, maybe ... possibly ... hopefully some brand spanking new original work by Mr. Toriyama. And it my reveal the shoddy work FUNi's been passing off and in all the excitement they release 4:3 boxsets.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that things can only go up. The worse possible outcome there could be is that a Dragonball gets a bad live-action movie under it belt and everything's the same as it is right now: Confusion over the different timelines created by Trunks' time traveling, more discussions on wether this character is more or less powerful than that character, and debunking any power level listing past the Freeza Arc. The only exception being a total lack of Dragonball: the Live Action Movie topics (to be replaced by Dragonball: the Broadway Musical live action or animated). Unless, of course, they pull a The Incredible Hulk on us.

[Ex-Dubbie369]

And for all you nay-sayers, when has a bad movie adaption ever hurt the property it was based on? That has got to be the retarted piece of poo I've ever encountered. Ita be like we saw the movie and we burn our Dragonboxes, smash all of the video games and shred our manga. And follow that up by arresting Akira Toriyama, tossing him in some dungeon and put an iron mask over his face.

You know, the way you put it, I'd be slightly amused to see that world, and heartbroken all at once.

[TripleRach]

While I think the movie will suck, I also don't get all the talk of it "ruining the franchise." I mean, we've already had one horrible live action movie before, and that didn't destroy the property.

[Acid_Reign]

Sunday roast line stolen from Angel, episode 20: The Girl in Question.

You mean 108. (Though I know you probably meant 5x20, I just had to be a dork.)

Wow, had no idea there were Angel fans still around! Great show; shame it was canceled.

Is it wrong that I loved the Goblin's battle armor? Anway, as far as visual design goes I know re-creating the hair would be a really bad thing. It's just outlandish to even begin to ponder it. I would assume that the clothing is a different story though. I believe the clothing would be fairly easy to pull off. Anyone have opinions about that?

Yeah, I've got one. THE HAIR IS A NON-ISSUE. As if they couldn't hire the craziest stylist in all of Hollywood. As if custom wigs can't be made. As if the CGI would be too hard to render.

I mean honestly, just look at the shit they've done in the past. "zomg they can't do that hair doesn't act that way in real life"—it doesn't matter. The Grinch, anyone? If they can turn Jim Carey's entire body into a believable Dr. Seuss character, they can sure as hell do up a Goku 'fro.

If that's not enough for you, just look at the hair for Violet in The Incredibles, or the fur from Hammy the chipmunk in Over the Hedge, or at any of the other characters from the numerous 3D movies featuring humans and other mammals. Sure it'd be a challenge, but it's not impossible.

Oh and for the record, I liked the Goblin's armor as well. What I DIDN'T like was Harry not wearing it...

As for a Dragonball movie, I'm all aboard. It should start with DB then move towards Z.

Unfortunately, DB would never sell the way Z does. Hardly as many people even recognize Dragon Ball, let alone that it will be wholly ignored for the prospect that it *gasp* lacks high-speed flight sequences, Super Saiyan, and explosions.

The way I see it, it either gets three movies (practically anything these days is an auto-trilogy or more), one for each main arc: Freeza, Cell, and Majin Boo. I know these have been done to death, but they'd likely have a different twist on them and naturally cut through the elements that dragged the animé on and on. Or, at the expense of seeing our favorite villians in their prospective theatrical glory, we could get an all-new story, taking place in its own continuity like the animated films—which could rock. Personally I'd be cool with either.

Unless, of course, they pull a The Incredible Hulk on us.

Oh Lord. The thing is, I'm guilty of looking forward to that. Marvel (or whoever else is behind this) knows they fucked up, and in this business, it's two strikes; not three, so it better be damn good, or the Hulk will be forever confined to paper format.

While I think the movie will suck, I also don't get all the talk of it "ruining the franchise." I mean, we've already had one horrible live action movie before, and that didn't destroy the property.

Exactly.

But I don't think it will suck. Unless of course it were actually coming out in 2008, like Wikipedia says, in which case it'd be rushed and shoddy. In fact, I am actually hoping it gets delayed as long as possible, because as someone who is looking into film as a career, it is a project I would unquestionably want to be a part of, in some way. I guess I figure if I can do that I can protect it from whatever Hollywood evil might come its way... like say, having it set in New York. >_<

[SatoSky]

Ah Angel, hands down my favorite television series of all time.
<-- Care to guess who my favorite character is?

Anyway, I still think that the hair would be a bit silly to reproduce, though I understand where you're coming from when you reference recent comic book based movies. Wolverine from X-Men comes to mind. I thought it was really cool how they styled Hugh Jackman's hair. Still, I don't know. I'm thinking Goku's hair would be one of the most difficult, that thing is insane.

[Acid_Reign]

Ah Angel, hands down my favorite television series of all time.
<-- Care to guess who my favorite character is?

I'm guessing Spike? (As if your signature doesn't give it away, lol.)

Anyway, I still think that the hair would be a bit silly to reproduce, though I understand where you're coming from when you reference recent comic book based movies. Wolverine from X-Men comes to mind. I thought it was really cool how they styled Hugh Jackman's hair. Still, I don't know. I'm thinking Goku's hair would be one of the most difficult, that thing is insane.

Think of it as bed hair ×100. I really like what they did with Wolverine's hair (which, prior, I was also pretty quizzical about) so there's no doubt in my mind that with a little diligence, they could pull it off.

[Captain Awesome]

Anyway, I still think that the hair would be a bit silly to reproduce, though I understand where you're coming from when you reference recent comic book based movies. Wolverine from X-Men comes to mind. I thought it was really cool how they styled Hugh Jackman's hair. Still, I don't know. I'm thinking Goku's hair would be one of the most difficult, that thing is insane.

I agree with you on Wolverine, that was a great middle ground between film and comics without sacrificing the tone of the film. (to bad the third one was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time)
As for weather or not this can be achieved in a live action dbz movie, I don't know, I would imagine a middle ground between Goku's hair to look something like Yamucha's hair in the Buu saga, except with a little more length.

I'm personally hoping for a new movie or special animated by Toei, I'd prefer something set in it's own canon to a continuation of GT.
The Idea of a feature length Budokai-esque intro gives me goosebumps.

[SatoSky]

Yeah, Wolverine looked awesome. I thought the third installment of X-Men was decent. This coming from someone who does not follow the comic books though, only the animated TV series from the 90's.

Since Captain Awesome brought up Buu, how does everyone think they'll do with his antenna/head penis thingy? Thinks of a really bad cosplay image that was presented here a long time ago. That might be the hardest thing to pull off.

Sorry for the lame joke...

EDIT: Yeah, Spike is the shit. It's no secret that I'm a huge Marsters fan. I've even had some little "run-ins" with certain members here regarding that, among other things Angel related.

[Kaboom]

Hopefully, they won't do Buu at all, and any DBZ movie series will end with Freeza, or Cell at the latest.

But I imagine Buu himself would be mostly, if not all, CGI. He's just too alien and "existensial" a character to be done with real-life. Freeza having a real actor in makeup will be hard enough.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

The Street Fighter movie is bad because ten years old and hence didn't have the technology behind it to make it look good, and partially because it tried to keep everyone too close to the game in terms of visual design.

The thing I didn't understand about the Street Fighter movie was why would they give the fighters stupid jobs. Like, Chun Lee as a news reporter? Dhalsim as a scientist? Sagat as a... uh... HE WAS WEARING A SUIT HALF THE MOVIE!

Goku would end up being a late night TV show host or somthing...

http://conanlovesdbz.ytmnd.com/

[Ex-Dubbie369]

As for a Dragonball movie, I'm all aboard. It should start with DB then move towards Z.

Unfortunately, DB would never sell the way Z does. Hardly as many people even recognize Dragon Ball, let alone that it will be wholly ignored for the prospect that it *gasp* lacks high-speed flight sequences, Super Saiyan, and explosions.

I think that, if nothing else, a good idea would be to start with the 23rd Budokai. It would probably be a better way to set up the characters for the next parts of the series. It would also work better to show Piccolo's transformation from good to bad, if you are able to compare to a time when he was evil, unlike how a majority of the U.S. was introduced.

Oh and for the record, I liked the Goblin's armor as well. What I DIDN'T like was Harry not wearing it...

[Kaboom]

I think DragonBall would need to be the one of the movies in my ideal trilogy that would need to be altered the most. It would just have to be condensed, really. A lot. As in, manage to establish DragonBall universe stuff AND have a storyline with Piccolo as the villain in a 2-3-hour movie. It can be done. It just needs someone good to do it.