New ‘Dragonball Evolution’ Trailer Worse Than The Last One
Dec 10, 2008 by Rob KeyesBack 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 …
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.
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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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
I really don’t think they should be making the movie like this. it can definitely work as a live action piece, but it HAS TO be done by the right people
I have to agree with Kaypain about Marsters. He’s going to kick butt in this role.
did anybody catch James Marsters voice over on smallville a few weeks ago? That was just awesome
The movie is completely different from Dragonball from what I’ve seen. Sure it has the same characters but thats where it ends…and even they aren’t true to the source material for the most part. I’m not a Dragonball fan but I was eager to see this movie as Dragonball was one of my joys growing up so I am familar with the series and this just isn’t it. I’d be fine with the movie if it evolved into something more plausable and entertaining but really, it doesn’t seem to do so…so why switch one absurd story for another? I just don’t get it. I’m disappointed but will probably end up seeing it regardless as well… I like to experience nostalgia from time to time.
I’m a fan of DB/DBZ and I enjoyed the trailer. Getting a X-Men 1 type vibe. All the changes I see are no different are no different than a 6’3 Wolverine or organic web shooters. Those complaining about the weird Dragonball Origin story should look up Episode 33 part 2 of the original Dragonball series on youtube. In it Roshi tells a tale similar to Roshi’s voice over of the trailer that does not mention the Namekiam origins. So either he made it up or it was just a legend he heard. I have no doubt that the Namekiam origins will be revealed in the sequel (if we get one..) much like how DBZ expanded on the Dragonball origns of Dragonball. Anyways this movie is right up there in my hype meter along Wolverine: Origins and Watchmen. Obviously it won’t be Dark Knight good, but should be at least good popcorn fun!
P.S. James Marster’s Piccolo antenna or not looks and sounds awesome!
If they can make a film about talking cars that transforms into robots,they can make dragon ball,the right way.ever seen the movie 300? when the boy was training out in the wilderness and he had to fight the wolf?slap on some untamed hair and a tail,what have you got?kid goku from dragon ball.u know what im sayin it takes vision.
Fanboys and non-fanboy don’t know what the hell their talking about.
i think this movie looks like crap…
But maybe not for the same reason as you all.
All the characters look way to serious.
when for example Goku who is suppose to be cheerful and lighthearted, looks like hes got a broom stuck in his a-hole.
and roshi whos suppose to be a super perverted bald old man(but great none the less) looks way to serious.
(Chow Yun-Fat is a good actor but not that amazing that he could save an entire movie with just his name)
From what i saw none of the actors(characters) have a dragonball feeling to them.
It looks as if the producer took the first guy who could remember the lines and spiked his hair(sort of) dressed him up in a orange dogi(the pyjama thingy) and said he was goku…
so to me this is just a sorry excuse for a lame scifi/martial-arts/fantasy movie with cheap special fx and a dragonball label on it.
What can you expect from a hollywood remake 90% of the time its crap… sigh
But only after i see this movie will know if i was wright or wrong.until then this movie is crap to me (-.-)
oh forgot to add
Since when those goku says he cant do it
thats just killing the very essence of the character who never let the odds that are against him make him give up.
And say he cant do it.
Hmmm looks silly as hell. Like one of those straight to video LOTR ripoffs had a baby with the new Speed Racer flick. Or any number of old Jet Li flicks.
Question:Why the hell did they cast a silly looking white guy in the roll of Goku(sp?) when the fanbase for this stuff is primarily asian. I know that the character looks vague (could be white,asian, latino, arab,desi whatever you want) but they are going to piss off the base.
Not to mention that they cast just about everyone else as Asian too, especially the hot girls–which judging on the crazyasianmale websites, will piss the base off even more.
I also noticed that they didn’t have the balls to cast Mr. Popo either (lol hehe).
Anyway, this looks like garbage just as much as the anti-american GI JOE crapflick that is coming out in 2009 too.
I think the position you take is perfect because you express that you are not a “die-hard” fan. Therefore you can make a completely un-biased opinion. Myself personally as a DBZ fan, am almost literally physically ill with the film. It in no way captures the essence of what Toriyama sought to present; it’s just like the people who did GT, was it Toei? Either way, they cared more about making money and more “fan-base” (which they already had) instead of the absolute beauty of the story, I apologize if I sound like a freak here, but Hollywood continues to do this with not only DBZ, but most movies in production..it’s no longer about story and performance, it’s just money….A movie like this doesn’t deserve the theatre, but the dollar bin at your local car-wash. I don’t care how much money they throw at it. I will see this movie for what it is, a Hollywood, CGI infested sci-fi flick..not Dragonball
I respect everyones opinions, but you can’t judge a movie by a 1 min clip, trust me hancock taught me that. and personally I thought the trailer looked great, I mean its just a japanese teaser, Im sure when the longer trailer is released I believe it will look more exciting. also there was a comment about the mystics creating the dbs, remember goku didn’t know that kami created them untill after he had killed piccolo.
this movie does not hold true to the important aspects of the db series… and i’m not talking about the actors. whoever thinks this movie has a chance at all– is not a db fan. its that simple
just because a lot of us want to give the movie a chance doesn’t mean we are not db fans. also a lot of us believed that the moment it was announced that there will be a db movie, we knew it wasn’t going to be exactly like the anime. if you think really hard can a live action db movie really look like the anime?
to the people who says that fox cares more about making money than db hardcores, of course they do its called the movie biz, there in it to make money.
Hey Dragonball Z was a great show of course people are going to expect great things from the live action movie. im an up coming actor and this would be a movie that i would love to be in people tell me i would be a great vegeta i have the body and the looks but the truth is that i would never look like the cartoon i would do everything possible to be like him but me being a great DBZ fan i kno it wont be the same. And i think you have to have the actors work out a little more. lol
You should give me a call about that Vegeta Part i will do everything humanly possible to make it come to life i will put heart and soul into the part. give me a call what do you have to lose.
qizaguirre07@yahoo.com
man,anime movies seem to be going through the same thing that super hero movies were going through(anyone remember “nick futy,agent of shield”?)
Maybe one day anime will get it’s sam rami(actually,isn’t steven spielberg susposed to direct a “ghost in the shell”movie?)
@pretty much everyone on this board: agreed. The trailer sucks. As a fan of the shows(from the first Dragon Ball when it hit America to GT) I am appalled at the attempted screen version. I hope they nuke the fridge on this one after the first film(the one good thing from Crystal Skull is that phrase) and get to make movies true to the story in a couple of years, starting with a child named Goku and his grandpa’s quest. Now, I love this site, and have the utmost respect for Vic, but I gotta throw this one out there, as I feel this person sullies my good name by dissing everyone here:
@Oscar: change the gravatar dude-you’re giving me and the captain a bad name.
I think they’ve done a kick aS* job at trying to move this from anime to live action. I respect your views but look at what they had to work from, i’m sure they did try to stay faithfull but thought it looked toooooo crap in a movie, would you have a 10 yr old kid fighting a 7ft green alien, it just wouldn’t look right. as for the dialoge being grade B have u seen the anime cartoon its all shouting and fightin they spk roughly 30 words in the whole episode and thats just before they fight. The trailor looks awesome i know the “evolution” bit is dodgey but they had to go hollywood on us somewhere in the movie i’m glad its the title and not the story. I’m only guessin but james marsters has slipped up a few times givin interviews about the film and it seems they are staying quite close to the king piccolo, piccolo Jr saga.
Overall i think an awesome job has been made with what I’ve seen so far, its only made me want to c it more. as for the guys who h8 the trailor, give it a chance, its 2 mins of a 2 hour film, how many trailors have portrayed a bad film when its been awesome, check out the star wars and matrix ones, and they are sweet films,,,, peace xx
O and @Mikeodude, thats actually not goku, roshi is talkin to when he says’your the only one who can do it’,,, theres sum HD versions floating around and its actually the black guy from ghostbusters character cn’t remember his name now, but its him and not goku.. xx
ok… 1st of all dragonball is suppose to be over the top. have you ever seen the anime Dragonball (not dragonball z) its really freakin crazy. there’s talking animals and a kid with a monkey tail(Goku). dont go to the theatre and expect the movie to be an exact copy of the anime cause its never gonna happen. go see it and look at it as a completly original concept and you might enjoy it. you’ll never like it if you try to compare it to the anime. the story will be diffrent but diffrent isnt always bad. im one of the biggest dragonball and dragonball z fans alive. i am 17 and ive been watching the show since i was 9 so i know the original story and im not going to comare the movies story to the original one and thats why i will enjoy the movie.give it a chance …
I wonder if we’ll glimpse any Red Ribbon Army troops? Very important to the Dragon Ball canon
The trailer wasnt mind blowing but I think it was nice. Its good that some changes were made to try to appeal to the general audiences, because a 100% faithful adaptation would have been imposible. Some things would just look too sily in live action.
I actually give the trailer 7 out of 10. We still have another trailer, which apparently will last 5 minutes or so, to see.
About the mystics creating the Dragon Balls. Early in the DB series, it wasnt really known who created them. For all we know, Roshi in the trailer might just be telling the legend he has heard, but then probably in the second movie it will be revealed the real origin of the Dragon Balls, just like it happened in the anime.
I really hope this movie does well, because the story gets more interesting, deep and epic after Piccolo is defeated.
About the dialogue in DB and DBZ. Some of you are underestimating it, Vegeta´s dialogue in the series was deep and interesting. Thats why Vegeta is actually my favorite character and I hope this movie does well so we can see Vegeta in the sequel.
About the Red Ribbon Army, its really sad that they are not included in this movie. Because they are necessary if they want to make a movie about Cell. Also I liked the Red Ribbon Army saga, was interesting.