Dragonball Z the Movie
From Anime to Big Screen
If you haven't heard of Dragonball Z, you must have been on another planet for the last 5 years. This movie has been rumored to be in production since early 2002, but recently, the rumors have become a full blown production. For those of you who don't know what Dragonball Z is or what it's about, here is a brief overview of the franchise.
Overview
Dragonball Z was created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. Between 1984 and 1995 Toryiyama created 519 installments of the popular anime series. The series is based around a hero named Goku (an alien) who uses his super powers to protect the earth from evil villians (other aliens). Both the heroes and the villians are constantly seeking the dragon balls. When all seven are collected, whoever has them gets to make a wish for almost anything they want. The plot may sound simple at first read, but you really have to get into the series to fully appreciate the complexity. If you are a guy, you need to watch Dragonball Z the series before going to see the movie.
The series is basically a soap opera for guys. The series starts with Dragonball which chronicles Goku's life as a kid. As Goku gets older and has kids of his own, the series turns into Dragonball Z which is where the movie picks up. Lord Piccolo and Goku start out as enemies only to become the best of friends later and join forces to defend the earth. For those of you who haven't seen the series, I'm not going to ruin the movie by going into details about the cartoon. It is also not clear whether or not the movie will follow the series or if it will be adapted to fit the big screen as many movies have in the past.
Expectations
To put it briefly, I'm excited because I have been a Dragonball fan for about 8 years now and would really love to see them do a good job with this movie. I sincerely hope that Twentieth Century Fox doesn't screw this one up. Hopefully the movie won't be corny or terrible like another movie from our past, Street Fighter. If the movie can stay true to the series, I think Fox will have a mega hit on their hands and not to mention a mega franchise opportunity for follow up movies. Personally, I plan to see the movie on opening day before I have a chance to read or hear any reviews. Hopefully Fox won't let the fans down.
Movie Informaion
Release Date: August 15, 2008
Writers: Ben Ramsey & James Wong
Director: James Wong
Producer: Steven Chow
Stunts: 87Eleven
Goku: Justin Chatwin
Lord Piccolo: Jason Marsters
Master Roshi: Chow Yun-Fat
Bulma: Emmy Rossum
Chi Chi: Jamie Chung
Yamcha: Joon Park
Mai: Eriko Tamura
Grandpa Gohan: TBA
Published by etnad0
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2 Comments
Post a CommentI can't wait for the DBZ Movie to come out! I didn;t think it was possible. But if Pokemon and Yugioh made it to the big screen, why not DBZ?
Interesting. When I heard it was going to be live action, I wasn't too sure if it could work. If it's portrayed like in the actual series, it'll turn out well. I do hope that it does well.