If you run in nerd circles, you’ve inevitably come up against the nerdier-than-thou types who ruin any casual enjoyment of a series (some times even whole genres) with their preaching. (If you’re a good nerd, you ought to have been that sort of mechanerd once or twice yourself.) Most of the time, it’s fine to just nod and shake your head at appropriate moments. Eventually, however, someone is going to catch you out at your pretense of being in-the-know. I find that it’s just better to state your ignorance upfront and admit that you’re proceeding from a standpoint of being only semi-informed.
So, with that in mind, I am ready to present to you the brand new Dragonball live-action movie trailer. (Full title: Dragonball Evolution. Because they’ve evolved into real people, but you’d never know it from some of the acting choices.) I caught a few episodes of Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network. I checked in on a Monday and there Was! A! Fight! About! To! Happen! Lives! Were! At! Stake! By Friday, no one had even set foot in the ring. I guess that means that the live-action movie can only improve on the anime’s pacing, but I’m sure “real” anime nerds will crucify me for even suggesting it.
That said, this looks like a fabulously bad movie:
Chow Yun-Fat does a mystical exposition dump! He doesn’t even giggle when he says “dragonballs,” which ought to earn him a medal or something. He does say it as fast as he possibly can, though. “Okay, ha-ha, BALLS, people. Moving on...”
Offended fans line up to the right. Offended people with taste to the left.
VIEW ALL BY · Wednesday December 10, 2008 06:37pm EST
VIEW ALL BY · Wednesday December 10, 2008 08:43pm EST
It's sad that actors with actual talent like Chow Yun-Fat and James Marsters can't find anything better to work on.
VIEW ALL BY · Wednesday December 10, 2008 10:08pm EST
Poor Chow Yun-Fat.
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 12:04am EST
I guess I'll get in line on the right, but can someone hold my spot in the left as well?
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 02:54am EST
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 05:36am EST
considering he's supposed to interpret a horny old man, that's not actually a good thing lol.
Seriously though the original Dragonball series was silly and cheesy, but it was good cheesy, it had a childish kind of charm!
this on the other hand is just another idiotic action film!
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 10:19am EST
I kid about the series, but not even Pokemon deserved this sort of treatment.
Thursday December 11, 2008 11:25am EST
'What? What? What? .... What!!'
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 12:06pm EST
(I am going to split my self in half so I can be in both lines... goku doesnt have a tail or is even at the very least young).
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 12:26pm EST
I just kind of gawked at how shameless this was. I just waited it out, suppressing my "Surely, this is a joke" reflex until the trailer ended and nobody showed up punking me. Just..."WHAT?"
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 12:51pm EST
a white boy shamelessly aping
Inadvertent monkey pun! :) Not that we'll see Goku with a tail in this, I guess.
This looks terrible. But while watching the trailer, it occurs to me that Goku isn't Japanese--he's Saiyan. Though the anime style makes his character design look as Japanese as everyone else (as in, not at all), there's no reason why they would need to cast an Asian actor in the role. Though I still think that was a bad call.
I also preferred Dragonball to Z and its later lettered incarnations, and only the first story arc at that. Good goofy fun as opposed to the goofy garbage they're trying to sell us in this movie. Pass.
Thursday December 11, 2008 12:59pm EST
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 07:38pm EST · amended on Thursday December 11, 2008 07:39pm EST
Perhaps not, but I had the distinctly poor luck to be mid-drink when I read that and almost choked. I don't know Dragonball from high-energy particle physics, but the mental image of Chow Yun Fat seriously intoning the word Dragonballs is well nigh fatal.
The actual video itself was hysterical. Pure comedy gold. Not being a fan and having no canonical ax to grind, I may well go see watch it for it's potential as a weapons-grade martial arts parody.
Best. Wedding vow. Ever.
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday December 11, 2008 10:39pm EST
You, my friend, WIN.