My thoughts on…the upcoming Dragonball movie
July 7th 2008 -
It pains my heart to write this. Obviously from the post title, there’s gonna be a Dragonball movie coming out. “You got something against Dragonball?” you may ask. No, that’s just it. I was the biggest Dragonball Z fanboy back in the day. I think it was the first anime I truly latched onto as a kid. In fact, it started my lifelong love affair with anime.
I even used to act like them a bit. I remember when I’d watch the show and there’d be an epic battle between Earth’s Special Forces and otherwordly baddies and I’d pose like my favourite hero (or sometimes villain) and with a yell, launch an imaginary energy blast. Oh boy, that would’ve been embarrassing if anyone knew abou…oh c’mon! If people can get away with air guitar, I can get away with this!
I long wondered what a DBZ movie would be like, and I heard many rumours over the years but none were true. Until now. But my fears have been realised, and it has been made into a live action movie. If more of my precious childhood memories are raped by Hollywood, I’ll have to go to therapy. Why am I so afraid? If you ever saw the live action Street Fighter, you’ll understand. It made me ashamed to be a fan of the series. Nothing besides the character names was true. It was like watching a cosplay gone horribly wrong.
I would’ve preferred if it was CGI, as a lot of the things that made the anime great simply can’t be translated accurately in live action. I mean, how are they gonna pull off a convincing Kamehameha? I bet the creators would’ve liked it that way too, but no studio would be willing to take such a gamble. And trust me, I’ve seen some studios take some serious gambles. Why did they start it at Dragonball? Most people are fans of Dragonball Z. I guess they wanted to make room for a sequel. Why do I think that’s not gonna happen?
Here’s the plot according to IMDB: “A young boy named Goku seeks out upon his grandfather’s dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls (of which he has one) in order to prevent Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world.” At least it’ll be faithful to the story. And another thing that shocked me is that Chow Yun Fat will be playing Master Roshi. (Oh, how the great have fallen.) Well, it’s scheduled to come out April 2009, so make up your minds then. It’s too late for me though.
Paroshep Says:
July 8th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Leon,
“my lifelong love affair with anime.”
I just love your turn of phrase.
Cheers,
Paroshep’s last blog post..More Dutch Artists on Paros
MissJay Says:
July 8th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Oh yes, I saw the abomination that was Street Fighter. I own it due to my mother being a HUGE Jean Claude Van Damm fan. I thought I was the only one that thought the movie was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off track from the game. I thought it was all about the fighting. They threw in some story of someone trying to take over the world. That ain’t how the game was. Now as for the DBZ movie….I’m EXTREMELY skeptical. Althought Mortal Kombat turned out to be a pretty good movie that stuck to the game’s story, I don’t think DBZ can keep up visually. Hope it turns out good for you. I used to watch DBZ for a little bit but stopped trying to keep up and then stopped watching all together.
jdid Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
street fighter was just a horrid horrid movie and to think its the last movie raul julia did before he died cuhdear
dont know anything about dragonballz. i used to think that was some sorta porn actor name
what!! am i the only one who thought that?
jdid’s last blog post..Welcome back
Adam Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
It’s scheduled for April 10th, 2009 Worldwide and March 13, 2009 in Japan.
MissJay Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I see your point now. Although I did not think of it until now lol.
Leon Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Thanks for the correction Adam. I’ll update my post immediately.
HInkle Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Im not bashing you but there is alot of information about this movie on http://www.dragonballmovieblog.net/
if has alot of info on alot of the recent update and it isn’t looking to bad there has been info that the director(James wong) and the two main guys goku(Justin Chatwin)and Piccolo(James marsters), and one major costume designer (Jose Fernandez) that they are trying as hard as possable to be as close to the source marterial as possible
Ricardo Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Movies that get made from videogames never seem to work. I can’t think of any that really impressed me. And I must agree, Street Fighter was rough to watch. I loved that game.
Mighty Afroditee Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I have only been tortured by DBZ through my son, and if the animation pains me, then lawd, the live action movie might as well.
There, there…I feel your pain.
vegetadtx Says:
July 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
The Japanese have already launched a boycott against this blasphemous atrocity that is quickly spreading through Asia, and there’s also this great site if you’re a true DB fan and is against the live action.
http://db-lam-protest.forumotion.com/
http://www.petitiononline.com/dblam444/petition.html
Jamaipanese Says:
July 21st, 2008 at 1:20 am
ka-me-ha-me-ha!
Jamaipaneses last blog post..Official Dragonball Movie Poster
dbboy Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 4:21 am
i can’t wait for this movie! ka me ha me haaaaaaaaaa!!!
morapi Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
There’s a great Japanese impression of this movie in this blog:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/takeshioekaki/56285128.html