Every time live-action works are mentioned, people always mention Dragon Ball Evolution (2009) as a typical example of failure. Is this true to what this movie has done?
In recent hours, information about the cast of One Piece live-action is probably what has received the most attention from manga and anime fans around the world. After much speculation and side information, the cast of Straw Hats has finally been revealed.
And so, as a habit repeated over the years, every time there is a new live-action project, fans “excavate” Dragon Ball Evolution and think that this is a typical example. for live-action manga adaptation disasters. Is this fair to this movie?
Dragon Ball Evolution is a live-action movie adapted from the extremely popular manga of the same name by author Akira Toriyama. The film was expected to be a blockbuster in the summer of 2009 and would become a cult franchise comparable to X-Men. However, the truth is very different from that when the film only scored 2.5 points on IMDB and earned more than 50 million dollars.
To be fair, Dragon Ball Evolution has a very high-quality cast including actor Chow Yun Fat, actor Justin Chatwin and is directed by director James Wong, who at that time was very famous for the series The X Files. The film was also invested and distributed by the famous 20th Century Studios at a cost of up to 30 million dollars.
One thing that few people know when watching Dragon Ball Evolution is that actor Justin Chatwin, who plays Goku, practiced martial arts himself for 6 weeks and he also performed the fight scenes himself without the need for a stunt double. . Other actors also had to practice to perform their own martial arts scenes as realistically as possible. During the fight scene between Chi Chi and Mai, the film crew mobilized more than 100 people to play the role of the audience, then used cinematic techniques to multiply the number of people. This fight was also done with 7 cameramen with close-range shooting angles to create the most realistic combat effect possible. The film crew also used the 6,000 square meter studio to create the epic crater scene. This scene then also required 6 special effects experts to perform, creating the most realistic feeling for the audience to enjoy.
Not stopping there, the production team also hired a famous company in the field of visual effects to bring in super compact fist-cams that can be attached to the actor’s fist. They also used high-speed recording equipment up to 1000 frames per second to film action scenes in the movie. Overall, Dragon Ball Evolution has absolutely enough serious investment to turn the movie into a box office blockbuster. But as we said above, unfortunately Dragon Ball Evolution did not achieve success, the manufacturer lost money and was spurned by the audience. So what is the cause?
The thing that makes Dragon Ball authors most upset is the lack of respect for the original work. Director James Wong himself admitted that he had never read Dragon Ball. The script he wrote only took the basic elements of the manga and then added new details. This is a huge weakness when Japanese manga works are adapted into live-action. It’s clear that the film director didn’t really understand the story and characters of the manga. This reason may come from the fact that they want to create a completely new product that suits their tastes or simply because they are too lazy, too underestimate the original works and ignore them.
Besides the content, Dragon Ball Evolution really does a poor job of character creation. The film even “bleached” the character Goku, turning them all into teenagers in American school movies, completely destroying the images of the characters that were so familiar to readers throughout. for years. This is something fans always complain about when any live-action product is released. However, the manufacturers still maintain their opinion. Surely Goku would have fallen over if he knew that his live-action version looked like a stranger.
Besides, Dragon Ball Evolution is actually live-action only 85 minutes long, even the Japanese cut is only 70 minutes. This duration is too short for the film to introduce the characters as well as show their depth, making Dragon Ball Evolution just a series of tasteless fights with no highlight, climax and easily boring. bored. Time constraints and plot changes made it difficult for the actors to accurately portray the characters. The individual actors also did not do thorough research on their characters, leading to them constantly being dragged into a series of consecutive events without expressing anything else.
Besides the above main factors, in terms of objective factors, at the time Dragon Ball Evolution was released (2009), the audience did not care much about live-action works based on Japanese manga. They think they are only for children and assume that these works are nothing special. Besides, as we said above, the thing that One Piece live-action will face similar to Dragon Ball Evolution is that the audience is too familiar with the image in manga and anime, so just Just a little change, no matter how much money is invested in that movie, it is ready to be mercilessly criticized.
Overall, the story of Dragon Ball Evolution will certainly be a valuable lesson for One Piece or other live-action movies adapted from manga to be successful. On the occasion of One Piece live-action launching the official cast, many fans dug up the story of Dragon Ball Evolution. In your opinion, is this a disaster like many people think? Please leave your comments!
