The Dragonball franchise has been a very popular franchise for awhile now it would seem. It has spawned three different anime shows: Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT. It got picked up many years ago and shown on Cartoon Network in America as well as spawned toys, numerous video games, a role-playing game, and now apparently a live-action movie.
Now I sat down and watched the movie and here is what I thought about it. It brought back memories of my teenage years where I was always going over to a friend’s house to catch the weekly showing of Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network after school.
Beware though there are differences in Dragonball and the movie as such Goku is a unpopular teenage instead of a child. The show briefly features Grandpa Gohan and then focuses on Goku, Master Roshi, Bulma Briefs, and Yamcha. Where is Tien? Krillian? Kami? The bad guy is Piccolo and some female side-kick though I admit I never watched the entirity of the original Dragonball series I got no explanation in the movie of who this girl is. There is also of course Chi-chi who gets some good scene time and the little teenage attraction with Goku.
The brief flashes of the world seem like they crossed our modern world with the Dragonball universe to get an odd blend. The movie was amusing to say the least and there is the Dragonball humor which makes a few appearences during the show. The worse part about the movie was the length at about 70 minutes as they tried to pack the entire Dragonball series (along with their additions to the storyline I might add). I dunno if I could have watched two in a half hours of a Dragonball movie but they could have lengthened it alittle more if they were going to try to pack everything into it.
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The story was a little different from the comics and cartoon but the dialogue and the same feel of it were right on. At first I wasn't sure if I should be pleased or disappointed, but my wife and I quickly took to liking this flick. It has a few laugh-out-loud scenes that are easy to imagine being animated instead of filmed, and the casting for Yamcha at least was perfect. Goku did an admirable job with his awkward teen-turned-Earth's hero role; For those unfamiliar with DB and DBZ, it might be simpler to imagine Goku's actor wasn't good at delivering dramatic lines. I hope plenty of people see this movie with the right expectations.