Well, I feel a dire need to complain about this lousy attempt at an adaptation of one of the world's most popular and famous comic books, Dragonball. Why is Toriyama Akira even allowing this to happen (oh, yeah, the money?)? Anyway, let's go through the main problems one by one, then.
1. Why is Goku not Asian?
Specifically, Goku should be Chinese, as "Goku" is just the personal name part of "Son Goku," which is the Japanese pronounciation of the Chinese name "Sun Wukong" (孫悟空), which is, as we all should know, the name of the protagonist of the famous Chinese novel "Journey to the West" (西遊記), sometimes known as "Monkey" in the English world. Yes, Dragonball was a very loose adaptation of this story, which is obvious to almost anyone familiar with it! "Goku" (what ever happened to his surname, anyway?) should most certainly NOT be a Caucasian high school boy who is being bullied at school, or whatever.
2. Why does this movie seem so much like a gazillion other Hollywood movies?
Specifically, the movie seems like any other superhero movie, where an all-American kid gets superhuman powers (rather easily), and then beats up the high school bully (yes, high school bully) with his newfound powers, and then goes and saves the world! It just seems weirder with the strange, orange uniform and stretchy staff that he has to carry around.
3. Why is Goku so old already?
Hollywood has always loved having their heroes be aged around 16-20 or so. Japanese comics prefer their heroes being aged around 10-14 or so. This is not as drastic a change as the above two points, but this also reeks of Hollywood standardization (i.e., the inability to make movies besides the ones one already has made). I also wish they kept the talking animals... Oh, and Krillin, too...
4. Why is "Roshi" Chow Yun-Fat?
Sorry - but where's the beard? And why is he so young-looking? I hope that they at least kept him a pervert... It would also have been nice if Chow Yun-Fat actually knew some kung fu...
5. What is with the "standard girl kung fu pose" that Chi Chi is flashing? (You know, front first low, back fist high and next to the cheek - check Charlie's Angels posters for other examples of this.) I wish that they would look to actual kung fu styles for better (or just alternate) poses...
I am sure that there are more problems with this movie that I will think of later...
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2 comments:
Lord have mercy, but you can gripe and complain about...everything! Did you never stop and think that the creators of Dragonball might have gone just about as far as they can get in the asian market and they want to stretch their creative wings? Could be the creators have found somebody willing to make them even MORE money and or to expand their fanbase. Personally, i find it highly offensive that you go on about Hollywood-this and Hollywood-that. As if Hollywood were the only party guilty of producing some really memorable cinematic crap. Ever hear of the Cannes Film Festival? And as for your complaining (in a round about way that not EVERYBODY knows the proper Chinese pronounciation of "Gotu" and the like...), I for one, wish they had never imported that seriously over-commercialised tripe called "Yu-gi-oh", "Pokemon" and "Chaotic" to my non-asian shores. Still think Hollywood is the only creative source for producing crap!? Think again, complainer-san.
Well, "Anonymous," I think you are missing the point - I am not complaining that Hollywood is of poor quality in general (it is not); nor am I lauding Japanese comics for their high quality (which is not my opinion). Rather, I am offended that Hollywood is trying to take an original, interesting Japanese comic and convert it into what seems like a very typical American movie (about an American, even) that seems very similar to many other already-made movies. This to me reeks of inflexibility and even ethnocentrism (as does your usage of the normally polite "san" suffix at the end of your posting - thanks for that).
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