Goku as a kid in DRAGONBALL.
© Funimation Productions
The Dragonball Movie: Hooray or Nay?
By: Nadia OxfordDate: Thursday, January 03, 2008
As a long time Dragonball and Dragonball Z fan, incoming news reports about the Dragonball live-action movie make me itch with indecision. On one hand, Stephen Chow--as in Shaolin Soccer and Kung-Fu Hustle Stephen Chow--is the film's producer. If anyone is capable of capturing Dragonball's fun-filled spirit, it's Chow. Too bad he's not directing; that job falls to James Wong.
So far it feels like the movie's potential is composed of rigid, non-dissolvable elements. There will be no compromise: The end product will undoubtedly be either great or horrible. Of course, I'm hoping for the former. I can be stupidly optimistic that way.
Truthfully, a Dragonball movie has the potential to be a Kamehameha-sized blast of fun. The uninitiated write off the Dragonball anime as nothing but a homoerotic slug-fest where alien fighters stare each other down and grunt and strain like they've eaten nothing but steak for the past month. Yes, the anime is indeed overrun by these stag-like shows of power, but such is the magic of filler material; Dragonball's author, Akira Toriyama, worked on the manga while Bird Studios wrote and animated the anime as the story unraveled. Toriyama often didn't have a certain installment ready in time for a new episode, so the show's writers had to whip up something of their own (this is an extremely common occurrence in manga and anime, though thankfully few series ramble on to the extent of Dragonball).
Anyone who judges Dragonball by the manga series rather than a few staggering episodes of the anime might be surprised at how funny and goofy Toriyama's crowning achievement is capable of being. Dragonball is actually based on the famous Eastern fairy tale, Journey to the West, although loosely. Like the fairy tale, the manga has its silly moments as well as serious ones. Thankfully, said silly moments lack the scat-based jokes that populate another popular Toriyama series, Dr Slump.
It's this contrast of humour and seriousness that might cause the Dragonball movie to stumble. There's not much available for the film's synopsis beyond a strong clue that its story will be based on the King Piccolo arc of the manga/anime: The young hero Goku must gather the seven mystical Dragon Balls to defeat Piccolo, a green alien menace (who interestingly becomes one of Goku's greatest friends years later in the Dragonball Z storyline). The plot summary from the Internet Movie Database sheds a little more light on what's coming:
"A young boy named Goku seeks out upon his grandfather's dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls (of which he has one) in order to prevent Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world."
Anyone who's remotely familiar with Dragonball can say, "Well, no, that's not how it happens." Still, changes from the original source material are common when movie adaptations are involved, so this isn't surprising. It is, however, a little worrisome because it sounds pretty heavy-handed. Maybe it's more difficult to pitch a movie based on an aimless quest, which is how the Dragonball saga begins; a teenage girl named Bulma goes on a cross-country quest for the wish-granting Dragonballs so that she can wish for a boyfriend. Goku tags along for the sake of fun, plus Bulma "borrows" the four-star Dragonball his dead grandfather left for him. There are, of course, many twists and villains along the way--the biggest and most significant twist being revealed near the end of the first story arc--but it takes a while for the story to warm up, which means Goku's initial adventure might not be the greatest choice for a movie aimed at today's impatient population.
Still, there are reports that the movie will not feature too much of the anthromorphic animal cast, including the greedy, money-hungry pig Oolong (whose attire ironically celebrates Communism early in the series) or Puar, the shape-shifting cat belonging to the girl-shy martial arts master Yamcha. A significant amount of comic relief relied on the antics of the series' "pets." The perverted Master Roshi will feature significantly in the movie, however, and one can only hope there will be mention of his tainted birdseed that resulted in the accidental death of the "Immortal Phoenix."
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funny I always assumed this would be adapted into CGI first before a live action movie but...I think you're right.. all shall be revealed in 2008... heres hoping they can pull some nuggets out of the "ROCK PAPER SCISSORS" fist-fight brawl-a-thon but I REALLY have my doubts on this one because I'm in the crowd that feels the source material isnt all that strong to warrent a live action movie in the first place.