Your Thoughts on a CG/"Advent Children"-Style DBZ Movie?

[TheBlackPaladin]

In addition to being a "Dragon Ball" fan, I'm also a "Saint Seiya" fan. Not too long ago, they released a trailer for a new "Saint Seiya" movie, with CG animation. It looks pretty good! And it got me thinking...

...Could "Dragon Ball" work the same way? What about a DBZ CG movie? I'm all for it and think it could look excellent, especially if they went into the level of detail that they did with "Advent Children." But the thought occured to me that some purists might be turned off by that and that CG may perhaps be a little too real/gritty for "Dragon Ball," in effect loosing some of its visual charm.

What are your thoughts?

[KentalSSJ6]

If it looks anything like the Space Captain Harlock CGI film...HELL YES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vdw0If6Zzg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrP25HjfhA

This puts the bluray Advent Children Complete to shame.

[TheBlackPaladin]

If it looks anything like the Space Captain Harlock CGI film...HELL YES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vdw0If6Zzg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrP25HjfhA

This puts the bluray Advent Children Complete to shame.

I'm not familiar with that particular anime, but wow, those trailers look fantastic!

I wonder if we'll see more of this as time goes on...less hand-drawn stuff and more CG stuff. We've already seen that with other animation companies, especially North American ones. I wonder if Toei will follow suit.

[Blade]

I'd say no - I don't think Dragonball Z's art style owes itself very well to CGI realism ala Advent Children, and based on my experience of CGI Depictions of other Anime series' such as One Piece I think that Dragonball is probably better off left in 2D Animation.

[NitroEX]

I would personally prefer it if they spent more money on better quality 2D animation like the Studio Ghibli films have. I feel like I've outgrown CGI animated movies for the most part anyway plus it doesn't help that CGI tends to look outdated after a decade or two once better technology is available.

[Hellspawn28]

Something similar to the 2007 TMNT movie could be awesome.

[KentalSSJ6]

Something similar to the 2007 TMNT movie could be awesome.

Even thought the movie itself was a trainwreck.

[MarcFBR]

I feel like I've outgrown CGI animated movies for the most part anyway plus it doesn't help that CGI tends to look outdated after a decade or two once better technology is available.

Considering CGI films have only existed for less than two decades at this point....
Ones that are animated well have actually held up pretty good, especially when companies have gone back and re-rendered them for Blu-ray.


And are we really going to pretend 2d animation doesn't begin to look dated?

[Hellspawn28]

Something similar to the 2007 TMNT movie could be awesome.

Even thought the movie itself was a trainwreck.

It was still better then the third TMNT movie ! TMNT '07 may be meh, but the animation looked amazing. I would like to see DBZ done in 2D for now since 2D is still well and alive in Japan while 2D is pretty much dead in film animation now these days for over a decade.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

If this were to happen, I was expecting the art style of the film to shift in a more realistic direction, kinda like a hybrid of the anime and a typical CGI film like Advent Children, or they could just go full on and do something closer to a higher budget version of the Dragon Ball Online opening videos (without the occasional 2D shots sliced in). Because honestly, the CGI in those looks better than what we got in Battle of Gods...

Opening 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p84nBxAwQOs
Opening 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyMx1YjekBY

[JulieYBM]

I am not interested. If you are going to spend thirty million on a CG movie like Toei did with Harlock they might as well channel that into a hand-drawn animated film. The product will be better for it, the fight scenes will be more exciting, and the passion of the animators will bleed through the screen to the viewer.

[B]

It really all comes down to money. I wouldn't be in favor of altering Toriyama's style drastically and I don't think that would have to be done anyway. No one looks human in Monsters, Inc., for example.

[Attitudefan]

I feel like I've outgrown CGI animated movies for the most part anyway plus it doesn't help that CGI tends to look outdated after a decade or two once better technology is available.

Considering CGI films have only existed for less than two decades at this point....
Ones that are animated well have actually held up pretty good, especially when companies have gone back and re-rendered them for Blu-ray.


And are we really going to pretend 2d animation doesn't begin to look dated?

For me personally, I appreciate the effort spent drawing 2D animations. So, no matter how old it is, it stands the test of time by effort alone. I mean, look at Akira, that movie had many effects that could of implemented CGI or been a completely CGI 3D movie if it was created today. However, the effort the animators spent drawing each frame, painting backgrounds, animating objects that have 3D motions such as the door to Akira's chamber underground. That could have all been easliy modelled once and tweened. Nope, it wasn't (since it comes before CGI took prevalence in animation and movies) and it still looks fantastic! It will stand the test of time for the effort and quality spent to make a great film whereas CGI movies are overdone, don't usually look too great especially as it ages (I mean, even the Hobbit's newest release has pretty pitiful looking CGI where one can tell when it is used each time). Not to mention how every summer blockbuster is a CGI fest. It's overdone in the short amount of time it has been around. 2D animation can explore scenarios that cannot be done by even the best CGI.
I do not want a CGI looking Dragonball movie. I don't want 2D animation to "die"!

I am not interested. If you are going to spend thirty million on a CG movie like Toei did with Harlock they might as well channel that into a hand-drawn animated film. The product will be better for it, the fight scenes will be more exciting, and the passion of the animators will bleed through the screen to the viewer.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[NitroEX]

I feel like I've outgrown CGI animated movies for the most part anyway plus it doesn't help that CGI tends to look outdated after a decade or two once better technology is available.

Considering CGI films have only existed for less than two decades at this point....
Ones that are animated well have actually held up pretty good, especially when companies have gone back and re-rendered them for Blu-ray.

And are we really going to pretend 2d animation doesn't begin to look dated?

Well if we're talking about cheaply made 2D animation like 1960's Spiderman or Speed Racer then yes it's going to look dated but well animated films like the classic Disney and Studio Ghibli? I'm willing to bet those types of films will still look good long after I'm gone. Just because it might be old school cell animation doesn't take away from it visually, If anything it adds charm to it. I admit CGI is getting better but I wouldn't put nearly as much faith in a CG film that's made today looking as good 30 years from now, not unless they make the characters with heavily exaggerated features like Pixar does.

I'm not saying all CGI films will look dated but it just seems logical to me that something that's drawn/hand made will always have more of a lasting appeal than something made with technology of the time. People will always admire drawing because people will always be able to draw (and in some cases they admire it because it's a skill they don't have) whereas they might laugh at past CGI because of some crazy unexpected technology that we can't predict.

[MarcFBR]

I am not interested. If you are going to spend thirty million on a CG movie like Toei did with Harlock they might as well channel that into a hand-drawn animated film.

Depends on the film and the point of it, and what works better for the film.

The product will be better for it

Depends on the film.

the fight scenes will be more exciting

Not really sure where you come up with this one. 3d can do fight scenes as good as 2d.

and the passion of the animators will bleed through the screen to the viewer.

And let's be honest, this one is sort of 'rah rah spirit' bullshit. We can argue about subjective quality of film scripts, dialogue, and the finished product, but are you going to sit there and say that the creators passion only bleeds through when it's 2d animation? I cried when Seymour put his head down and closed his eyes, I cried when Andy gave his toys away, I cried when the Eleventh Doctor regenerated.

I won't speak for anyone else, but the entire reason I got into animation was because it told stories I wanted to watch. It doesn't matter to me if it's 2d animation, CGI or live action. None of them are really superior to the other, even though there may be specific stories that work better in one (although in recent years this has largely melted into not being true anymore, as CGI has been able to enhance 2D, Live Action, and even claymation and on screen puppetry.)

If you really think one is better than the other, the issue isn't necessarily with the creators.

[Saiga]

I'd certainly be interested in seeing it done. Those trailers look really fascinating, and I'd also like something similar to the Dragon Ball Online trailer in HD, as TheDevilsCorpse mentioned.

[Super Sonic]

The problem with an Advent Children-style DBZ movie would be the same problem that happened with Advent Children. The dub could have issues with mouth animation. AC's dub was pretty good, but due to the way the mouths were animated more for the Japanese original, they tended to look funny at times.

[Chuquita]

Depends. When I think CG DB I can't help think of cut-scenes in the recent videogames, or the CG openings for said videogames. Also there's Goku's logic-defying base-form hair which is super-difficult to do in 3D because the way it looks from the side and the way it looks from the front conflict with each other. I still prefer 2D animation to 3D animation, but I'd be willing to give it a chance depending on what they were to do with it and how they would utilize the technology.

[TheAldella]

...I'd rather see another BoG or Fate/Zero type attempt. 2D animation, but with 3D effects on occasion. Or in Fate/Zero's case, both constantly. xD
That'd look kinda sick, actually, I think.

[Tyestor]

If there was any chance of a CG DBZ movie being made, it would be made like the Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie that Toei released on the 7th of September last year. Although, that kind of CG doesn't really lend itself to Dragon Ball's somewhat lighthearted feel, it's a little too dark and "girtty". But Advent Children's style doesn't really fit either.

The product will be better for it, the fight scenes will be more exciting

You have absolutely no proof of any of this. If you can give me proof that a $30m budget for a 2D movie will make DBZ's fight scenes anything other than speed lines and beam struggles, I'll concede.