You can check out a picture of Justin Chatwin as Goku from the upcoming Dragonball Z movie below.
I haven’t talked about this one much because frankly I was just never into the cartoon, but from what I’ve seen so far it looks like they’re really trying to capture the look of the characters (lots and lots of hair gel required, no doubt).
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The movie is being directed by James Wong, and that’s about all I know about it. 
I guess it’ll have lots of martial arts action in it, and it’ll be interesting to see if Wong tries to emulate the anime style of cinematography in a live action film. Of course we’ve seen how that might go over in Speed Racer’s box office numbers…
Thanks to “Roman” for the shout.
Dragonball Z opens on April 10, 2009.
Sources: DBtheMovie via ComingSoon
So what are your feelings about this? Are you guys looking forward to it?
31 Comments
so what do you think vic of the pic i’ve read an article the film will have a anime style of fighting i’ve also saw a pic of a set it looks like a volcano with bluescreens around but i’m looking forward on this one. but i was hoping an gi outfit
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i think it will be disapointment in USA but worldwide this is gonna be a success all the countries know about dragonball particularly in asian countries because it is very popular .i think speed racer bombed because it’s not very popular and the anime is very very old unlike dragonball that it’s old but they air it over over again in animax
Martin,
I’m now suree how you can think Dragonball isn’t popular in the the US. If it wasn’t for Funimation and Cartoon Network the only people who would know about this franchise would be the Japanese. BTW, I’m really looking forward to it. SHould be a lot of fun.
INK
Depending on the way the director extracts the strange and bizarre Dragon Ball story, there might be some okay dialog and plot in the movie, I’d imagine it’ll land somewhere around Speed Racer for depth.
As for the fighting, Dragon Ball could have the potential to excel even past the Matrix movies, as many really fantastical (as well as fast) combat styles were used in Dragon Ball.
My two cents.
I watched all the Dragonball Z and GT cartoons but am not sure about a live-action movie. The first problem I have is Chatwick; I just don’t see him as a good match for the character Goku, who is suppose to be the strongest and most fit Saiyin (his race). I thought the same thing about Michael Keaton as Batman and I was wrong there, so maybe I’m wrong here. Let’s hope so. Also, will they have the same kinetic feel? The cartoons, when they are fighting, move very fast; we saw a problem with this in Transformers when you couldn’t make out who was who. They have the right director, so maybe it will work.
I really like DBZ, but this has “dissappointment” and “straight to dvd” written all over this one.
I love DBZ, so really hoping this will work well. Interested to see what Chow Yun Fat will be like as Master Roshi.
I’m not holding out for much to be honest, I agree on pessimism on this guy as Goku, but maybe, just maybem, it will a cool, fun movie. Then I’ll be happy.
bit hey it looks like that this film will have a tons of effects for battle and background cities right and of cours this movie has a budget of more than 100m
Its Dragonball, not Dragonball Z. The story centers around younger Goku fighting King Piccolo and his army of (lame)ninjas.
I love all three series though and absolutely can’t wait. I saw this a few days ago, if I knew this site cared about Dragonball I would have said something.
Trust me, this film will blow to high heaven. If your wondering if they are going to take in the original Japanese storyline, well forget it. Here’s the plot that I have gathered, “Goku is an akward teen staying in high school. His life soon changes when his graandpa is killed by Piccolo and the dragonball is stolen so he can wish for his youth back. Goku must now go find the master Roshi in order to get ready and fight Piccolo and his army of Namekian ninjas.”
The problem with this synopsis is…this has only one thing connected with the original Dragonball, the names. Note I said Dragonball, not Dragonball Z, because this is more towards the original 16 volumes of the magna. The pictures that I have seen from this film prove to me that they have never read, seen, or even enjoyed the original material. HECK, I’m not sure these ‘actors’ even know how to fight. For a fan like me this is akin to them making Iron Man and only using the name Stark as a character or doing a Hulk film and taking an hour to get to him!
Ok, that’s just stated everything I feared would happen with this movie. Why do these things always end up in the hands of people who don’t love or respect the shows themselves?
I still hope it will be fun, but…. Argh!
Oh, and I know this is a Dragonball movie, but DBZ is the series I love madly.
I know the feeling, I was thinking that just this once we would have something good, but NOOOOOOO! If I actually had creditatianals I Would do this movie myself and have Bruce Lee as Goku, Jet Li as Vegita, and Jackie Chan as Krillin.
KOOL jus sayin when i first saw this pic i thought it was gohan gokus son
That hair is horrid, god…I have a bad feeling about my once favorite anime
Well one thing you can say about Justin he has that aqualine nose protrayed in the anime. I think the one thing that impressed me most about the series was the camera view of the characters while in flight! If you look at other shows where a character is flying it looks bad, wrong angle shots bad positions, characters arms and legs are arranged incorrectly for the action, like Storm in “X-Men 1.” Their has been a previous effort at a Goku film and it’s horrible. One reason was not following the excellent way flight is portrayed in the anime.
As for story, I like the original just as much as most fans, but if your gonna plop down 100 million on a picture you can bet someone will have a say that won’t want to bet the farm on an “exact rerun.” It’s a pity that most efforts can’t best the originals.
I hate to add to the mass of “pessimist fans” but Goku+high school???Those two words together don’t bode well, all the Dragonball/Z/GT fans already know why.
Maybe it’ll be 2 days before graduation.
the bright side of all this? Namekian Ninjas!
this movie will be the gretestand the best blockbuster of the year.i hope there will be much action
The Matrix is my favorite movie and I know like that other guy said This movie could pass it if it’s made right but from the looks of it its not, but It’s probably going to be good, hopefully better than good though. I think Justin Chatwin doesnt look to much like a goku but o well if they do mess this up I’ll send a couple hate mails and that’s it.
This will so go down when the Japanese rise up to boycott it
There is not enough info to say it will or will not suck. All we have is a promise to make the film and some pics. When I say some pics I mean you could probably count all the pics on one hand. So we’ll have to wait patiently for the actual trailer to come out. I do agree that Chadwin is to scrawny for the roll but these are hype photos. Maybe he will bulk up for the roll. And apparently this is before he started to learn martial arts from Roshi. I know this plot is a little different from the original story but thank of it as an alternate dimension. That might help.
goku needs to be bigger
azn for goku instead of that ghetto white dude because goku is jap not white dude…azn ppl RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh wait im not trying to be races or anything but this is the truth
Pico i agree with you!!
Kinichiwa i agree with you guys or girls.
they should use the final fantasy dude named Cloud as Goku
Omg i cant belive it,in my dimension my fav dbz is awesome there i can imagine original anim faces.But here the hair looks no match and goku–> School,no sense and namekein ninjas.And his dress too am afraid it cant be happening :/
My bro san is right ,the fights in dbz anime are radical,super fast,ultimate screaming actions.while screaming all of them(foe & friends) looks really cool but a reall human screaming pose is really unwatchable(kinda looks funny)
maybe dbz must go on Anime rathar than this i wish :S
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