The Energon Pub

http://movies.ign.com/articles/835/835143p1.html

Those are actually some pretty good picks. I think we're off to a pretty good start here. And I don't count the story changes as bad, because there's NO WAY to fit all of Toriyama's story into that.

One of my problems with Shonen Jump stories is that they have a hard time knowing when to stop. That's why DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and whatever else you care to name from SJ last well over standard anime limits. (Which, for those that don't know, is usually somewhere between 13 and 50)

So, the fact that they start with the King Piccolo story (Which is at the very end of the Dragon Ball manga's first half, and at the Dragon Ball anime's very end) is not a bad idea. They can clear up this, and, at the end, lead it into the introduction of Vegeta and the other Saiyans, then, after that, go into something about Freeza and Goku becoming a Super Saiyan, but possibly phase out Namek. (A little of bizarre for a summer blockbuster)

Huh. I like it. And at least in movie form we won't have to wait 4 episodes for someone to stop yelling.

Master's I like, he does do evil well.
Playing a Green alien though I am not 100% sure of..

This movie will fail terribly though, it's the little things that make movies great, and so far all the little things have been stuffed up for no other reason than to have them changed.

i_amtrunks wrote:This movie will fail terribly though, it's the little things that make movies great, and so far all the little things have been stuffed up for no other reason than to have them changed.

Congratulations! You've won the Assumptions Award for assuming ahead of time!

So far, all we know is a BASIC plot outline, and two people in the cast. You can't say it's going to fail horribly, because we don't know anything about it.

Actually, James Wong has signed on to direct, and he wrote and directed that Jet Li movie, "The One," so I have no doubt he can do a good fight sequence. And that's really all a Dragon Ball movie needs, really. Someone who can distract you from DB's ridiculous concepts, by making you go "HOLY **** HE JUST PUNCHED THAT GUY THROUGH A WALL."

Shadowman wrote:Congratulations! You've won the Assumptions Award for assuming ahead of time!

Thankyou very much. But I guess we will soon see.

Shadowman wrote:So far, all we know is a BASIC plot outline, and two people in the cast. You can't say it's going to fail horribly, because we don't know anything about it.

And that Basic Plot outline needs to be completely overhauled to make the film a Dragonball Z movie. Sure it might work as is as a movie set in Toriyama's DBZ Universe, but as an actual Dragonball Z movie, using actual Dragonball Z characters, it's pretty craptacular.

Shadowman wrote:Actually, James Wong has signed on to direct, and he wrote and directed that Jet Li movie, "The One," so I have no doubt he can do a good fight sequence. And that's really all a Dragon Ball movie needs, really. Someone who can distract you from DB's ridiculous concepts, by making you go "HOLY **** HE JUST PUNCHED THAT GUY THROUGH A WALL."

I hope you are right, but to have great fight scenes you need to have great fighters playing the parts, I highly doubt either of the two cast signed up have 1/10th of Li's skills.

A full green screen wired fight would look rather silly, thats one of the problems with making a DBZ live action movie, you cannot make these guys fight in mid-air and make it look somewhat decent. The chorography will also have to be top notch, as the fights in Dragonball were very well choreographed, it was only later on in Z where beam and Ki attacks took centre stage.

I'd love for this film to be a success, I really would, but with the plot and character details that have been given, I am so far ashamed to call this a DBZ movie.

You have seen the Matrix Revolutions right? The entire last scene is a completely over the top flying beatdown. And much of it was CG. So I don't think the flying will be a problem. And Hell if they can teach Keanu Reeves 4 different forms of Kung Fu, then I think they can teach some other random actor.

i_amtrunks wrote:

Shadowman wrote:Congratulations! You've won the Assumptions Award for assuming ahead of time!

Thankyou very much. But I guess we will soon see.

Shadowman wrote:So far, all we know is a BASIC plot outline, and two people in the cast. You can't say it's going to fail horribly, because we don't know anything about it.

And that Basic Plot outline needs to be completely overhauled to make the film a Dragonball Z movie. Sure it might work as is as a movie set in Toriyama's DBZ Universe, but as an actual Dragonball Z movie, using actual Dragonball Z characters, it's pretty craptacular.

Care to show me where they said this was a DBZ movie?

In any case, if this were a lot more "DB-esque" they might as well make it a cartoon. Because real people as DB characters WOULD make this movie fail. I think the only person who can get away with ridiculous personas is Jim Carrey.

TheMuffin wrote:You have seen the Matrix Revolutions right? The entire last scene is a completely over the top flying beatdown. And much of it was CG.

Actually I never bothered with seeing it in the cinema, and I have never gotten around to watching it on DVD...

If the fighting has to be done in CG, why not just make the whole damn thing in CG? (I do not mean to imply that the movie should be all fighting, Dragonball was alot of fun because of the gallivanting across the countryside on the search for the Dragonballs)

Sadowman wrote:Care to show me where they said this was a DBZ movie?

I believe that the "trilogy" is deemed to be a DBZ franchise, but it's really a moot point, the main difference in the DB and DBZ universe is merely the existence of aliens, which is a world where a dog is the King, is not all that far out of whack.

Sadowman wrote:In any case, if this were a lot more "DB-esque" they might as well make it a cartoon. Because real people as DB characters WOULD make this movie fail.

Thats just it, to be a DB/Z movie it needs to have those over the top persona's, otherwise it's just another fighting movie. Without character like Roshi, Oolong and Launch it ain't Dragonball /Z

Sadowman wrote:I think the only person who can get away with ridiculous personas is Jim Carrey.

i've opened up a can-o-worms

I gotta say. This movie has a huge, huge, huge chance of being completely terrible. If it had come out when DBZ was still in the lime-lite and not being kept afloat by Budokai.

But it could be the exact same thing as Snakes on a Plane. You go see it because it is a ridiculous concept with good actors.

So a prettyboy DBZ movie?

I'm just gonna have to wait and see on this one. I hope Danny DeVito gets to be Oolong, Reah Perlman as Babba, Bill Murry as the voice of Corin, My buddy Kingston as Yajerobie, Nathan Explosion as Yamcha, Glen Quagmire as Master Roshi

As for what ShadowMan said about the Matrix Revolutions, Sorry but the first Matrix, BRILLIANT, the second two sucked donkeyballs, after Reloaded I wasout and only saw part 3 on a free bootleg, so hopefuly they do this movie very diferently.

But realy I have to agree with I_AMTRUNKS...

" "

Oh also Hermies Conrad as Mr PoPo

Just like with the Transformers movie, I'm not gonna start getting hyped till I see a preview, or making guesses(though I'm not that hopeful).

Still, I do really want to see how it turns out, good or bad. I thought the unofficial Hong Kong movie was hilarious, and they HAVE to put Master Roshi in the new movie.

Liege Evilmus wrote:As for what ShadowMan said about the Matrix Revolutions, Sorry but the first Matrix, BRILLIANT, the second two sucked donkeyballs, after Reloaded I wasout and only saw part 3 on a free bootleg, so hopefuly they do this movie very diferently.

I didn't mention The Matrix, that was TheMuffin. I mentioned "The One," which is a Jet Li movie, although it was slightly similar to the first Matrix movie.

Liege Evilmus wrote:Oh also Hermies Conrad as Mr PoPo

Hermes Conrad = Not a real person
Hermes' Voice Actor, Phil LaMarr = Real person, but a really skinny guy.

I have hopes that this will be different enough from the source material to justify a movie. What's the point of making something in live action that just mimics a story that was already told in another form of media? If you like the Dragonball/DBZ manga, then read the manga. If you like the anime, watch the anime. This applies to any adaptation.

I loved Sin City, but it was SO close to the source material that I felt it was really unnecessary. A great movie, but you get the identical story from reading the original graphic novels. Cynical, though it may be, I think that Sin City was made to appeal to people to lazy to just read a book.

Final Destination, 300, Matrix... looking good

Professor Smooth wrote:I have hopes that this will be different enough from the source material to justify a movie. What's the point of making something in live action that just mimics a story that was already told in another form of media? If you like the Dragonball/DBZ manga, then read the manga. If you like the anime, watch the anime. This applies to any adaptation.

I loved Sin City, but it was SO close to the source material that I felt it was really unnecessary. A great movie, but you get the identical story from reading the original graphic novels. Cynical, though it may be, I think that Sin City was made to appeal to people to lazy to just read a book.

I'll agree with that. Though it wasn't out of laziness. I just hate Frank Millers art style. He ruined the look of Batman so I can never forgive him. Batman isn't 6' tall and 400 pounds of muscle.

I thought the idea of these kinds of movies was to interest people in the original versions by retelling a part of the story (or all of it).

Dragonball/Z had 13 Movies that did not tie into the actual mainstream story, and the Live Action movie could also move in this direction, but all the movie required prior knowledge of the series, something a large portion of cinema goers will not have.

If the movie does well enough to see sequels made, I'd like to see some original stories, but to make a connection with all the people that are new to Dragonball/Z they need an intro story, and that is what this film is supposed to be, only it really screws up alot of what made Dragonball good, and different.

i_amtrunks wrote:I thought the idea of these kinds of movies was to interest people in the original versions by retelling a part of the story (or all of it).

Dragonball/Z had 13 Movies that did not tie into the actual mainstream story, and the Live Action movie could also move in this direction, but all the movie required prior knowledge of the series, something a large portion of cinema goers will not have.

If the movie does well enough to see sequels made, I'd like to see some original stories, but to make a connection with all the people that are new to Dragonball/Z they need an intro story, and that is what this film is supposed to be, only it really screws up alot of what made Dragonball good, and different.

This is an Adaptation. When you adapt something, it changes. That's what they're doing here. They're changing things from Dragon Ball, so it can suit a bigger audience.

And believe me, every adaptation has had fanboys just like you going "No it needs to be closer to the original this is going to suxx0rz lol!!111!1"

Shadowman wrote: fanboys just like you

Unnecessary.

Shadowman wrote:This is an Adaptation. When you adapt something, it changes. That's what they're doing here. They're changing things from Dragon Ball, so it can suit a bigger audience.

Yes adaptations are fine, but to keep the essence of Dragoball you need to keep the backstory and characters of Dragonball more or less similar. Goku accidentally killing Grandpa Gohan when he goes Ape is a tragic moment with deep repercussions. He is left to fend for himself, and never stays out at night. Goku is meant to be a simple, pure of heart Hick with a tail who was raised in the middle of nowhere by an incredibly strong man, who turns into a Giant Ape with a full moon.
Changing him to a loner school kid in a big city is changing the entire character for the sake of change, it is no longer the Goku from Dragonball series. You might as well make it some random kid and base it in the Dragonball Universe.

The best example I can think of is the DBGT movie "A Hero's Legacy" where it is Goku's Great great (however many times) Grandson embarking on an adventure. Different character, differesnt story in the same settings/Universe.

Shadowman wrote:And believe me, every adaptation has had fanboys just like you going "No it needs to be closer to the original this is going to suxx0rz lol!!111!1"

Sure it does, but I'm not one of them. I do not think this movie needs to be an exact replica of the Dragonball Z stories (it would be nice if they went close though), but the characters and character backstories do need to be closer to what they were in the original medium.
Transformers did it fairly well in that regard, Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz and Megatron were similar to their Characters in various Transformers media.

Er...not sure I like the idea of anything DBZ related being made into a live action movie. It worries me...

i_amtrunks wrote:Dragonball Universe.

And there's we go, the exact thing it is NOT. Both of us are Transformers geeks, we've both explained and HAD this explained to us:

It's not in the Dragon Ball Universe. It is in a RECREATION of the Dragon Ball Universe. Much in the same vein that Transformers 2007, while having the same names, was not G1. This is no different. The characters aren't going to be the same. (Anyone remember Jazz using Hip Hop slang, Ratchet being British, or Frenzy being a four-foot-tall delightfully mad murder machine in G1?) You have to learn to accept that it's going to be vastly different.

Oh, and there was a script re-write. When James Wong signed on, he rewrote the script. So, yeah, again, you know absolutely nothing.

Well whatever they do, it ought to be interesting to see the outcome. Who knows, it may be a box office flop like the animated TF movie and end up becoming a cult hit later. Someone mentioned it might do better as a CG flick and I tend to agree, but that's not the way it's going.

About the only major gripe I have with it is who they cast to play Goku. Personally I would have liked to see someone like Kane Kosugi in the role. Considering he's been training since he was only 18 months old and has people like Jackie Chan supporting him, you just know the man can fight.

I'm excited for the movie, but I wish they would of not made piccolo bad. I know he used to be bad, but it should of been versus vegeta or frieza. I think they should of casted robin shou to play as Goku.