More Dragonball Cast Images Online
Much of the griping about the Dragonball movie have revolved around two things. Bloggers incorrectly calling it “Dragonball Z the movie” and the casting of a white guy as Goku.
Firstly I side with the people griping about calling it Dragonball Z. Yup, there is no Z in the title. Some confusion has come forward as elements in the story arc in the second volume of the story (denoted by the Z) will be in this film.
Secondly, casting Goku as a white guy. First let me remind you that Goku was not Asian. The story is based around an ancient Chinese legend, and may have originally been marketed for the Asians, but the ethnicity of Goku was not Asian in any form. He was an alien. They guy had a tail. He is a Saiyan.
Other little known fact, is that the word Saiyan is an anagram of the Japanese word Yasai which means vegetable. Also, the full blooded Saiyans in the show were named for Vegetable sounding names. (Nappa, Vegeta, Raditz, Broly, Paragus and Tullece) Just something funny that I tripped across.
So with all that said, I wanted to show this image that shows some of the main characters of the upcoming film scanned from Roadshow Magazine.
They have enbiggened page scans over at DBtheMovie.com
36 Comments, Comment or Ping
Michael C
First!( Sorry!! I always wanted to say that, lol). This really brings my hopes up ;) These pictures look great and Emmy Rossum looks so hot ;)
May 22nd, 2008
Michael C (Mastermind)
First!( Sorry!! I always wanted to say that, lol). This really brings my hopes up ;) These pictures look great and Emmy Rossum looks so hot ;)
May 22nd, 2008
chris (the real one)
…..emmy rossum does not look that great in that pic….but yea um an old-school fan and these pics dont excite me in the least….but hey the kids are gonna eat this crap up like transformers….fuckin kids
and is it just me or is hollywood really running out of original ideas….just about everything coming out is a sequel, remake, re-imagining, or adaptation of another medium…leave my classics alone…with tbe ass-raping of tformers and the way this is looking im getting kind of pissed off…rant over sorry..lol
May 22nd, 2008
Grave
*Sniff* *Sniff* Anyone smell that?! It smell like the sweet smell of…..FAILURE! Unless this movie was made for less than 1 mil its gonna be a box office bomb. Remeber D.O.A, Street Fighter, Guyver.. I rest my case.
May 22nd, 2008
Gareth
Hey I liked the Guyver movie and the sequel
May 22nd, 2008
chris (the real one)
lol i also enjoyed the guyver movies…..pure cheese and it was delicious…LOL
May 22nd, 2008
yojichan
hmmm…
now that i see the images…it’s making me hesitate to watch it on the big screen now. i think i will stick to the anime and manga instead.
May 23rd, 2008
Joseph
i just wanna se the trailer….if they get the flying and powers right, i just might see it
May 23rd, 2008
Koko
I haven’t read anything about this movie, nor have I read any of the comments above. So this is the opinion of a pure outsider.
From the released photos that I have seen, this movie comes across as looking like a cross between Thunderbirds, Streetfighter and Double Dragon with better FX … (Yes, Double Dragon). Ok, the effects might make for a decent ‘looking’ flick but when is Hollywood going to learn that these movies are way too risky!!!!
The fanbase for this film is way below par. It might have a chance of making it’s money back but it really is like playing Roulette.
It’s like putting $11 on Red and $10 on Black, and hoping like hell the Red comes up! On the off chance (if your Speed Racer or Thunderbirds), the ball will land on ‘0′ and you’ll end up with fuck all!
May 23rd, 2008
Warheart
This is possibly going to be worse than anything Uwe Boll has ever done. Dragonball the movie? Terrible idea and these images make me laugh to tears.
May 23rd, 2008
PhoenixP3K
The cast pictures look nice. I’m under the impression that they took the core story and that they are going to run with their own style. Give it it’s own flavor.
If they can make a Forbidden Kingdom out of it I would be grateful.
May 23rd, 2008
Justin
This looks like the biggest flaming pile since well…maybe ever.
Even worse than double dragon!!
None of the people look anything like the characters. I mean hard to look like a cartoon, but still…Jesus…can only be afraid of how they gonna make spike look like dressed as Piccolo :(
May 23rd, 2008
Dcb2
look the transformer movie was put together to showcase the transformers not to continue the story from the original soo with that said i have all the comics and was glad the transformer were able to be showcased in such away .. A huge fan .. now as a d-ball fan and follower of good Anime .. this .. look like a disaster and i agree teenibopers are going to eat it up and hardcore anime will check it out but i can tell are not going to be down with this dude being able to harness the true character that is Goku in his past history there is nothing there that shows me he can really immulate Goku’s persona.. i think this movie is going to be a bad mark on who ever is in and help make it ..
May 23rd, 2008
rob234
Screw all of you give it a chance it could be awesome if they get 100 million budget, and post production is key but don’t lose faith!!!!
May 23rd, 2008
shadopup
If you ever do a bit of research into some of older movies, I think you’d be surprised at the number of films that were adapted from novels. You just didn’t know it because it was never explicitly mentioned. I don’t have definitive statistics but it was just sort of a pattern I started noticing and I rarely heard the complaint of hollywood having no original ideas when all these movies came out which were all adapted from novels.
War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Fight Club, English Patient, Blade Runner, Total Recall, Godfather, Raging Bull, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Gone with the Wind, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, almost every Disney 2D film…
If I were to hazard a guess over the last few decades that anywhere from 25% to maybe as much as 50% of the movies released were adapted from a novel.
As for dragonball z as a live action movie adaptation, computer graphics, sfx and stuntwork have advanced far enough so that a movie like this can be produced without looking laughably cheesy. Of course, that doesn’t stop the story from still being cheesy if handled poorly. I think a live action Anime/Manga can be done and would be super awesome/hilarious to see on screen but I personally don’t like Anime/Manga at all (Cowboy Bebop being the lone exception). This movie has more going against it than for it but if it gets things right it could pave the way for other live action anime movies.
May 23rd, 2008
Tino
THAT
IS
GOKU
May 23rd, 2008
Kracken
You guys who support this Goku because saiyan aren’t specifically Asian, howmany times before it can get to you,
THE SAIYAN AREN’T CAUCASIAN EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If they have to make a movie out of Dragonball, they must get someone who looks like Goku to play him, and clearly only Asians fit the description for Saiyan. Getting a white guy to play this role is an insult to Asia as a whole, which will only get them mad and drive up boycotts.
May 23rd, 2008
Rodney
Kracken. Seriously. Exhale.
I just spent 10 minutes trying to find a picture of ANY saiyan that didn’t have a Caucasian colour to his skin. Hell, I figured if i could find ONE with yellow skin that might be something.
Guess what?
None.
This guy looks as much like Goku as they need him to. Seriously. The Asian market will eat this up and not care at all that he isnt Asian. All of the characters that ARE labelled as Asians are being played by Asians. When will it be enough for you? How many times before this makes sense to you.
Goku isnt Asian. None of the Saiyens look Asian. Try not to act surprised when these Caucasian actors all get roles as Saiyens because all the OTHER roles belong to other Earth ethnicities.
May 23rd, 2008
Edmund
Frankly, I am a huge fan of the series itself and when I heard there would be a DB movie, I was a little hesitant. So naturally I looked up on it. I saw that Stephen Chow was producing and that they were using special effects people who had worked on Matrix, Final Destination, and 300. This got me excited and I was hoping for fights that would look like Agent Smith Vs. Neo from Matrix Revolutions, only better.
However, that was until I saw these pictures. I understand a little deviation, but come on now. These people look absolutely nothing like their anime/manga counterparts. They are expecting me to believe that Justin Chatwin is Goku with that look? No. I don’t think so.
May 23rd, 2008
shadopup
This is a hollywood produced movie and even if it’s based on a japanese franchise, they want it to have some appeal to north america so you figure that the leads will be white. Is this necessarily justified? (not in the forbidden kingdom it wasn’t) and maybe not in this film either but even so while there are large amount of minorities here caucasians are still more numerous so it figures that at least your leads in a hollywood movie would be caucasian.
It’d be nice if hollywood got rid of all their prejudices and actually have a non white as the lead but at least a good number of characters are being played by asian actors in this movie (better than the movie 21).
Just like how in Asian movies the leads and most of the cast are Asian, Hollywood movies will mostly have caucasians starring in them (and the one or two black ppl). Really it doesn’t bother me that goku is played by a caucasian…if everybody was then that would be a different story.
Personally I never understood why Asians were perceived as having yellow skin and why cartoons were colored as such…in real life I’ve never seen an Asian with yellow skin if anything some of them can be pretty dark/tan looking almost as much as East Indian/Hispanics or more pale than a white person. In Asia, it is all about whiter skin apparently, the exact opposite of here where we tend to prefer a “healthy” tan look.
May 23rd, 2008
Alex
I think i died a little inside.
May 23rd, 2008
Fenrir767
All I have to say is those photo’s are hilarious and I will be definitely watching this movie with a 24 pack of beer some friends after having downloaded it because I would die inside if I even rented it lol.
May 23rd, 2008
jake
damn… just, damn. having faced ridicule from my high school buddies (way back in the day), to influencing my younger brother (high school freshmen) into adoring the sagas, this is casting call is disappointing. and quite frankly, to demand that anyone should accept this crap would be dubious, at best. however, the ONE BRIGHT spot is stephen chow billed as the producer. historically, he has shown to have great vision, especially the “god of cookery.” -brilliant. plus, chow’s nomenclature could give the film leverage in bargining for a bigger budget.
-So, are goku’s muscles going to be cgi, or are we gonna have to look at this pantywaste do battle with those duece-dueces?
May 23rd, 2008
HAZMAT
^^^ no one in that cartoon looks asian or american hence their eyes all are shaped like spidermans eye pieces guys. relax its a cartoon about supermen made to entertain- asia will NOT be opffended. this isnt the movie “pearl harbor” or some WW2 movie with IMPORTANT non fictional asians. if so- then yuod have a pretty good point and id shut up.
i hope thats not what gokus wearing. it better be blue, red, or orange. or all of the above. those clothes look brown to me
oh and btw- bulma?? i dont wanna see fucking bulma i wanna see picolo and the other dude with long hair thats bad (gokus brother..)
thanx for the pics btw rodney
May 23rd, 2008
Rodney
@ Shadopup - Or they cast the leads as white because those crazy Japanese coloured their skin that way in the manga.
This is not a “market the good looking kids to the US market” move. This is casting based on appearance. They found a guy who didnt look so retarded with the spikey hair. Thats your Goku.
Please people. Get off your finger pointing soapbox and just join the rest of the peanut gallery who want to insist this movie will suck without knowing anything at all about it.
May 23rd, 2008
vid
My previous responses were made judging from a few comments, it seems some are angry because Caucasian actors have been cast in a movie based on a Japanese anime and so they feel that all the main actors should be Asian/Japanese at least. Please correct me if I am wrong, this was just my impression.
All I’m saying is that it’s a Hollywood movie so you have to expect some Caucasians in the cast and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whether Goku is Asian or not in the cartoon is irrelevant because as a Hollywood movie you will most definitely have executives who expect you to cast Caucasians in the lead roles just like 99% of all Hollywood produced movies.
Many movies have taken liberties with appearances. Kingpin played by Micheal Clark Duncan. Kevin Spacey’s character in the movie 21 (in the real life story, his character was Asian as were most of the members of the black jack team yet only one Asian actor was cast in that movie).
Whether Goku was cast based on his appearance in the cartoons…who knows? Maybe that’s true. I just think that marketing probably had just as much to do with it too. Japanese cartoons use all sorts of funky colors for hair and skin tone so trying to relate “real world” ethnicities to these characters is futile and unnecessary since they aren’t relevant in the cartoons themselves.
May 23rd, 2008
vid
btw Vid=shadopup to avoid any confusion I’m on a friend’s computer who also likes the movie blog.
May 23rd, 2008
Charlie
where is yamcha’s third eye
May 23rd, 2008
Dave
Like most of the American Fan base, I started watching dbz back when it first started airing on CTN. I watched it through middle, and high school (yes, high school) and I have to say as an anime, it’s really quite crappy, and yet I still watched it for the many years they decided to show it. Now, they are making a movie based on the “Dragonball” series which was if not worse, just as bad. So why are you guys are complaining about the movie not living up to the show. I HOPE they change things. It’s the only possible way they can make it for more than an under 15 audience. Even then, the only people who are going to watch it are the original fans anyway because only they remember it now. Just be happy that they actually did one. When i first heard about it, I didn’t even care who the actors were( except emmy rossum, I love emmy), I told myself i was gonna see it, just so it does well.
Oh! and “double dragon” was very entertaining movie.
May 24th, 2008
razor
This is Frustrating….
i can see the Failure of the movie already…. i’ll keep my fingers crossed with this film…. hay…
May 24th, 2008
Grumpy Fox
OK, this adaptation seems to be crap for now. But DBZ was as well, so … (and yet I kept watching it. I guess it’s mesmerizing crap, then) At least Dragon Ball told STORIES. The best media to adapt it to was video games, and it has been done. Numerous times.
You don’t make a good movie with 1 dimensional characters and no plot whatsoever.
As for the potential audience, DBZ and anime in general are way more popular in Europe than in the States, esp. in France and Italy.
As for people complaining about the actors’ ethnicity or looking like the characters, I don’t get it. Lots of them are aliens, blue hair and such seems to be ruled out, and Toriyama’s characters all look the same anyway. The story takes place in a FANTASY world. Ethnicity is NOT relevant. Maybe the producers’ mistake is to try and have them look a bit like “real” people. I would’ve gone with crazy costumes and colors.
And er… asian people are NOT yellow. Nobody on earth is. Suggesting that an anime character is or is not asian (context aside), because he/she is white, pink or brown is plain stupid and underlying racism. The only yellow human comicbook characters I know are the “japanazis” of the 40s. And that was racist, a lot.
Oh, and I guess there have been plenty of live action adaptations of manga in the last 30 years. In Japan.
May 24th, 2008
matrim24
the japanese are really angry when they saw those pictures tough. they just can’t understand why toriyama let hollywood destroying japanese popular game and manga’s image again. they just can’t forget about what had happened to hokuto no ken, street fighter 2, mario and doa. incase you guys understand japanese, you can check this page to see their reaction.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/dqnplus/archives/1131357.html
btw, roshi (老師) means master, so master roshi will become “master master”, the right one is “master buten” cause kamesennin named butenroushi in this movie.
May 24th, 2008
Rodney
Grumpy Fox. To term “yellow skin” is simply a comparison. Its far more accurate than putting any other colour on it. As far as connections of colours to describe ethnicity, I am sure black, white, red or any other reference is debatable too. Yet they fit the bill.
You want to split hairs about saying Asians are yellow, but when the Asians painted their Manga Saiyans with a soft tone of a light peach, its wrong to call it white skin?
Also Martrim, I have yet to hear of an outright plea against this movie by Japanese at all (aside from the standard “its hollywood so it will suck” traditional barking we get) so pointing at one blog (which I cannot read anyways) is hardly the encompassing truth for each and every Japanese person.
May 24th, 2008
Grumpy Fox
Hi Rodney,
I thought quoting the most sensible things said here would be more efficient than paraphrasing :
HAZMAT : “No one in that cartoon looks asian or american hence their eyes all are shaped like spidermans eye pieces”
SHADOPUP : “In real life I’ve never seen an Asian with yellow skin if anything some of them can be pretty dark/tan looking almost as much as East Indian/Hispanics or more pale than a white person.”
Shadopup is right, what is most distinctive about japanese people (or anyone, really) is their features, not their tone of skin.
And we know how most manga artists, expecially Toriyama, care about different shapes of faces, eyes and noses. One of the most ridiculous things about DBZ is how 4 generations of sayans look just like clones.
We europeans like to “ethnicize” our comics and cartoons (and give characters distinctive features). Japanese don’t (which doesn’t mean they have a racist tradition as well, btw). Of course this is not a hard rule, as both comics and manga go from self-published authors to mainstream industry in a variety of style.
On a lighter note, if you ever see the very fun “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero / Invasion from Planet X” Godzilla movie, you’ll find there a fine specimen of a token caucasian character in a 60s movie aimed at kids. It’s hilarious and puts things in perspective.
I haven’t seen a lot of live action manga adaptation, but Death Note seems to be a very faithful one. They resolved the problem of hiring an american actor to play the FBI agent by rewriting him as japanese, though…
(On a last note, I wonder why I take time to write in a thread about a movie I don’t give a **** about… Weird.)
May 24th, 2008
Nickoli
I will never accept Justin Chatwin as Goku. Skin color is not a big deal for me. But Goku is one of the strongest characters ever created. It would be preferable if he didn’t have the body of a 16 year old female attending gymnastics classes!
Story, budjet, cinematography and soundtrack will all be crucial in the development of the DBZ series. But if their first step towards production is hiring a cast that sparks immediate racial issues, mega-fan dissapointment and debates about whether the movie will even survive the box office, let alone be a GREAT film…then clearly someone has not done their research.
So who will play Vegita? Seth green?!
Kirllian could be played by Michael Clarke Duncan!
And if they make sequels, Justin Timberlake could play Freeza, and Danielle Radcliffe could play Cell!!!
And of course, Paris Hilton for every remaining character.
May 25th, 2008
Son Goku
They could be all white, all black (that’d probably be better on a whole other level), all whatever… it’s not that, it’s just how retarded sounding/looking this thing is. Bomb.
May 25th, 2008
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