Dragonball The Movie (Live Action)

[Alex]

Are you ready to see the legend come to life? Based on Akira Toriyama's Japanese manga, and the wildly popular anime series spawned by it, 20th Century Fox is bringing Dragonball to the big screen this April for the first time in live-action.

The long-awaited movie version centers around Goku, of course, and will trace his life's journey and the quest to find the legendary Dragonballs before they can be used by the villainous Lord Piccolo. Actor Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds, Taken) is Goku and James Marsters (Spike from Buffy/Angel) plays Piccolo.

Fans of the franchise have been waiting a long time for this movie. Fox first picked up the rights to the series back in 2002. Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 10,000 B.C.) was rumored to be directing early on, but the film fell off the studio's priority list and it lay dormant for some time. It was 2004 when Fox began to pay the property some attention again, hiring a screenwriter. But even then the movie wasn't put on the fast track. The "ball" didn't really get rolling until director James Wong (Final Destination) was signed in late '07.

Dragonball devotees in the U.S. will still have to wait until April 8 to see the flick -- or if you really want to see it badly, you can travel to Japan where it opens a whole month earlier -- but we hope to tide you over with this preview.

Here's what to expect when you walk into the theater...





The Story:

20th Century Fox has yet to release a detailed plot synopsis, but we've been able to piece together some important bits and pieces of the story.

We know that the film centers on Goku, a high school-aged misfit who is trained in the martial arts by his grandfather, Gohan. But when Gohan is mortally injured by fighters who serve the evil Lord Piccolo, his dying wish is that Goku collect all seven dragonballs, mystical orbs of great power, before they can be used to destroy the Earth.

Goku sets out to find the esteemed Master Roshi, who can help him in his quest, and is befriended by a beautiful young woman named Bulma who, it just so happens, possesses a device that can locate the dragonballs.

The rest of the story is still somewhat fuzzy, but we know that Goku encounters Piccolo twice. And we've learned that the film's final act may be set around a global martial arts competition.



Cast & Characters:

Justin Chatwin as Goku: Chatwin is best known to audiences for his roles as Tom Cruise's son in War of the Worlds and as the lead in David Goyer's The Invisible. Chatwin, who may not be as bulky as Goku in some parts of the series, has the right basic look. And, yes, his hair is not nearly as big as his cartoon counterpart, but wouldn't it look ridiculous if it were done any other way? Chatwin has reportedly trained with stunt performance company 87Eleven (The Matrix, The Bourne Supremacy) to prepare for his fight scenes in Dragonball.

Goku is immensely strong, pure of heart, extremely competitive, not inordinately bright, but dedicated wholeheartedly to the cause of beating the living hell out of evil. In the established lore, Goku grew up on Earth and appears more or less human, but is a specimen of the alien warrior race of Saiyans, who originally sent him to the planet to prepare it for conquest. A coincidental knock on the head cleared his mind of his natural inclination towards global domination, though – instead, he eventually chose to become the planet's greatest champion.


The full article is too big to post on here, so read it at: IGN: All About Dragonball


Edit: Here is the trailer.

+ YouTube Video

[CycloneZ]

Read the whole thing and i was wrong with my first inpretion of it being fake like the Zelda movie.

The characters don't look like the anime ones XD. Though thats not a thing to fight over but i feel like its not going to be good. Guess I'll have to see it to change my mind xD. Thanks for the thread.

[Sain]

It is not a 100% adaptation from the anime to the big screen, but that was to be expected. I'm gonna go watch it anyway, but as another take of Dragon Ball.

[Alex]

Update: The trailer has been added.

[ghost]

DBZ is just a remake of the classic journey to the west gone horribly wrong. At least thats what I read into it when it was just dragon ball. I thought dragon ball Z was prettyu nifty. That was untill after 4 episodes of screaming and piss poor dialogue the two combatants still hadn't actually you know... initiated combat.

[Beanie]

what does the scouter say about his power level?

[areppare]

well i just hope that they succeed this time. unlike the asian version. ^^

[AnatolyKarpov]

Anime into Live-Action but this time it's a Movie... Many tried and few succeeded... Good Luck to Hollywood... ^^

[trapezonian]

I've watched the movie. It's quite good but the ending was so quick. Piccolo and Gouku didn't even have any fight other than that 1 time kamehamewave.