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Nasty Nick Says DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION Is...
Merrick here...
My man Nasty Nick sent in this look at DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION. I'm not sure whether this is the first review to appear online, but this is definitely one of the first (if not the first) review AICN's received for the film.
And the verdict? Apparently, it doesn't suck as roundly as many of us thought it would.
I've known Nasty Nick for some time now, and his taste in films seems reasonably discerning. If he says this doesn't entirely blow (which, frankly, surprises the hell out of me considering the material we've seen from the movie) - it probably doesn't entirely blow. Of course, what follows isn't exactly a glowing endorsement, either.
BEWARE MINOR SPOILERS
Here's Nick...
Dragonball Evolution opens in Japan this Friday, about a month before it does in the states.
There is a lot of bad talk about this so I didn't go into this with high expectation.
When I first heard back in 2002 that they were making a live Action Dragon Ball (Z at the time) Movie I was very excited. Thinking of the possibilities. Dragonball shares many elements with Superman, Into the west and the fighting in the animation looks like the Matrix on steroids. I have been a big fan of the animation and Manga for a long time now and thought that this could be a epic movie done on a large scale. Who was producing it? 20th Century Fox. Well then I thought they were part of those great X-Men films (1 and 2 at the time) so I had hoped we might get something close to that. This was supposed to be on the fast track for a 2004 release. When news of the live action surfaced the official Funimation site did a poll asking who they wanted Jet Li and Jackie Chan to play. I shuddered.
For a long time nothing happened until I read that James Wong was directing this. My expectations did fall.
How was the movie? In a word, Kawaii. Cute. There's lots of little bits here and there that fans of the series will enjoy such as a pervy Master Roshi played by Chow Yun Fat, even the animated series they showed in the states and UK cut out those bits. Yamcha is kinda funny in that he sounds a lot like the Yamcha from the American dubbed DB, Emmy Rossim as Bulma was unimpressive. At times I felt I was watching Charactures on screen, they all have their trademarks personalities but not much else behind that.
I can understand why a lot of characters aren't in it such krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu. It's hard to fit so many characters and story into a film such as this. Especially one with a running time of 88 minutes. The story is very condensed but it mostly hits all the marks to be near enough to the basic story of Piccolo in the DB Manga.
James Marster is coolness as Piccolo however he is on screen for too short time. If there is a sequel I hope we get to see more of his character. Justin Chatwin seems to be channeling Goku a bit. At times he shines as the character. Other times it's a little wooden but I blame that more on the script as he doesn't have much to work with.
As for the story it starts with the introduction of the Dragonballs, Piccolo and Oozaru who tried to take over the world 2000 years ago. Piccolo was stopped and put in a prison and Oozaru disappeared. For fans of the show this won't be a big spoiler but for anyone who hasn't seen the animation or read the Manga the spoiler is that Goku is Oozaru. But he doesn't find that out till later.
Piccolo somehow escapes but it's not shown how.
Goku after his training with his Grandfather Gohan heads off to School. His School scenes are basically a rip off of the first Spiderman film and all those typical films where the guy defeats the bully and takes the girl, Chichi. Anyway, Goku can't kick these guys asses because if he did (and he could) they'd end up in a hospital or worse. So he has to control himself and not fight them. Later he decides to confront them at a party but doesn't fight them and instead lets them hit each other as he dodges their blows in super slow mo, how original....
Fortunately the story moves past Goku in high School pretty quickly and moves onto the real story. Piccolo offs Gohan while Goku is away. Goku Teams up with a girl he meets called Bulma who thinks the dragonballs can be used as an unlimited power source. They find Master Roshi and set out to search for the Dragonballs with the help of a bandit named Yamcha they meet along the way. But Roshi knowing they don't have enough time before a solar eclipse decides he has to learn a special technique to trap Piccolo once again but this will cost him his own life. The film speeds along to the end with Roshi Teaching Goku the Kamehameha, Goku does some training. Chichi has a fight with herself and they all head off after Piccolo.
The final action scenes are a bit disappointing. Goku as Oozaru looks a bit silly. I don't think Goku even throws one punch at Piccolo. Instead he uses the Kamhameha against him. By the end after using the Dragonballs to summon Shenron and save guess who they all set off again to find the dragonballs once more.
The film isn't bad. Just not great.
Suited for kids and curious fans.
I guess a lot of stuff was cut from this film. There are scenes in earlier Trailers that aren't in this and gone is the grey looking Piccolo, now he is only green.
If they make a sequel and I hope they do. I hope that they find someone else other than Wong to direct this. Make it bigger, more epic, add some more mythology and bring on Vegeta!
Nasty Nick
Readers Talkback
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this did NOT look good at all.
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I freaking love the DBZ saga. Had hopes for this, but it sounds as if it's going to squander those.
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Fantastic in the fact that it isn't a vomit inducing crapfest. Sounds loads better than expected.
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March 13, 2009, 8:28 a.m. CST
A man named Nasty Nick says kawaii in conversation?
by Shut the Fuck up Donny
Jeeesus, He might as well change his name to NickChan.
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Reads like a apology rather than a review.
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That should tell you something.
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I mean, they have such great names for the female character. Chi-Chi? Like a chick's "chi-chis"? And Bulemia? Come on, now. I am expecting Goku's mom's name to be Clitoris.
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I hate this shit, and I worked in anime for years.
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One KAAAMEEEEEE! is worth the price of admission.
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March 13, 2009, 9:02 a.m. CST
DB should be a FANTASY trilogy, not this BULLSHIT!
by Bodenland Unbound
Come on! Make a big mystical trilogy with a monkey boy and his yellow pet cloud, anthropomorphic animals, lots of fantasy, adventure (no superpower fights, please) and seven golden dragon balls around the world Tori beautifully created years ago. It's easy to market, and -surely- better than the crap movie they are gona release. They should do a Pilaf-saga movie, a Piccolo-saga movie and then a Red Ribbon-saga movie. Made that way, it would be a great fantasy trilogy, yeah. But this franchise has fallen in bad hands, I see.
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Like flashing her bits at Chow Yun Fat etc?
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Check out the number of posts on its IMDB board: more than Transformers 2 and more than twice that of Star Trek. Also, Dragonball Z should be the sequel, and it should cover the Saiyan saga through the Frieza saga.
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March 13, 2009, 9:12 a.m. CST
I can describe this movie with just one letter of the alphabet
by IAmMrMonkey!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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a Robotech movie would be COOL news!
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March 13, 2009, 9:29 a.m. CST
StarBlitzer Says DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION Is...
by Get_Me_An_18-Man_Fire_Team_In_12_Hours
Ass.
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how discerning could he possibly be?
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Seriously. How short are this guy's sentences?
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the world is VERY rich, weird and fantastic at the same time, this movie falls flat for sure..
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Has there ever been a good transition to live action? This sounds like ass...Initial D was pure ASS, etc... Sure, it SOUNDS like a good idea given some of the insane Stories found in Anime, but this shit just never works out.
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Seems to be said at the end of every episode.
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thank god jesus was born and put a stop to their takeover of earth then!
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And already Hollywood is showing me how they get it wrong 99% of the time. And when they do get it right, like with Watchmen, fanboys just bitch and complain.
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But for how entertaining it was...was it not maddening to anyone else that sometimes things moved at a snails pace on the show. I remember the fight with Cell....it took like 10 episodes to complete (that is just my recollection, the real number could be much different).
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That will be something to see in live action. Considering how big he gets and how small he gets in his random forms, they may have to pony up the cash to CGI him.
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to play Mr. Popo
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This is how Hollywood would have treated Watchmen if not for the people involved. Try and remember that.
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<br><br>.... if they want anyone to believe it. The best they can hope for is to convince people "it doens't completely suck!"<br><br>
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...the movie be around four hours long to get all the intense mid-battle staring and banter included?
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Or whatever.
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What a surprise. Pretty much in line with the rest of this movie. However, Fox will still get my money because the fight scenes look decent from the clips.
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all i know is that my nephews used to watch the fuck out of it
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This franchise really did have massive potential to be a good fantasy series. I guarantee you, had it been at WB or Paramount, that's what we'd be getting. Instead, we got screwed once more by Fox.
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March 13, 2009, 11:26 a.m. CST
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
by HebrewLantern
sorry i had to...
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Sad.
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any series that was popular as a Manga was popular for a reason -- so stop "tweaking" the story.... Japan needs to stop licensing its properties to US studios... Going to see this on Sunday, and will, much like everyone else in the audience, likely be quite disappointed...
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Probably as bad as Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li but i'm still gonna see it anyway.
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The Watchmen was ass. Snyder didn't get shit right, copy-pasting does not equal a good translation. And with a shitty soundtrack to boot. Oh and don't get me started on the horrible performances.
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Needs to be in this movie.
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I'm sorry, but if those of you on this and other talkbacks recognize a film such as this will suck and are still willing to give it your money ... you are truly getting what you are paying for out of Hollywood. I owe my thanks to Nasty Nick for helping affirm that I will not give up another hour and a half of my life for this project. TTFN
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...never cease to amaze me.<br> <br> Even in an extremely mediocre review like this one, people still yell plant. Holy shit, not every fucking review that isn't terrible is a plant.
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I mean, in like fourth grade I used to torture my fellow horrible nerds by referring to the characters as "Bulimia," "Fajita," and "The Little Green Italian" (which was a stretch, but I think at ten or whatever was pretty good), but whenever they convinced me to watch it, even on VHS, we'd all just stare blankly at the screen while people posed and screamed, then, at the end of two or three episodes, threw flaming circles or lines at each other, then retreated to scream and pose again. Intercut with their buddies talking about how scary powerful they are, and somebody running down the length of a huge snake thing. Seriously, I don't know about Dragonball, but the entire plot of Dragonball Z, minus running down the snake and posing while screaming sequences, is probably only about twenty minutes long.
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Your the ass. Watchmen was a masterpiece.
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March 13, 2009, 12:38 p.m. CST
justin chatwin looks nothing like goku
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
hes a douche
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like it was written by someone who doesn't watch a lot of movies. A "mover-goer", rather than a "film fan." If that makes any sense. <i> It just sounded like a review from the type of guy who just wants to lose an hour and a half - not someone who actually cares competent the movie is.
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That made reading this talkback worth it.
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I've been wanting to go see this ever since I heard of it. Even if its crap, I'll spend the $7. I'm a whore for hollywood. Seriously though, it looks like a decent way to spend an hour and a half. Better than renting sex and the city I guess....
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If you wanted to be realistic about your kamehameha, you would've gone halfway and finished it in the next DB talkback. :)
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He also would have needed several posts that consisted of him just staring at us from across the internet.
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i better start powering up now!!
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'Nuff said
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Nailed it.
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Somebody had to
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No squid in Watchmen, no panty pissing in Last House on the Left, no orgy in IT, and now no KRILLIN in Dragonball??? Fuck you, Hollywood!!1! Fuck you in your stupid ass(es)!!!
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8999...just a little under 9000
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He did a great job as Brainiac on Smallville,even though he had shit to work with. This movies sounds like something only die hard fans of the material would see,and even they don't seem to give a shit.
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Chiaozu and Tien I can understand. Who needs some baldie with a third eye and a little dollboy crowding up valuable screen time for Goku to go Super Saiyan? But no KRILLIN!? Might as well not even have Piccolo in there while you're at it!!!
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I wasn't watching Citizen Kane here. My expectations were already low as I went to see it. It's hard to care and get excited about this type of Movie made this way. It's not thought provoking filmmaking. The damage was already done. But not the disaster I thought it would be.
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No, die hard fans of the show will hate this the most. I'm an un-apologetic fan of DB/DBZ and I think this movie is a complete abomination.
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I should have said "will be" instead of "is" because I haven't seen it yet, and I lack psychic powers. I'm pretty confident though.
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do it
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Oh, I see. The review came off as far too positive when I read it, I guess. Now that's more like it. ^_^
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they wasted Marsters on Piccolo, when he would be the obvious choice to play Vegeta? The guy wouldn't even have needed make-up. So many unnecessary plot changes in this thing. Piccolo sneaks in to kill Gohan while Goku is at school? Huh? Why is Goku at school in the first place? Why does Bulma dress in leather all the sudden? Why does everyone have a sword? These things are the reason that anime and videogame based movies suck... they take perfectly fine source material and then twist it until it barely resembles the original, aside from character names. All problems with Watchmen aside, they at least had *similar* scenes and characters. It wasn't like Doc Manhattan was an astronaut that got transformed by an alien raygun on the moon and Rorschach wasn't the school guidance counselor that snapped one day. What goes through the minds of screenwriters sometimes? This movie will be crap and I refuse to give it money. That being said, it will probably break the bank and outsell Watchmen in a week. GO HOLLYWOOD!
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There is no F*#*ing way this movie is good! I've seen the trailers and instantly its not Dragonball. FOX really took the cake on this one. The whole bakery even. I cant believe for one minute that Justin Chatwin is GOku. How the hell do you not cast martial artists in a martial arts movie! Thats the first step to getting it right. I wont take my son to see this because he deserves better. There's no sense in both of us being pissed off.
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This movie just reaks of shit! I dug the hell out of the anime when I was in high school, but then, I began getting laid on a regular basis, and thus I drifted from the series. Here's a caption of Goku's Oozaru transformation. http://www.mangaspain.com/2008/11/dragonball-primera-imagen-de-goku-como-oozaru/
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i am going to see this for the TITS!!!
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that was before they put the CGI in
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Just watch porn, it free and has better tits.
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provided of course I'm not doing anything else that weekend
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March 13, 2009, 9:14 p.m. CST
hey conspiracy, I can't say I blame you for thinking that....
by The Amazing G
adapting anime into live-action certainly presents plenty of challenges, but I think it can be done, it just takes the right talent, in my humble opinion Speed Racer was good for example
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even if it was confusing as hell
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March 13, 2009, 11:08 p.m. CST
Why isn't Roshi bald with sunglasses?
by Get_Me_An_18-Man_Fire_Team_In_12_Hours
Chow Yun Fat has been bald for practically every other movie, but not fucking DRAGONBALL?! First Chun Li was white, now this! Oh shit, Goku's white too! REBOOT DRAGONBALL!!!
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SNYDER IS A HACK!!!
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He's the shiz.
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was the reason I started to like DBZ. But Emmy Rossum looks bad ass in that poster with her wearing the leather outfit, I'll see it just cuz of that and since she's smokin hot. Yeah, that's Shallow, but after The Dark Knight I really don't care how good other movies are anymore. I've had my once in a lifetime movie experience. If it happens again it happens again, I'm not gonna hold my breath.
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so was everybody in the whole series except for like 3 black dudes, the namekians and buu
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Didn't this craze die out about 10 years ago?
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I never watched DBZ. I was never interested in it. The very underrated James Marsters is the only reason I will watch this. Marsters needs more good roles. And yeah, he was awesome was Brainiac and the only reason to watch Smallville.
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I thought Dragonball was based off the Chinese story Journey to the West, and that SonGoku is based off of SunWukong.<BR>
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James Marsters is totally wasted in this Movie. He is hardly in it. You see more of Mai (played by Eriko Tamura), Piccolo's Minion in this movie. Marsters would be badass as Vegeta and if I had to pick I might go for Hugh Jackman as Vegeta.
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You're a fucking idiot. 'nuff said.
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its funny how all those anime and manga characters have ridiculously giant eyes when asians have slits.
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Can you estimate the amount of minutes Marsters is in the DBZ movie? If it's less than 10 I don't want to waste my time with it. Less than 10 is more like a cameo.
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A good anime live action would have to be Death Note. They took the best of that series and made it into an excellent two parter. I haven't seen anything else come close.
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I just got back from a showing in Nagoya, Japan, and I have to say -- in contrast to what "Nasty Nick" would have people believe -- YES, this movie DOES SUCK as much as people expected it to. The following contains spoilers, but seriously, you are not going to be missing anything if you decide not to see the movie anyway.... The movie opens with an explanation of the plot... and it confused the hell out of everyone in the audience. The story is COMPLETELY different than anything even remotely resembling the source material. Next, there is a scene in which "Goku" is sparring with his grandfather... and it is completely gimmicked out by the two fighting on two ropes. The grandfather starts by saying "The first rule is, there are no rules."... I shit you not.... and then goes to explain the rules of their amazingly pointless sparring match. All that the audience gets out of this scene is an "explanation" about what "ki" is. After that, everyone else in the entire movie seems to know what the hell it is, even though it was a complete mystery to "Goku" just minutes before. Here are some more things that pissed off the audience -- First off, "Goku" is a high-school student who is in love with "Chi Chi"... The movie then goes through the painful subplot of "Goku" making a promise to his grandfather that he will not fight at school, etc... can anyone guess what happens next? Exactly... a spiderman-esque "fight but not a fight" scene. Everyone in the audience knew the source material - there are very few manga in Japan that are as well known as Dragonball... so if you try to have a game-changing twist in your DB movie... try not to make it about "Goku" finding out about "Ozaru". The entire "Ozaru" subplot was woefully undeveloped, and came to a resolution that was more than predictable. Other gripes were related to piss-poor acting, characters not even slightly looking like their counterparts in the manga, and lameness in general -- don`t even get me started on the special effects....sigh... Something that did surprise me was the fact that most of the audience was either leaving or talking during the credits -- something that is completely unheard of over here. For those of us who did stay through the credits - we were treated with a TMNT2 style "holy shit, the Shreader is still alive" moment, but one that was executed even more poorly than my stated example. The after-the-credits scene shows Piccolo taking a nap, while some no-name character is nursing him back to health... there were actually small bursts laughter at this point from the audience... pathetic...
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What made you stay after the credits
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I didn't read your post as complete as I just did
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or the studios will stop... making... these... ummm... ok- nm.
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Marsters is barely in it 10 minutes. I doubt he even has 10 lines of dialogue.
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They have to make a live actioner for every bullshit anime geared for young males that is mind-numbingly dull, but they produce them years after the craze. Just imagine, characters staring at each other discussing a million different rules that they pull out of their ass for two hours.<p>Then, we'll get One Piece and Naruto five years from now.
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UsmjIIX <a href="http://mlhbin.com/ ">nBQiUIWf</a>
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