An Adaption With Balls

By now you've probably read about the alleged confirmation that Fox is moving forward with a live adaption of Dragon Ball Z. I say "alleged" because we've been down this road before; As a highly popular anime series, DBZ has been cast, directed, composed, and tossed into post production by its fans for as long as the internet has been active in American culture.

So that's why I can't help but take a "believe it when I see it" attitude over the news that Fox is pushing for an adaption to be ready as early as Summer 2008, with casting for two of the most major characters along with supervision by a very well known martial arts afficianado.

For the casting, we have Justin Chatwin (the kid who so desperately wanted to play hero in War of the Worlds) and James Marsters (Buffy's Spike, who echoed Power Rangers' Lord Zedd as a villain who was pretty awesome and evil in his debut appearance, but eventually became very comic relief as the series moved forward) as Piccolo.

At first, second, and third glances, this is an absurd casting. Chatwin is too young and too skinny to portray Goku, and Marsters is too....blonde. Based on the synopsis, however, which states that Goku is a warrior in training and that Piccolo is a villain, this movie may in fact be an adaption of Dragon Ball, the story before Dragon Ball Z. Here, Goku is still a young boy in training, and Piccolo's father is the central villain. After King Piccolo is soundly defeated, he spits out an egg as his dying gesture, which later hatches into Piccolo Jr, who faces off against a teenage Goku in Dragon Ball's final chapter.

Even if Justin was cast with Goku's younger incarnation in mind, he's still going to have to do a massive amount of bulking up, since Goku always had a ridiculous physique even in his teenager days. Marsters should have less trouble portraying Piccolo, as that character's primary requirements are a lot of green paint and perhaps some CGI thrown here and there around his scaly body.

Less hard to picture is that Stephen Chow has been hired as producer for this movie. If you've seen Kung-Fu Hustle and/or Shaolin Soccer, you would know why this is the most sensical decision regarding a live Dragon Ball movie. If you haven't, stop reading this blog (as if you needed an excuse) and rent those movies right now. Chow has managed to recreate DB's unrealistic battles and high flying energy attacks with his movies; It all looks fake, but it also looks cool.

A lot of fellow forum-goers are interested in watching this adaption, but not because they expect a movie, but because they expect the equivalent of a ten car pile up; It's horrific, and yet you can't look away.

I, on the other hand, am viewing this with a casual tinge of optimism. I convinced myself long ago that with the right budget and choreography, a live action Dragon Ball Z adaption could work. I've heard plenty of people who attested to the final battle in The Matrix Revolutions to be visual proof of that claim. We're certainly at an age where just about anything can be acheived through CGI and monumental budgets.

Well, everything in regards to special effects. As far as the appearance of the actual characters, there's really no amount of CGI or makeup that will make Goku's foot-long spikey hair or Piccolo's green-scaled body appear believable on any actor. But if FOX wanted to create a believable film, they would never have picked this series, or hired Stephen Chow as producer. Anyone with a computer or Cartoon Network can tell you that the DBZ series was never intended to be viewed realistically, or even partially realistically. This isn't a story about regular children attending a wizard's school, or humans driving transforming cars. The premise is simple enough (young boy aspires to be greatest fighter in the world), but quickly and increasingly escalates into super-powered fighters who can fly in the air, unleash attacks strong enough to decimate the planet a hundred times over, and becoming so strong that even God's God's God shudders at their power and strength.

Because even God has someone to answer to, but he answers to Goku.

So yes, I am excited at the prospect of a live movie featuring God-fearing superpowers, kung-fu aliens, transforming pigs, bald-headed midgets, and green-skinned devils. Regardless of the actual quality of the film, if the effects at least hold out, then there's going to be quite a number of curious moviegoers in addition of legions of longtime fans (disgruntled or not, they'll flock to this movie just like the fanboys who huffed and puffed about the flames on Optimus) at what could be the first majorly successful anime-to-live film adaption.

Did I mention there were also dinosaurs?