Back in October, I wrote a little piece on the leaked trailer for Dragonball (now re-named Dragonball Evolution) and in it I basically talked about how terrible the teaser looked. I was clearly not the only one who thought this and after 91 comments and some feuding, Screen Rant Master Vic had to shut down the thread to simmer things down.
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In defense of the movie (at that time), that trailer was very early and not complete in terms of post-production. Today however, we have the first official trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the hit Manga series and it still sucks… maybe even more than the first teaser.
From this trailer, the characters and costumes look ridiculous (especially the secondary characters), the fight choreography looks awful and the dialogue and cinematography has B-movie or worse written all over it. Not to mention the terrible use of slow motion in some of the action sequences.
Don’t believe me? Watch and see:
Now, re-watch it while trying to put aside the special effects (which are 95% of it) and focus on what’s actually happening, especially the dialogue and acting. They are burying this in heavy visual and sound effects.
It looks like they’re trying so hard to take and use cool styles from other films but this movie doesn’t have that kind of ‘cool’ and using those techniques in the wrong places with poor execution really makes this feel over-the-top but in a bad way.
What I’m seeing from the trailer and images of this film give me the exact same feeling as Catwoman and Elektra did – both of which are both on my list of worst movies ever.
Some stories simply cannot be translated to the big screen. Have you seen the characters from Dragonball Z or its action sequences? It’s not even remotely human. The show was super popular and many people I know really dug it but I don’t think it makes for a live-action version, especially if it’s supposed to be faithful to the cartoon. Even if it’s not, the extreme nature, extreme style and crazyness that was Dragonball Z (for example) can’t be done in reality because it’s so far from reality that it looks stupid when they try to imitate with real people. The styles are simply too different.
Even the characters saying the word “dragonball” while holding a literal glowing ball sounds and looks like cheese in live-action. And that scene with that vehicle transforming while Justin Chatwin (playing Goku) says “cool” is really awesome too… Not.
I can’t tell if this is made solely for the fans of old (not me) and the young audiences or if the fans of the series’ will hate this and Fox is actually targeting more of a mainstream audience.
I don’t know if the movie will actually be as bad as I think this trailer is because I know Dragonball isn’t my thing regardless -- but I expect pretty weak box-office earnings and I know I will not see it at the theater. Like I said in my first article, it might be a fun rental. I would love to know what fans of the cartoons think of this. Do you think it can be done well in live-action? Does this meet your expectations? And for those who don’t know much about Dragonball or simply may not have fancied the cartoons, will you see this flick?
Dragonball Evolution stars Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Chow Yun-Fat and comes out April 8, 2009.
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178 Comments
@INK
Actually it was a response to Oscar – and a general statement about my approach to things here on the site.
Vic
Good to hear since I agree totally with it.
I agree with Vic too, i said it myself. Its ok to say a movie sucks, just expect to be attacked by the people who dont think it sucks. You just have to know what lines not to cross.
Hey Ink,
I was trying to make some light humour out of it, heh. I don’t want to sound condescending.
You said:
“Why even write about a movie you have no interest in ‘regardless’ of how it comes out?”
Does that mean that in your opinion, movie, TV, videogame sites or whatever should or can only write about things they are looking forward to or already enjoy?
Because that didn’t make sense to me.
Screen Rant doesn’t just report news as you know, it’s news with our personal take on it. That’s why even if I’m reporting something which is really rather small (like just showing this trailer or talking about a date for the Transformers 2 trailer) I still write quite a bit about it – or at least try to.
And I totally agree about your last part. I don’t usually ever want a movie to be crap – that’s not good for so many reasons – obviously our entertainment being one. An example would be for ‘The Spirit’ which comes out this month. I think most of us at Screen Rant think that looks pretty bad from the trailers but none of us want it to fail. We’d love for it to actually turn out to be awesome – it would be good for us watching, good for the industry (film and comics) and it could warrant further follow-ups or similar future films.
And don’t forget – that was a winking smiley face up above, no ordinary smiling happy face
@Rob –
It’s all good man. That’s the problem with the internet, things get lost in translation … freakin’ Gore and his inventions.
Plus, I get a four day weekend after today and I’m a little ansy.
OK, now it’s getting nasty. With INK tormenting us with a 4 day weekend. OH… the travesty.
You wanna hear the best part? I work four days next week and then I’m off until Jan. 2!!!
I’ll be on here 24/7
Bwahahahahahahaha!
So that’s how you want it, huh?
Well I’ll be off work from the 23rd and won’t return until the 5th…
egads, on SR 24/7.. batten down the hatches!
Don’t get me wrong Catwoman and Elecktra were god awful movies. Just absolutely terrible. However the trailers for this movie make them actually seem bearable.
@Bruce
All that time off may be a nice way of telling you that you are no longer needed.
INK… not nice!
Actually the whole company has that time off.
“What exactly about the character of Goku in the animé even remotely resembles a person who is Asian? Thought so.” – INK
Sorry for the delayed response. Well, seeing that every other character seems to be played by an Asian, one would have thought they’d all be Asian characters. But no, Hollywood requires a Caucasian to play the main role, or else it’d probably bomb in the Western market.
*is being cynical.
Actually that isn’t the reason for Goku being played by a caucasian.
Goku doesn’t look asian in fact most anime characters don’t look asian.
It was the directors choice which had more to do with the look of Goku than anything else.
I’ve thought. I’ve pondered. I’ve wrestled with it. I have finally come up with what’s really truly bothering me about this trailer and movie…….
It needs more cowbell
no, I came here because when I searched for Dragonball: Evolution trailer this site came up, and oh look already a negative title, so I’m like wait a minute is it that bad? I watched the trailer, I laugh at the fact he said this is worst than that crappy promo footage.
but before I reply any further, I apologize for the nasty comments, very immature of me… anyways
@greeknight I don’t know what sites you’re talking about, but on the major sites, those including, dbthemovie.com, dragonballmovieblog.com, and superherohype.com, the majority like/loves the trailer,
before this trailer came
and you think this movie will fail?
you’re forgetting it’s huge following in Japan, and besides, America isn’t Fox’s main concern for this movie, reasons behind this are the lack of promotion here in the U.S., almost all the little promotion we’ve gotten were in Japan, another reason is, it’s being release in Japain in March, two weeks from the U.S.
Fox is expecting an International Hit, I don’t think it will do that well in the U.S. but it wouldn’t matter because in Japan is where it will be more successful, hell, even the Dark Knight bombed in Japan, that’s because Japan has a different interest in themes. Japan likes goofy, cheesy, humor and stylized genres. Look at Stephen Chow’s movies, they are cult hits down there, because that’s what they like, and I definitely get a Stephen Chow vibe in Dragoball: Evolution
and you keep calling the movie cheesy…
where as Dragonball/Z is as cheesy as can be… why do you expect so much difference?
I dont mind the cheeze level. I dont mind the over the top. Dragonball has always been campy in its own way.
What I do mind is the fact that they changed so much about it, that it literally isnt anything like the show. You have actors with the name & maybe outfit of the character stamped on them. You have dragonballs. You have fighting. Thats as much as I am seeing.
My only few things I do like about this is
1- Jason Masters is bound to be the only actor in this to pull of his part. Couldnt have cast a better Piccolo.
2- I assume its the new take on the capsule system they use to shrink vehicles & items. The bike scene I liked.
Other then that, the movie is a massive let down for me. I dont plan on renting, paying for or buying this. I am just going to wait till someone bootlegs it onto youtube or some other online stream & suffer through it when I am bored at work at 3 in the morning. I think I am that masochistic.
i’m a prety big dragonball fan, and this looks awfull as far as a dragonball movie goes. However if you look at it like its just a moive that also has magical balls then it looks ok, but its just not dragonball. i’d say the same about trasnformers the movie, it might have had transforming robots, but it wasnt transformers, same goes for this.
@Ryan: Even if it’s the director’s choice, that still may support what I’ve said. And yeah, most anime characters don’t look Asian… that’s why they’ve given the main role to a Caucasian, and all the support roles to Asians.
Now that I think about it, Goku being played by a Caucasian isn’t even my main gripe. My problem would be that Justin Chatwin looks to be miscast. He looks and feels so un-Goku like. He’s neither the cute kid in Dragon Ball, nor the cheery adult in DBZ.
Again, cynical me pops up to say it feels like a bastardised version of the Karate Kid.
Ya this doees look pretty bad
niche audience
@kaypain
You bring up a good point about international box office. There’ve been U.S. made films that have only been profitable due to overseas box office. The Golden Compass, for example.
Vic
King Arthru is another that comes to mind Vic..
@ kaypain
Is Fox handling overseas distribution on Dragonball? I don’t know? Sometimes they share production costs with another company(ies) to soften the financial load..I know SOny is handling Terminator Salvation in some overseas markets and Warners is handling North America (not sure of all territories) But my point wasn’t that it won’t do well in Japan..it will..it’s North AMerica that I am doubtful it will thrive..International box office has definitely become a huge reason a lot of movies are being made..I mean look at the Bond series..the last two films didn’t make enough box office dollars in North AMerica to cover their production budgets with Prints and Advertising but the overseas numbers are huge..like 400 million each..Based on North AMerican box office I don’t think more Bond films would be made because they don’t cover their costs here..but we have international grosses to help the studios recoup their money and show a tidy profit…
Thanks for your post
Cheers
I don’t know, guys, it doesn’t look that bad to me. Of course, I haven’t heard the dialogue (I’m at work) so I have to wait till I get home. I’m a DBZ fan and have only seen a couple of episodes of DB, but I hope the majority here are wrong and it does well.
@ Matt
I know there are a lot of changes
please keep in mind this is a adaptation, I wouldn’t expect to see every character included the movie, you can’t expect them to include every character in the movie, and them have a decent amount of screen time without the movie’s run time going overboard, I mean Dragonball is so complex, you have to tone it down,
yeah I admit, Chatwin doesn’t scream Goku, but I don’t think it’s his fault, he told us he read entire manga, and Monkey King in preparation, I think it’s writing, it which case blame that on Bem Ramsey, which I think is Fox’s big mistake and why people are hating this so much,
In my humble opinion, I think even if they picked the perfect actor, who looks like Goku, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gave a crappy performance due to writting,
so with that said, I remain neutral about Justin, that trailer wasn’t enough for me to pass judgment, he only said a few lines, and when he says “cool” I think he was depressed, I mean look at his surroundings, his house is destroyed and Gohan is probably dead up to that point, so yeah his dialogue would be un-enthusiastic
also I think Fox change the title to Evolution in the context that this is adaptation, a new, different retelling of the story, and that this isn’t a 100% faithful perfect replica, would the fans accept, I think we can agree that the majority of fans probably don’t accept it, well that’s because Dragonball fans have this strong, proctective faith in the original story, they won’t accept anything else unless it’s 100% perfect from the clothes they where, to the plot
and when some people say this will be the worst movie ever, I think they are kidding themselves, and I think they should rethink what they just said, and maybe watch some of those “Movie” movies
Forget Fox and forget justin chatwin as goku.
Just Support the franchise.
Oh and FYE, Justin was enthusiastic about playing goku. He just kinda made the character more his own. Even though Goku isn’t laidback all the time, and more goofy, Goku was a lot more serious after drinking the holy water. Think about his attitude toward Piccolo after he drank it. I think Justin is trying to portray that.
In My oppinion Dragonball aint gonna suck. The Trailer kinda looks like forbidden kingdom and the matrix combined on meth. In a good way though. Its going to suck because of fanboys like you guys. In 2003, some of you were practically dying for a DBZ movie. But now u won’t support it cause its different. Its an Adaption anyway, you can’t fit the first 100 episodes of dragonball into 2 hours. Thats extremely hard. There would be a lot cut out.
You wanna support the franchise of dragonball? Well support the movie cause like it or not, its a dragonball adaption, meaning it has to do with dragonball. because if you don’t and yet you support GT which non-canon stuff that Akira toriyama had nothing to do with,(I’m sorry, mystics making the dragonballs in one thing, but a shrimp like bebi using mindcontrol, gettin back at king vegeta for he genocide by killng the last TWO saiyans? possesing people though kamehamehas cause he’s a wimp who can’t do anything on his own? Yeah, thats what i wanna see. ss2 vegeta beating the crap out of ss3 goku. Kid or not your powers still the same. If gotenks could handle ss3, goku, who’s 5 times stronger could do it while holding his breath. SUpport the dragonball, or it’ll be crap.
Um, fans can’t make a movie “suck.” They can not show up and make it have lousy box office, but a movie sucks or is great all on its own.
I’m not a fanboy and that looks like total crap to me. Like an early 1970s kung fu flick with bad dubbing.
Vic
Now don’t get me wrong, im upset they did change things but lets be honest. They can’t stick to the entire story.
Its not the actors cause James and Justin were the most enthusiastic on the team.
But honestly if i was makin the movie i would have condensed the movie like this:
the Dragonball Special that celebrated 10 years of dragonball into about 25 minutes, mainly because you can introduce the red ribbon army without having to o through the whole saga.That way you have a back round stroy for the red ribbon army and Dr.Gero and Cell.
go for Master ROshi’s training about 15 minutes and skip the first tournament,
WHy, because that goes str8 to the red ribbon army and through a couple of other things in a short limited amount of time.
I say Goku and Krillin go to Korin’s for more training after Roshi told them he had nothing left to teach them, instead of going to the world tournament, thats where they meet Tao, who was sent by Gero to defeat him. AFter 15 minutes of that, they beat him and and go straight to the second tournament Goku was in for about 30 minutes. Introducing Tien and chaiotzu and then goku losing. str8 from there to Krillin being killed and Goku and Tien trying to stop him. That about 30 minutes and the holy water for about 15 minutes, then the final fight, 15 minutes. and then At that point The story proceeds to piccolo shooting out the egg, and goku would go to Kamis for training then the Majunior saga would be the next sequel.
Still though, there really isn’t any main protaginist, it’s more or less the Adventures of Goku Rather than Dragonball. In a story there has to be one solid bad guy. Here its the red Ribbon army, gero, and Piccolo. Or, you could cut cell completely from the series as well as buu and GT and end it at frieza.
Goku would then go Korin and he would suggest that he’d train for the next tournament. And the Sequel would continue with Kami’s training The Next tournament for about 20 minutes, then Goku meeting up with Chi-Chi, and marrying her before the tounament. Just cause gohan would be born sooner. It would kinda strike everyone wierd that goku finds out hes an alien in the middle of the movie. Raditz crash lands in the middle of goku’s fight with Majunior. Goku finds his origins, then they start to fight eachother. Goku is knocked down and gohan wjo was watching the fight, starts crying and hits raditz in the stomache. But radzt takes him and throws him. Majunior had learned da Special BEam cannon earlier then in the series, and decided to kill raditz. he asks Goku 2 distract him and then Raditz is hit without seeing the beam. Then Piccolo goes for Goku, and goku knocks him outta bounds. Then as piccolo gets up, he notices goku was struck in the heart with a blast. A last attempt by raditz. Then Piccolo, mad, asks why he did that. Radizt replies with news of the arrival of greater saiyans. Goku dies and the story continues as the series. After vegeta and nappa are defeated, Vegeta goes to namek in search of the dragonballs. Then the sequel ends with Freiza, and it pretty much follows the original story line.
yes I agree the story could be better, and I blame Ramsey for that, and Fox, they paid this guy who knows nothing about DB/Z $500,000 to pen that godawful script that got leaked, and Fox being greeding aren’t going to pay another guy to pen a new script, and I believe Wong did the best he could to his abilities to change that script, had he pen the first draft in the first place, I think it would have been way more faithful in the first place
so Im not looking for a great story I already know the story is very different
Im looking for some good action, and a great performance by Marsters becaust to me, he IS Piccolo
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