Dragon Ball: Evolution- Speculation and Discussion

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:08 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:
Gozar wrote:I think it just feels kind of good to think that the creator of DragonBall is on your side.
In my case, it's not so much that he's "on my side," but more like some refreshing reassurance that I'm NOT crazy for liking what I see.

Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:45 pm

Big Momma wrote:Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.

Piccolo is Bird Man and Bulma's a whore?

Pain · Post by **Pain** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:48 pm

Tsukento wrote:
Big Momma wrote:Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.
Piccolo is Bird Man and Bulma's a whore?

She's like Manny, from Degrassi, but stops being a loose girl, before it's too late.

Ramoro-san · Post by **Ramoro-san** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:16 pm

Gozar wrote: I was debating whether I wanted to comment on the movie here. In all seriousness, since about the time the Jr. Novels came out, I just feel burnt out regarding this subject. It's like, the movie turned out pretty much like I was expecting. So all my arguing from the day we got news of this turned out to be true. It's just like, I'd be more or less repeating everything that I've been saying for a year. In all honesty, I don't really care that much anymore. It's kind of like the Widescreen thing with FUNi's sets. After about a year, no one cared anymore. I feel the same way with DBE.

I'm pretty much with you there; I totally know how you feel. I still don't know if I'm even going to go on with this post. I saw the movie. We "haters" were right. It was poop. What could I say that hasn't been said? Nonetheless...

First off, let me just say that I enjoyed watching Dragonball: Evolution. I knew exactly what to expect because I had been following the production closely for a long time. Therefore, I experienced the dissappointment about a year ago, and decided to get over it and just have fun with it when it came out. In fact, the past couple months, I have felt a great deal of completely ironic anticipation and excitement over DBE, and looked forward to the day when I could finally see it and resolve this tension in me.

So, guys. Let's get real. DBE is a terrible piece of filmmaking in nearly all respects: cinematography, editing, choreography, visual effects, directing, acting, and especially writing. If you don't agree with me, take a second to think of some of your favorite movies: think of one that is in your mind the greatest comic-book movie ever made, or for that matter, the best action/martial arts movie you've ever seen. Do you have a movie in mind? Okay, now-- does DBE, in any aspect, even come close to achieving the greatness--or even the "goodness"-- of that movie? Not unless the movie you thought of is Surf Ninjas (which, by the way, has better fight scenes, although I haven't seen it in awhile). So get real.

Some quick, general points:

The storytelling is disconnected, nonsensical, amateurish, and unoriginal. The dialogue is overwhelmingly cheesy, childish, generic, and superficial-- some of the worst I've ever heard in any movie. The characters are flat. Sorry Ben Ramsey, but I could have written a better script than this when I was 12, and that's not even an exaggeration.

Furthermore, because of the bad writing, the acting inevitably came across as terrible. There was nothing that these unassuming and otherwise talented people could do. They had nothing to work with.

James Wong's directing was just not. Why couldn't he at least have pulled off more decent action scenes, like in his Matrix rip-off The One?

The fight choreography was only somewhat impressive at one instance in the movie: The scene when Chatku evaded the attacks of the bullies at Chi-Chi's party. And there are a few more sporadic highlights in the action, but most fight scenes were completely uninventive. Again, I really think that I could have devised better fight sequences, and I've never even had martial arts training. So frankly, you're way better off watching the violent and energetic fight scenes in the DB and DBZ anime.

As for the cinematography and editing, there are a couple impressive isolated shots but... um, just refer to the scene when Chatku and co. are at the volcano and the random regenerating monsters ("Fulums") start attacking them. Or something. Yeah...

The visual effects, at best, are a couple notches above a Sci-Fi channel original movie. And if this movie had actually been a Sci-Fi Channel original, I actually would have been way impressed with it overall. Ha.

Some random thoughts:

This movie was poised for epic failure. It's incredible to me that somebody could take something as original and quirky as DragonBall and turn it into something so utterly cliche and derivative. Why change the basic story? Why chop up the mythology? It's already a good story. They just made things harder for themselves by trying to "make it relevent to American kids," or whatever the hell their excuse is. Why did they decide to destroy the appeal inherent in Toriyama's work? I mean, good lord, DragonBall isn't famous for nothing. Personally, I think the story of the alien boy Son Goku and his life-long fight against intergalactic evil is absolute gold. So I don't need to repeat that putting Goku and Chi-Chi in high school was the lamest idea of all time. And so was the whole Piccolo-Oozaru-Goku "connection," if you can even call it that. I've got one big question in relation to that whole deal: What about the Saiyans?! They really screwed up the story behind Goku. I mean, they really screwed it up. What are they going to do about that in the sequel? How are they going to tie up those lose ends? Well, they probably just won't.

In sum of the previous paragraph: If you're going to change something from the source material, it has to be good and it has to make sense. Is that too fucking much to ask?

All the characters are shallow, mostly because the screenplay called for it. I was surprised how likeable Chatku was, even though he was required to take a bland take on a beloved character. I actually liked Emmy Rossum as Bulma. She's sassy, she's proud, she's cute. Chow Yun-Fat was indeed a surprisingly faithful Roshi, but I can't say he'll be proud about this movie a few years down the line. Chi-Chi was a mere stereotype--again, this is no fault of Jamie Cheung's. Her performace was infused with a noticeable degree of enthusiasm... especially when making out with Chatku. As for Yamcha... Oh, lord. Not only was this character badly written, but Joon Park is nearly unbearable. Everything that comes out of his mouth is obnoxious to listen to. Now, I've already established that the movie was shoddy overall, but things really began to fall apart for me the moment Yamcha appeared on the screen. Like...really. In fact, I was surprised to find that I liked the beginning of the movie better than the rest of movie, despite all of the high school nonsense. I'm not sure if it's just because of Yamcha, but there was still a marked emotional difference within me between the "pre-Yamcha" time and the "post-Yamcha" time. I don't know. My emotions, like this movie, are inexplicable.

Piccolo. Piccolo! Piccolo? Where are you? Oh, poor James Marsters. I really like the guy. And he looked really badass as Piccolo. I love him as Piccolo actually. And judging from some of his interviews, he's really the only one in this production who gives a damn about the originality and the spirit of DragonBall. But thanks again to a certain group of uninspired filmmakers, he was not given the chance to shine. There were a couple of great moments with him, but overall he had little to work with and he came off as minimally threatening. I feel bad for the guy.

The martial arts tournament was completely random, a mere narrative diversion, along with that "secret" place in the middle of the desert where martial artists train. And the costume designs for these parts in particular were incredibly cheap and contrived (take a closer look at all those color-coordinated people behind Chi-Chi and Mai in the tournament ring).
I kind of liked the way the dragon balls looked. It was an interesting interpretation actually, the way the stars moved and the colors swirled and glowed. A little bit trippy, but strangely pretty I think. As for Shen Long, I can hardly remember what he looked like. Really. And that part when Chatku called forth the dragon was one of the absolute worst pieces of the script. It made Funimation's dub sound like freaking Shakespeare.
The "final battle" was... well, I can't remember much about that either. And everybody's got something to say about this, but I personally thought Chatku delivered the final "Kamehameha" quite passionately. But is it just me, or did Oozaru look kind of like a wild hairy pig? Oh, well. At least they didn't go with that weird blue orc-like prototype design. Those who saw the leaked photo know what I'm talking about.

I liken the DBE movie to one of those connect-the-dot pictures you'd see on a page in a kid's coloring book. On the page you've got all these random dots, and you're supposed to draw lines to connect the dots to see what the resulting picture is, despite the fact that you already have an inkling of what the picture will turn out to be. Now, James Wong's DBE is like one of these dot-to-dot pictures, except that he, Ramsey, and the other filmmakers seemingly just did not even bother to connect the goddamn dots. So what do we have? A messy bunch of random dots on a page that kind of give the impression of a Dragonball movie but fail to form a coherent picture.

Okay. Now I really am burnt out on the subject.

Saiyan-Professor · Post by **Saiyan-Professor** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:34 pm

Big Momma wrote:...Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.

It is funny how many seem to forget that.

B · Post by B » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:24 pm

Ramoro gives a Grade-A review.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:42 pm

So I don't have to read this goliath of a thread all night...

... Anyone else notice Mai's method of shapeshifting, Piccolo's minion-making... kinda lays the foundations for Cell in the sequel?
(No, I doubt they'd jump to Cell without first Vegeta-ing. That wasn't what I said.)

B · Post by B » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:44 pm

... Not really. Care to elaborate?

Saiyavenger2941 · Post by **Saiyavenger2941** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:46 pm

Mainly, using cells to (A) absorb a person's characteristics (Mai to Chichi) or (B) create warriors, is what I think he's implying.

Victator Supreme · Post by **Victator Supreme** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:11 am

Big Momma wrote:
SSj Kaboom wrote:
Gozar wrote:I think it just feels kind of good to think that the creator of DragonBall is on your side.
In my case, it's not so much that he's "on my side," but more like some refreshing reassurance that I'm NOT crazy for liking what I see.
Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.

Yeah and its awesome. Too bad they never made a movie about it.

testing223 · Post by **testing223** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:35 am

Tsukento wrote: Piccolo is Bird Man and Bulma's a whore?

Haha, I don't think you got the right definition of "photosynthesis" there.

So NOBODY has seen a clip of the post-credits scene? I really want to see it.

SSJ2bardock · Post by **SSJ2bardock** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:12 am

testing223 wrote:
So NOBODY has seen a clip of the post-credits scene? I really want to see it.

There was a scene after the credits? I left as soon as that flaming heap was over.

Ramoro-san · Post by **Ramoro-san** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:16 am

testing223 wrote:...So NOBODY has seen a clip of the post-credits scene? I really want to see it.

No, you don't. It's just Piccolo being tucked into bed and having his bulbous forehead stroked by some poor woman. Although I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Mai in disguise.

-"Read me a bedtime story, won't you?"
-"Of course, Piccolo love. In a not-so-ancient time, DragonBall was nearly destroyed. Not by man, but by... well, yes by man, actually. Namely James Wong, Ben Ramsey, and Stephen Chow. Legions of fans banded together to fight the invaders..."

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:02 am

Tsukento wrote:
Big Momma wrote:Well, we're fans of a series where a young humanoid boy(That transforms into a giant monkey at a full moon) fights a green man that reproduces by photosynthesis alongside a pervy old man, slutty teenage girl, desert bandit, and transforming pig.
Piccolo is Bird Man and Bulma's a whore?

1. Photosynthesis is converting sunlight into food. It has nothing to do with reproduction.

2. Birds don't photosynthesize.

3. Bulma is indeed a whore.

Son Wukong · Post by **Son Wukong** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:19 am

Rocketman wrote:Photosynthesis is converting sunlight into food.

Nothing against ya Rocketman and I'm sure you meant it right but I'm obliged to revamp this.

Photosynthesis is the proces where solar energy is used to convert water and carbon dioxode to carbohydrates (used as energy) releasing oxygen during the process.

Saiyan-Professor · Post by **Saiyan-Professor** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:12 am

Have the hidden stuff in the credits with Piccolo showed up online yet?

Senzu_Bean · Post by **Senzu_Bean** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:26 pm

Saiyan-Professor wrote:Have the hidden stuff in the credits with Piccolo showed up online yet?

Yep! Type "Dragonball Evolution - Scena finale (ita)" in YouTube to see it.

The Tori-bot · Post by **The Tori-bot** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:33 pm

Just watched the Italian Shen Long clip on YT, or, this.

1. Shen Long didn't talk.

2. Tell me with a straight face that Brian Tyler didn't run out of time to finish the score and just took some music from the Batman soundtrack and slapped it on here.

Super Ghost Kamikaze · Post by **Super Ghost Kamikaze** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:02 pm

Guys, am I the only one that gets the Birdman pun?

Bird Man used the sun as energy. He flew up to the sun and gathered sunlight to give him his super powers. He was weak when he was underground or underwater.

Did nobody else watch that show? Or hell, even Harvey Birdman on Adult Swim? At least one episode of Harvey Birdman must have referenced his collecting of solar energy to fuel his super powers?

Senzu_Bean · Post by **Senzu_Bean** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:06 pm

I am quite surprised some people still believe the seven mystics actually created the Dragonballs after seen the movie. Because nobody actually mentioned Dragonballs creation at all.

Kanzenshuu

Dragon Ball: Evolution- Speculation and Discussion

DBE Review...