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DragonBall: The Live Action Movie
mystyc writes "scifi wire has a disturbing piece on how Twentieth Century Fox acguired the movie rights to the Dragon Ball franchise. What is disturbing is that they plan to do a live action dragon ball movie! You'd think hollywood would have learned their lessons from such notable live action anime failures as The Guyver, Fist of the North Star, and others who's names must not be spoken. Then again, hollywood doesn't work that way."
Who'd have thought that there would have been enough interest in the Motorola CPU that powers the Palm family to make a movie of it? Tron was pretty popular I guess...
More like DragonBall ZZZzzzzz.
A winner is you!
There is already a HK movie version of DBZ and ... it sucks deeply :)
Unfortunately hollywood thinks that real actors can
act much better than measly cartoons.
A movie is barely long enough for one DBZ fight!!!
I'm going to go invest in a hair gel company's stock now...
Funny, Japanese fans feel much the same way about this news, if the comments on discussion boards here in Japan are anything to go by. Also, there's a lot of speculation about the casting.
"Hmmm... is there a Hollywood actor that's green, has regrowable arms and reproduces by vomiting giant eggs?"
If you want full frontal nudity in this country, it's easy to find--- try cable tv or your local XXX video store. And there's plenty of it on the net. Besides, what kind of context are we talking about? Nudity per se is not pornography. DBZ has full frontal nudity O__o -- at least in the original Japanese version. Gohan is shown nude after transforming from his oozaru state. And in dragonball, Goku as a child does a fair share of streaking. That's not porno. I've seen my two year old nephew naked, but that doesn't make me a pedophile. Little kids running around naked is no big deal , it happens all the time in real life. Nudity is porno when it is portrayed in a sexually enticing manner, which is certainly not the case in Dragonball.
the fact that this is America and we have different rules from England, France, Spain, Mexico(and Japan) does not by definition make our rules OK, anymore than it makes theirs better than ours. It's the results of those rules that matter.
Changing the "delivery" changes the effect of the story. If you don't believe me, ask any director of theater, film, or television. They tell their actors how to say their lines-- precisely because the delivery must be right. When these changes are made, the major plot is still there, but the effect of the scenes are changed---rarely for the better. The removal of blood takes out a lot of a fight's visual impact. When characters get smacked around but don't bleed, the fight seems less "real." (yes, I know it's a cartoon) Blood and bruises are a visual sign of injury. Without it, the characters do not appear to be hurt, so it looks like they're not really playing for keeps. Dramatic tension is lost. The frustrating thing is that it really is not necessary to remove blood (it's just another of those dumb arbitrary rules >:{ ). Blood in a tv show does not necessarily desensitize viewers to violence. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. What makes the difference is HOW the violence and blood is presented. If it is presented in a way that glorifies killing-- makes killing look fun or cool, etc.-- then it may be a problem. But if presented in a way that demonstrates the negative consequences in a fight, than it's all to the good. That's DBZ for you. The good guys fight when they have to, but they pay for it. Boy, do they pay. They get beat up, smashed, crunched, fried, shot. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they watch friends die. Winning comes at a price-- by the time the bad guy is defeated, everyone who's left is mostly just relieved that it's over. That all may be exciting to watch, but it doesn't exactly make you want to join in their battles! If you have to justify DBZ's violence, you could say that it shows that fighting isn't very good for you. ^__~ Unfortunately, FUNi's edits have blunted that effect of the show. As for the nudity, the main problem I have with the cover-ups is that they look to be exactly that. When something is obviously painted in to cover up naughty bits, it distracts from the scene (remember that convienient little tree in front of Gohan's crotch?) And they cut A LOT of material the first two seasons... I think about ten episodes worth, if I remember right. So out of every episode they showed, a sixth of the material was gone. Much of these edits were not made for content, they were done to eliminate as much of the non-action material as possible. Me, I LIKE the non-action material. My favorite part of DBZ is the characters, character development. A lot of that stuff was hacked out. The dialogue.... well, I'll get into that later. By the way, since when is Frieza an "evil homosexual?" I guess since FUNi gave him an old lady's voice and that...ah...suggestive dialogue (Whatever turns you on, big boy =P). Considering the pains they've gone to removing any sexual suggestiveness from the show, I'm surprised they put that in. And since when is Goku a Christian? I've never heard of any religious sentiment coming from him.
they changed the name because childrens' television producers in this country will not touch anything remotely smelling of religion with a two-hundred foot pole. No matter what kind of hell was represented, somebody would have been screaming about it. If they had presented HFIL as hell, someone would have been pissed that it wasn't fire and brimstone. If the hell had been depicted as fire and brimstone, someone would have been pissed they were "scaring kids" or that they were showing a christian hell and not giving equal time to other religions' ideas. So FUNi changed it, because they knew they just couldn't win. Not their fault, I guess. *sigh* But the point is that Toriyama-san was not trying to represent anyone's idea of hell. Not yours, not catholics', not protestants', NOBODY'S. What he did was to take a variety of ideas on the afterlife from a number of religions, threw them together in a mishmash, and tried to make them as funny as possible. DBZ is not a theology dissertation. Come on, what religion looks on hell as a theme park?? The planet Earth of DBZ is not our Earth. He was not suggesting that this is what the afterlife might actually be like. It was more like, "wouldn't it be funny if..." The whole shebang was A JOKE. SATIRE. NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Unfortunately, America can't take a joke when it comes to religion.
. I understand that dubbing does place some restictions on dialogue, as the lines need to fit the lip movements of the characters. However, that does not mean the scriptwriters need to do a total 180 from the intent of the original lines. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. I'll compare a scene as it was done in the dub and as it was shown in the manga. I don't have the fansub for that episode, so that's why I'm using the manga. As I've previously noted, the material in the manga was apparently reproduced in the anime almost verbatim, so I expect the lines in the anime to be pretty similar to the manga. The scene is from issue 7, volume 1 of the manga. I forget what episode it's from and I don't feel like checking right now. I think episode 6 or 7. OK, this scene takes place after Piccolo has abandoned Gohan in the wilderness. Gohan's stuck on top of the giant rock pillar. It's night, he's curled up trying to sleep, whining about being hungry. Two apples appear in front of him, and he goes to eat them.(FUNi cut out the part with the thought bubble showing the picture of an apple tree, who knows why. I thought it was cute.) He bites into one and finds it's sour. (another one of those ridiculous edits on the part of FUNi, it was another cute moment. The picture of his face in the manga is absolutely adorable!) Well, he's hungry enough to eat it anyway. As he's eating, the shot switches to one of Piccolo, who's watching from a distance. Here's his line from the dub: "I know it's hard now, but I'm watching over you." A nice sentiment that doesn't quite match his bared teeth.^__~ Anyway, the scene moves back to Gohan, who has finished his apples and gone back to sleep. The camera pans back to show Piccolo again, who says, "Sleep well... my little friend. ARRGH GAG RETCH SPEW---- oh wait, that's me. =P Here's the dialogue from the manga, as translated by Viz--- who, take note, claims not to edit the dialogue at all. Here's Piccolo's first line, as he's watching Gohan eat: "Cursed brat... is there no end to it?" The next line, after Gohan has fallen asleep: "But wot you well, this is the LAST time... if you cannot survive on your own after this, it only confirms that your uses are as limited as I first thought." Now, if you can't see the difference between these two scenes, I'll have to check your lobotomy scars. The change in tone is dramatic, and it completely alters the viewer's perception of Piccolo. The dub makes it look like he immediately cared about Gohan, whereas the manga makes it clear that he initially regards Gohan as a burden and a nuisiance. He has no interest in whether Gohan lives or dies, save as it may impact the coming fight with the saiya-jins. This makes his eventual sacrifice for Gohan all the more striking. In the dub it doesn't seem like it would be all that out of character for him, so it doesn't seem all that impressive. They didn't HAVE to change the dialogue this way. Piccolo was not speaking aloud in this scene, he was thinking. So they didn't have to make the lines match any lip movements. I can't think of any reason why the dialogue was changed so dramatically, except that they must have decided they wanted a kinder, gentler Piccolo. This really makes me mad. I don't LIKE Piccolo kinder and gentler, I like him rougher and meaner. What, did they think we couldn't take it? It's impossible to really appreciate the depth of the change he undergoes if we can't see just how BAD he was at the start. So yes, FUNi has been changing the characters. And this is not the only example I could give you; they have done it to nearly all the characters at some point. The frustrating thing is that in most instances, the changes ruin some of the more striking aspects of the characters. It's the usual efforts of American tv producers to acheive uniform national blandness.
I've heard that Richard Dean Anderson is being tipped to play the part of an older Goku, with a possible role for Leonardo Di Caprio..looks like Hollywood are pulling out all the stops on this one.
Casting director must be an addicted fan and able to recite each charactors relationship to each other charactor. He/she must be given photographs of all avalable actors, not just super expensive ones that only resemble their part less than 20%.
Screenwriter must be in the same room as the director of the animated version at least 50% of the time during production, the animated version director must be given a small bat with which to hit the screenwriter when in disagreement.
The writer of the movie plot must be able to fit it within the animated timeline up till now. introducing charactors for the first time is fine, but no bringing back the dead and killing them in different ways.
Special effects must be limited to the function of adding to the film, not becomming the entire focus of having 40% of the shots (like in Star Wars 1)
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
Ya Know... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually did well...
But, that was marketed at an age group were it didn't really matter what was on the screen... As long as the children screamed for them the parents took them there...
This couldn't work unless the want to bring Z down to the level of a 10 year old.... Which I'm sure would result in some-one attempting to fire-bomb a Fox Studio.
There are only a couple problems with this.
Anime girls are far better ^_^
Panty shots are just not the same with actors.
Ever notice how real tits don't 'bounce' right after you have spent most of your life watching anime?
How are they going to deal with tentacle monsters?
http://www.xpurple.com
Please Moderators, if you are going to MOD this parent up... Please do so as FUNNY, not Informative, for the love of God.
(ummm... wait... refer to my sig..)
Still, I can't imagine this will be much better than "Mortal Kombat"...
I didn't realize Jean Claude Van Damme was American...the accent always through me off.
Can I get an eye poke?
Dog House Forum
One point that seems to have been missed is that the Guyver had no budget...
Think Fox will do that with DBZ? When they stand to recoup millions from the rabid preteen DBZ fans, and their elder compatriates?
I wouldn't be surprised if 30-50 million gets spent on it.
His character, Guile, was.
That character also has the only good line in the film: "This war is not about your personal vendetta. It's about my personal vendetta...".
Aroo! Aroo Arooouurgh!
(Err...I mean Cheers, Ian)
Of course you will lose some of the story, but converting a book/comic/anime/etc to movie or television is tricky because of the timing.
I've only watched DragonBall [and Z] a few times but knowing what I do about it and other anime is that doing live action, translating and such loses a lot automatically.
Fox, make sure the story is good and then everyone will be happy. You have to do good at one or the other. Good luck.
I just hope we don't see a DBZ Saturday morning cartoon.
Get your Unix fortune now!
there have already been about 20 DB, DBZ movies released, don't you? And these movies are all 50 minutes long. With the 1.5 - 2 hours that hollywood likes its movies this one should have ample time for a few good fights.
In the following, by anime, I mean cell animated stories.
Making live action versions of classic anime in the USA is due to the common USA view of animation in general. As far as the average Joe is concerned, "cartoons are for kids" basically sums up the attitude towards anime.
One great example, which I recently bumped into is an old review of a classic anime movie "Grave of the Fireflies", where the reviewer has the movie listed under the headline "For Children". Anyone who has seen this movie knows that while it can be watched by children, it has so much emotional content that only a mature viewer could truely appreciate it. While "Adult Film" or "Film for mature audiences" in the USA means porn, it should mean movies like "Grave of the Fireflies". Again, I am not saying that "Grave..." isn't a movie that kids should watch - I am saying that giving it a headline "For Kids" is very silly.
Anyway, my main point is that in the USA, anime doesn't have the prestige that live action movies have. Somehow, I guess, movie execs think that making a great anime movie into a live action movie, somehow makes it better. Whatever... Its too bad because the average Joe is missing out on some great entertainment such as (my recommendations for the "average joe" slashdotter that isn't into anime but wants an introduction):
- Ghost in the Shell (DVD): This is a roughly 1.5 hour movie, its Neuromancer mixed with Blade Runner. The English dub of this is good.
- Serial Experiments Lain (DVD): This is an animated series of around 13 episodes 30 minutes each. It is a great neo-cyberpunk story. I would say its Neuromancer meets the X-Files - though these analogies are very crude. Also, stay away from the English dub of this series. Its awkward to say the least. The DVDs let you choose dub or subtitles, so go subtitles with this anime.
- Cowboy Bebop (DVD): This is an animated series of (I can't remember how many) 30 minute episodes. Cowboy Bebop has a lot of everything for everyone. Comedy, action, violence, cyberpunk, mystery, drama, weirdness, etc... This is easy watching anime if that makes any sense. Its got style, thats for sure. The English dub is good, and I recommend it. Also, I recommend that you watch at least the first 4 episodes before drawing your opinion on this fine anime. Its not until then that you start to see the deep underlying plot of the entire series. Cowboy Bebop has lots of sugar and spice, bells and whistles, etc... but it also has a nice strong plotline.
The Blockbuster Video stores around my area rent anime. I don't rent, but buy, so I don't know if their selection is good or not. Its worth renting the above recommendations this weekend, if you haven't already seen them.Yes, but only the actor playing Piccolo.
< tofuhead >
It is still the dark of night.
Great. With the release of a movie, I can have even more people cry out, "Hey, they ripped that name off Dragonball Z" everytime I show one of the Japanese versions of Journey to the West (In Japanese this is Saiyuki). Poor Wu Cheng-en. He must be turning over in his grave.
Or CG
...a movie about a CPU? Or is this the new name for the remake of Tron?
Oh yes, I remember. In fact, I still play. Guile was always my nemesis - took me ages to work out how to beat him using my pet character (Blanca). Eventually I worked out that if you just dodged his sonic booms, he would eventually come over to you and you could just use the Blanca jump'n'kick routine.
Cheers,
Ian
I think you mean: "For the love of KAMI!!!"
... anime in Japan is actually targeted at a much younger audience than in America. For example Cowboy Bebop was presented by Cartoon Network and targeted at 16-18 year olds (source: cartoonnetwork.com), its Japanese release target a much younger audience of 10-12 year olds (source: Newtypes Magazine). Japanese children are much more mature than american children and they do grow out of anime and manga must faster. I have been to Japan 3 times in the last 5 years and from my time in the anime/manga stores, I can tell you that they definitly attract a younger/geekier audience. Contrary to the belief of many hard core anime fans, anime is indeed generally reserved for kids and geeks. Don't feel bad though, I used to love anime just as much as you, but over the last 2 years (I'm 22 now) I just becan to lose interest. I'm not saying you have to give it up, as I know some adults who still watch anime, but I'm saying there is a good chance you will want to as you get older.
"I have a bad feeling about this".
[]'s Carlos Cardoso - Becoming a brazilian ProBlogger, typo by typo
I saw it at an anime convention many years ago. IIRC it kind of sucked. It was a fun thing to watch at a convention though,
True warriors use the Klingon Google
I'm positive my boyfriend will make me sit through this one. And I already have trouble watching an episode without making cynical comments every 30 seconds on the probability of the story.
Good idea,but that would require a lot of lubrication, ahrm. And I guess that no-one would raise the money needed for what would be nothing more than a complicated pron movie. :)
-- null
There is also a Scooby Doo Live Action movie being made
It's probably just as well nobody remembers this piece of crap, but it's out there. Should give you an idea what we're in for.
Thank God 20th Century Fox didn't ACQUIRE the rights to the movie...
Sad but true - there's a live action La Blue Girl. Saw it on sale at last year's Otakon. From the pics on the back of the VHS case, it looked to contain quite a few "naughty tentacles".
it's called the WWF
>> Are the actors going to be asian?
> Yes, but only the actor playing Piccolo.
Will he be green with funny ears and antennae?
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Goku is, let's face it, dumb. And he isn't old either. Di Caprio has less muscle in his whole body than I've got in my pinky, so he couldn't fit any role; except maybe Master Roshi :D. Who would I pick to play Goku? I think that Russle Crowe might be able to do a good enough acting job to pull it off, that is, if he can learn the martial arts and instant transmission ;).
:D. Don't see this one folks.
Who am I kidding? DragonBall isn't even really great anime, it's just entertaining. The cheese factor of a live action movie will be way too high, and it will have to be 24 hours long to be true to the original
BlackGriffen
How about a live action Transformers movie? I suppose it'd probably be one of those movies that wouldn't be mentioned, although I'd like to see it.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
"the characters have no dimension"
Remember, this is DB and/or DBZ. The characters will eventually have all the dimensions they need.
It still pisses me off they made Guile the hero of that picture, rather than Ryu. I realize this was a Van Damme flick, and Van Damme as Ryu just doesn't work, but come on. Ryu is the king of Street Fighter.
I mean, you could make the argument that Guile's Flash Kick has slightly better Anti-Air than Ryu's Shoryuken, but there's no way that Sonic Boom is a better projectile than Hadoken. And that's not even counting Hurrican Kick, for which Guile has no answer.
It hurts when I pee.
nuf said. Cowboy beebop cries for a movie Hollywood style. It's all americanized in there, and they can even put as much special effects as they usually like to do. Songs are great and the character names can be pronounced by all the average Joe Sixpack of the States who go to the movie on Sunday and usually are the people responsible for a box office movie success or not. There is enough material in there to cover much ground, as the movie following the episodes took after the hero died without having to reinvent a BS story of a twin brother or resurrection. Totally cool and awesome. So Hollywood, time to open your wallets and do the right thing. And call me if you need an actress, okay?
PPA, the girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
He's made a career out of playing green characters.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Lots of AAaAAaaaaaaaaargh...Pant..Pant....superfastpunchin gkickingwhileflying...
repeat a few hundred times, then decide to have somebody die after destroying a planet or two.
Anyone who knows Hollywood can deduce that they will likely make the Dragonball movie a braindead pure action/fighting/violence movie (and will probably throw in some sex to fit the genre.)
Thse who know Dragonball(Z) know that this isn't really what the show is about.
I remember that I resisted Dragonball(Z) for about two years while I lived with some college roommates who were big fans.
It simply looked cheesy and childish.
Finally, they forced me to watch a good part of a saga (Dragonball Z is split up into mostly self-contained sagas) and at last I "saw the light." Unlike the vast majority of animated cartoons, much anime' excluded, Dragonball(Z) actually incorporates such concepts as character development, ethics, wisdom, honor, humility, and others.
Goku, what some consider to be the 'main' character, is exactly what I would want any children that I may someday have to look at as a role-model. Being an action cartoon, Goku is a fighter, but more than that, he has the most unusual personality--he is extremely powerful and respected, yet in the face of the most intense situations he does not become furious, does not get cocky, and makes no action that might be considered a "cheap shot." It is a difficult thing to describe well, so don't take this description too literally as it is not a very good one.
Different characters seem to represent different 'good people,' for example "Piccolo" seems to represent the meme of "One with great wisdom, discipline, and control."
Goku's wife represents a good dose of reality that keeps the show from being too fictional. For example, depending on the time in the series, various characters can undergo a small transformation called "super saiyen" which, among benefits such as increased speed and strength, makes their hair turn blonde. (No idea why, exactly). When Goku and his son, Gohan, decide to remain super saiyen so as to conserve the energy required to undergo the transformation, the mother sees Gohan and begins crying because her son has "become a punker" (it appears as though he's bleached his hair and used more hairspray than Marge Simpson so make it look spikey.) While this probably sounds insignificant, it helps the series to remain enough within the context of reality to be believable, insofar as an anime needs to be believable.
For those of you that haven't given it a good look, I recommend starting with a few video rentals of the "Perfect Cell" saga, my personal favorite so far. It doesn't have some of the attributes that tend to turn people away from the series at first glance.
Overall, the series is very well written, has very good characters with real personalities that one can relate too (like a good book or RPG), and would not transfer well into a live action movie except by the most exceptionally talented cast and direction.
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
Because Americans are shitty martial artists.
Just as a disclaimer, I'm an American martial artist. Thought luckily I have a more asian body type. But Every major american martial artist (Chuck Norris, Steven Segal, etc...) is slow, awkward, and has poor technique. It's like they don't even bother to work on their art any more once they hit the movies. Even Chuck Norris' FIRST role (The bad guy in a Bruce Lee movie, I believe it was Enter the Dragon, but it may have been Fists of Fury, or Return of the Dragon... In fact, I'm now almost certain it was Return of the Dragon.) he was slow and awkward. Bruce made him look like an amateur. Most Americans just don't have the attention span or determination it takes to make themselves good Martial Artists. And it seems like the ones that do have better things to do than go into movies...
But that's just my opinion, and if you don't like it, why the fuck did you read all this way? >:)
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Is there already was a Dragonball Live action movie.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
Peter Lorrie as Hans Mohman, Chris Farley as Ralph Wiggam. Although I'm severely biased, Janeane Garofalo would have to be an ironic Marge, or an unironic one of Marge's sisters
This is the worst casting I have ever seen suggested for anything.
You may as well cast Michael Douglas as Homer and Sylvester Stallone as Milhouse and Rick Moranis as Lisa while you're at it.
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
No shit sherlock! You figure that all out for yourself?
Go rent yourself a couple of martial arts movies, one with primarily asians and one with primarily Westerners. Watch the fluidity of motion that the asians exhibit. The superior range of motion.
It's not because they are Asian, it's because they PUT IN THE FUCKING TIME TO BE GOOD. And americans just don't do that. Thought a couple of good Non-Asian martial artists are the Aussie kid from Gorgeous and the shorter blond twin in Kiss of the Dragon.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
This would be cool if the makers of Shaolin Soccer could get their hands on it. The style of the fights in Soccer seem to fit in with Dragonball to me.
-prator