There have been talks and rumors about a live-action Hollywood produced Dragonball film over the past decade or so. Unbeknownst to me until recently, the film is nearly completed and is slated to release in August of this year. Along with the Wachowski Brothers’ adaptation of Speed Racer, which is due out this May, Dragonball will find itself somewhat a part of history as being one of the first animes/mangas to be adapted and produced with a Hollywood, big-budget effort. Some may say that Transformers belongs in this category, but I don’t fully agree. While Transformers was originally based off a Japanese toy line, the first cartoon series was American made, and I would say, the toys, as well as the show are as much a part of American pop culture as they are in Japanese pop culture. No doubt Speed Racer and Dragonball will mark the first major releases of adaptations of anime/manga smack dab in the middle of the American mainstream.
Even though Transformers isn’t necessarily the same animal as a Dragonball or Speed Racer, it is close enough that I am willing to compare them to each other. Like Transformers before them, I expect that both Dragonball and Speed Racer will enjoy a moderate degree of box office success. Not just because of all the fanboys and otakus who will undoubtedly line the rows of theater seats, but because of the general appeal the two films will bring with them (eg Dragonball, with its superhero-esque themes will certainly draw a good sum of moviegoers). Also like Transformers, both films will incorporate brilliant production values and special effects; in fact, Speed Racer was filmed entirely in front of green screen. Also, John Gaeta, who won an academy award for his visual effects work on The Matrix was brought in to help with the Speed Racer adaptation. As for Dragonball, 87Eleven, the stunt performance studio that worked on The Matrix and 300 was contracted for the film, as well as Ariel Shaw (Final Destination Series, 300), who will work as visual effects supervisor.
My preemptive opinion about these two films, especially Dragonball, is that they will totally suck out loud. Dragonball will receive the superhero movie treatment and rely heavily on special effects at the cost of writing, story, acting, everything else. I am saying this not as a fan of the Dragonball anime/manga, which I am, but as a person who has viewed all those crappy superhero movies. Quick, name a good recent superhero movie besides the first two Spidermans and Batman Begins. Any intelligent person probably isn’t able to come up with one. I say intelligent because of the embarrassing amount of people who seem to think that the Fantastic Four movies are good. As for Speed Racer, it might turn out well because it’s the Wachoski Brothers, but the trailer has done nothing suggest that it won’t suck.
Transformers also suffered from this treatment. Believe me, I wanted this movie to be good. When I saw the trailer, I thought it was going to be awesome, but it was ultimately a huge disappointment. Michael Bay couldn’t pull enough special effects out of his ass to save this movie from being a complete waste of time for me.
I don’t know about you, but I just don’t see a film with a story inspired and influenced off of Chinese culture and Buddhism, originally written in a Japanese context, adapted to an American Hollywood feature will turn out to work. Regardless, I will probably go out and see Dragonball in the theaters. I am already beginning to regret it now.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how the two films fare at the box office, paving the way for more anime/manga based movies to come about. Currently, two confirmed anime/manga based movies are in the works. One, based off of the brilliant 1988 anime, Akira, and another based off of the Evangelion series. No news as to when these films will be released.
For those who are wondering, the Dragonball movie will follow the story of the last saga in the series, the King Piccolo saga. Where Goku (Justin Chatwin, War of the Worlds) tries to gather the magical dragonballs before the evil Piccolo (James Marsters, Smallville) does. The film will be directed by James Wong (Final Destination).
For more information on both movies head over to these links.
http://imdb.com/title/tt1098327/
http://imdb.com/title/tt0811080/
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