Dragon Ball Z not fit for big screen

Posted by Jahshua Smith, @ 9:37pm July 07, 2008

Not too many people were as into “Dragon Ball Z” as me during the latter part of high school. My first introductions to the world of anime, along with “Pokémon”, was courtesy of Akira Toriyama’s creation.

Naturally, for a soap opera and wrestling enthusiast, a show like “DBZ” that’s full of cliffhangers and story arcs, would have its appeal because of the similar tone and drama. Also, as a cartoon it also allowed larger than life story lines and plot devices that gave it the same superhero feel reminiscent of vintage series like “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

That’s exactly why I cringed when I found out that a big screen adaptation of the series’ predecessor, “Dragon Ball,” was planning to hit screens in 2009.

For starters, the live action aspect of the film makes for an outlandishly bad idea.

The cartoon universe is filled with characters that would come off as goofy in a non-animated film. One character, Piccolo, is a protagonist of a fictional race that at best vaguely resembles a reptile.

We know how this story ends. Remember how the Goombas from “Super Mario Brothers” looked on cinema? For that matter, imagine how “The Simpsons” would look if their movie was live action and not CGI (computer graphics imaging). It’d be too silly to take seriously.

The ludicrousness of such an idea is what effectively kills a franchise like “Dragon Ball Z’s” marketability, despite the fact that several animated films of “DBZ” have sold well as straight-to-video entities — any one of which could serve as a basis for a big screen adaptation with state-of-the-art animation.

Instead we’re likely to get another cartoon-to-3D dud like “Speed Racer” or “Double Dragon.”

The plot thus far, based on the script floating around the Internet, seems uninspired. The casting also seems nonsensical, with many characters only matching their cartoon counterpart by ethnicity and nothing more.

The inclusion of things like guns which never played a role in the original cartoon just goes to show a lack of research and devotion to the franchise— a cardinal sin for such a movie.

Hollywood needs to realize quickly that action movies can derive from cartoons and such, be extravagant, and still go over well with fans. “Dragon Ball Z” will be nothing more than a dud that neither casual moviegoers or hard-core fans will find much entertainment value in.

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