I'm not saying it should have lifted directly from the manga. I understand that in the translation from page to screen certain things needed to be changed. However, it seems like the things which were changed didn't need to be and were done for the most contrived of reasons, ultimately resulting in another Super Mario Bros. movie.
Now that is way to harsh. Another Super Mario? A lot of films are changing things that don't need to be changed. Let's take Spider-man the movie (just the first one) Did we need a power ranger suit for green goblin? Did spider-man need to not be the wisecracking spider-man from the comics that people love? Did we need Gwen replaced with M.J? Did we need organic webbing? Did we need genetically modified spider bite instead of any radiation been used?
The answers to all of them are no we didn't. And that was an american film based on an american property. They seem to have kept a few things the same, The look of dragon balls , The capsule style vehicles, The Kamehameha, How evil Piccolo should be.
Is it 100% True to Dragon Ball? Hell no. But who honestly expected it to be 100% true. It still looks entertaining and great for what it is.
Actors DO matter in the sense that while you don't need big names, you need talented actors to sell the audience on their roles. Its obvious from only that trailer they failed miserably in that sense.
I wouldn't say that at all. James Marsters , Yun-Fat Chow, Ernie Hudson and more can all be great in roles they are put in. Plus the trailer didn't show much scenes where acting was needed. It was basically a monologue of the dragon balls and then action scenes too hook people in.
The only part of the trailer that did annoy me was Chatwin's "cool" on seeing the capsule. Though that was just a "Awww I wish he had shown Goku's surprise at first seeing it." But that is based on Goku the character not Chatwin the actor. I know goku is pretty much a typical teenager and so that response works for this but yes I wanted :shock: goku. not 8) goku. But again that was personal reasons.
I honestly think people are greatly underestimating this movie or expecting more than it is. It's not going to be the greatest movie ever hell not even the greatest movie of 2008 for a lot of people but it's still going to be great fun and entertainment with a hint of a myth type story.
And at the end of the day wasn't the essence of the manga been mythical while have comedy, Action fights but also entertaining story? So in that regard it looks like it will be like it.
