dragonsoul2 addresses dragonball live action movie concerns

2008-06-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

It seems we keep going round and round with some of the things that protesters of the movie keep saying. I'm going to say these few things and I really hope that every single person that is protesting this movie comes here and reads it.

These are the main arguments I keep hearing about:

1) "How come Goku isn't Asian??!! That's stupid!"

-No, EXPECTING Goku to be casted as an Asian person just because he was created by a Japanese person is stupid. Once again, he's not even human, and he doesn't look Asian. When compared to characters like Grandpa Gohan and General Tao, he REALLY doesn’t look Asian. That's like saying that he should've been voiced by an Asian in the American anime instead of Sean Schemmel. Ridiculous.

****UPDATE 10/09/08**** Since the topic of Goku’s “race” seems to keep coming up, I developed a new theory of which would explain some things. From this point on I’m viewing Saiyans as not necessarily a race, in terms of skin color, ethinicity, etc, but as in a species. Think about it like this. We’re all humans. But we have humans that are different colors. Blacks, whites, asians, etc. I think it’s the same way with Saiyans. They have black saiyans, white saiyans, asian saiyans, etc. I mean just look at the Bardock movie. I think Goku would be an example of a white saiyan, thus he looks white. And until someone can give me good reasons that he is Asian, other than the same old “he was created by an Asian person so he’s Asian” bullcrap, I’m sticking with that. And others should feel free to adapt my theory as long as I get credit.

2)"Goku is too skinny, he looks nothing like the anime."

-Please people. Understand that this Dragonball, NOT Dragonball Z. From what I understand, he's supposed to be 18 in this movie. How dumb would look if he is this huge, muscle bound, ripped, 18 year old kid? If you go back and watch the episodes towards the end of DB/ beginning of DBZ, you will notice that Goku was rather skinny. Honestly, it's not even until he uses the Kaio-ken technique against Vegeta that he really even starts to buff up. I guarantee you that by the time third movie comes around, Justin, or whoever may be playing Goku by then, will have put on plenty pounds of muscle.

As for complaints about his hair and clothing (based on like two pictures we've seen), his hair looks fine to me. They took Justin's real hair (cause obviously it looks more realistic) and made it as close to Goku's as they could, without overdoing it. Just like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. If it was just like the anime it would look dumb. It'd be way too huge.

As for his clothing, I think we all know that at some point he will wear the gi, obviously Fox wants to keep that under wraps for now. So seeing as this is a live action movie, he can't possibly wear the gi the ENTIRE time can he? So that brings the question, well what should he wear? I'll tell you what he shouldn't wear. An orange shirt and green pants, or a purple shirt and yellow pants, or a pink shirt that says Badman on the back. Or how about a cap that says "Dragonball" on the front? That's the kind of stuff they wore on the show. That stuff would never look right in the real life.

3) “Why couldn’t they cast Keanu Reeves or Eric Bana as Goku?”

-You know, when people ask questions like this there assuming that any of these people would have even wanted to play Goku. Who knows, maybe they wouldn’t have been interested.

Both Keanu and Eric are too freakin old to play an 18 year old naïve Goku. They needed to cast an actor who looked young enough for this movie and would age naturally along with the character of Goku. Think about how old Keanu and Eric will be by the time the third movie is released.

4) “Why was James Marsters cast as Piccolo? It won’t work!”

-We haven’t even seen him yet. So this is an invalid and pointless question.

****UPDATE 10/09/08****

-Well we've seen him now, and now the complaints have to changed to "how come he isn't green!!??" We have reason to believe that before the movie ends he will be full olive green like the anime. Just have to wait and watch.

5) “They could’ve at least given Master Roshi a bald head, beard, and sunglasses!”

-Who knows? Maybe they will! We’ve only seen that one picture.The picture could very well be at the very beginning of the film when he’s younger. Or it could be a flashback.

****UPDATE 10/09/08****

-Well from what we can see, he won't have any of those things. But I don't care. He's still Master Freakin Roshi. And I'd be willing to bet that before the movie ends he will put on a pair of sunglasses even if it's just for a brief period of time.

6) “Why is Goku in high school!!!?? I don’t want this Dragonball O.C. crap!”

-I’ll admit, out of all the things that I heard about the movie, this bugged me the most. However, this is how I see it.

High school is a time where a lot of teenagers find out who they are as a person. The kind of people they’ll hang out with, peer pressures, and a lot of soul searching. My guess is that they’re putting him in high school in order to give Goku an opportunity to realize that he is different from everybody else. Putting him in a situation where he can be with other people his age and realize that they’re not like him. I mean how is he supposed to know that he’s different from everybody else if he just lives in the forest and trains in the mountains his whole life? It creates an internal conflict within him and makes him want to know more about his origins, so when he finds out that he actually a Saiyan, it gives him the answers he’s been searching for, and makes for better dramatic effect.

People are automatically assuming that just because he’s in school it means he’ll be hanging out at football games and going to school dances and stuff. I doubt it. I think it’ll create a situation to where he feels out of place and unfulfilled. Like an outsider. I’m sure some of us can relate to that.

7) “The story has been changed!”

-This is usually referring to things like Piccolo telling Goku that he is a Saiyan, Grandpa Gohan being killed by Namek ninjas, etc.

Firstly, all of these things are based on RUMORS of the plot. NOTHING has been confirmed yet. However, if they are true, this is what I think:

Anybody that knows anything about movies knows that the essence of drama is conflict. Grandpa Gohan being killed by Piccolo gives Goku a personal reason to go after him. Think about Spiderman 3, they changed the story around saying that Flint Marko was actually the one who killed Uncle Ben. They did that because it fit the story better and gave Peter a more personal stake in bringing the Sandman down, thus creating better dramatic effect. Gohan being stepped on by Goku is cool for the anime, cause you have hundreds of episodes to explain your story. But it doesn’t work for a two hour movie, you have to get in there, establish your characters, create your conflict, and resolve it before you run out of time.

Piccolo telling Goku he’s a Saiyan instead of Raditz. Well, it’s no surprise that some stories need to be combined to save time. The Dragonball, Dragonball Z storylines are so immense that they need to just get to the point; it would take ten of these movies to cover everything accurately. Also, this could possibly eliminate Raditz from being in the next movie, which I’m okay with if it means that we’re going to get to Vegeta and Nappa that much faster. Let’s be honest, the only purpose that Raditz really served was to tell Goku that he was a Saiyan. Sure, he was kinda/sorta responsible for Goku’s death, but they can find another way to make that happen.

8) Would nimbus look cool in live action? **NEW**

-I noticed some mention of whether or not Flying Nimbus would cool in live action. I think it would look fantastic as long as it was made properly. Don’t picture Justin Chatwin standing on a puffy yellow cloud, picture a yellowish mist encircling his feet and propelling him into the air, with a tornado like trail at the end of it. I think that’d look pretty sweet.

I feel kind of silly for typing all this, but I’m tired of people completely condemning and protesting this movie based on nothing. I love the entire Dragonball series and this movie means a lot to me, as it does to many of you (whether you want it to be made or not). Just give it a chance. At least until you have something concrete to go on.

As for the site that’s protesting the movie, there are A LOT of more urgent and important issues in the world you can use that energy on. This movie is not going to physically hurt you if it’s released.

I know what you’re thinking. What if the movie sucks? Well if it does, I’ll be the first one to admit it. There won’t be any sequels and it’ll just fade into the background as another film that wasn’t made right. But we still and always will have our anime and manga. And no one can touch or ruin that for us.

On the other hand, what if it doesn’t suck? Well, that means a hell of a lot more exposure to Dragonball and more good movies for us fans to watch. I don’t know anybody else, but I’m just dying to see Frieza and Cell at some point. Not to mention, SSJ Goku!

****WE DON’T HAVE ANY OFFICIAL PHOTOS YET PEOPLE! EVEN WHEN WE DO, WE STILL DON’T KNOW HOW ANY OF THIS STUFF IS GOING TO PLAY OUT ON SCREEN. THIS ONLY WAY TO KNOW IS BY WATCHING THE MOVIE. JUDGING THIS MOVIE BASED ON A COUPLE OF PHOTOS IS NOT FAIR. IT’S JUST LIKE JUDGING A PERSON BASED ON THEIR LOOKS, YOU NEED TO GET TO KNOW THE PERSON TO SEE WHAT THEIR REALLY ABOUT.***

****UPDATE**** 10/09/08

We now have leaked official photos, etc. But my point remains the same, we still haven't seen the movie, so no one can say anything.

To me, the pros definitely out weigh the cons, and the positives out weigh the negatives. Just give it a chance people.