If you’ve been following the blog in the past few days then you know about all the excitement regarding the IMDB user who goes by the name lovely_raindrops-1, who claims she saw an early screening of the film and went on to answer fan questions about it. Now, we here at DBMB are not saying she is legit or not. That is for you guys to decide for yourselves. I just thought it would be interesting to see what else she has to say. I will say, however, that it is a coincidence that she confirmed Roshi wouldn’t be much of a perv as well as the running time before they were posted both here and on dbthemovie.
Anyway, I chated for a bit with lovely_raindrops-1 and here is what she had to say:
DragonballMovieBlog: Can you describe Piccolo in detail to the best of your ability?
lovely_raindrops-1: Of course for anyone who has seen the leaked trailer images of Piccolo they will realize that it is a strong departure from the original anime/manga. In a way this was a bit of a disappointment because he lacks the usual white turban/cloak and purple gi. He now wears a full body suit that looks very similar to something that Batman would wear and has a white/pink face. Just to settle something that has been long disputed though, Piccolo does turn green. Obviously I can’t say too much on this but he does.
James Marsters is the epitome of Piccolo though. He fits into the role perfectly and in my opinion is one of the best cast actors in the movie.
DBMB: How close to the source material was the film?
LR: All the characters are there but anyone that has been closely following the progress of this film will realize that quite a few aspects have been severely changed. Goku is still the oblivious, child-like character, especially in his relationship with Chichi. Yet this is thrown into the inevitable, Hollywood, High School situation cliche.
The characters still have their special moves so everyone will get to see Goku release his Kamehameha and Piccolo, his Special Beam Cannon. Yet for realism based issues the idea of Capsule Corp has been severely dumbed down. The company still exists within the movie and the whole concept is there, yet the capsules don’t have to ability to hold houses etc.
With this all said and done I am still convinced that the majority of changes have been for the better. Who really wants to see a film when they know exactly what is going to happen & one that looks exactly like a comic book to boot? If they were going to stick exactly to the source material they may as well have just reanimated everything and stuck it into a feature length movie!
DBMB: Which actor best represented their character’s manga counterpart? (You mention Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum and James Marsters before; can you elaborate a bit more on this?)
LR: As I said previously, James Marsters is fantastic as Piccolo. Although the makeup (as good as it is) doesn’t look like his anime counter-part I think that he just feels so right in the role.
Emmy Rossum is great as Bulma. She has clearly studied the character in which she has set out to play and conveys Bulma very well.
People were very skeptical about Justin Chatwin, me included, but I think that he does a very good job in the shoes of Goku. Just remember hardcore fans; these people were cast for a reason and in my opinion you have nothing to worry about as far as this goes.
DBMB: Have you read Ben Ramsey’s leaked first draft? If so were there elements of that script still in tact?
LR: If I’m honest, no I haven’t read Ben Ramsey’s leaked first draft. Ben Ramsey is a fantastic writer though and I personally think he did a good job with the final script. He managed to convey the world of Dragonball in a short space of time (93 Minutes), this alone deserves to be commended!
DBMB: How was master Roshi’s sense of humor?
LR: As you can imagine Yun-Fat Chow doesn’t really look very much like the anime Master Roshi. The character has been greatly changed within this picture and as everyone knows, the idea of him being an old pervert has been completely erased. Then again, who wants to see some old man asking a young girl to show him her pants? It wouldn’t look right on film.
Master Roshi still has his sense of humor intact and is quite similar to Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid in the way that he acts. There are subtle hints to his other personality as well in the way that he openly flirts with Bulma.
DBMB: Who has the most screen time, and is there any character who you felt was underused?
LR: Obviously Goku has the most screen time within the film, followed by Bulma and Master Roshi. In all honesty I think that the character of Mai was slightly underused. Although she is explained as an ally of Piccolo’s there is not really much story behind all that like where she has come from etc etc.
DBMB: Does the film rely heavily on special effects? And were there any filters used to give the film a stylistic look (I.E 300, Underworld)?
LR: Around the first quarter of the film doesn’t feature many special effects but towards the end when energy balls are firing back and forth everything is very CGIed.
Around halfway through the film when Bulma and Goku are searching through temples etc, everything is given a very gritty, yellow appearance and looks rather stylistic. Other than filters the landscapes look very stylistic as well with huge brown boulders and fluffy cloud filled sky’s. Everything suits the whole style of Dragonball very well.
DBMB: Are the fights anything groundbreaking?
LR: Not exactly, when you watch them you can see elements of other films thrown in which is evidenced by a fight that features bullet time. Obviously this was bound to happen because the same fight coordinators worked on The Matrix! Other than that though the fights look very cool. Scenery gets completely demolished and some of the characters get battered about like ragdolls… PG-13 style.
DBMB: Describe the chemistry (if any) between Chatwin and Chung as well as Bulma and Yamcha.
LR: Chatwin and Chung, or should I say Goku and Chichi, work very well together. Goku is completely oblivious to the way that Chichi feels about him which leads to some hilarious exploits.
I wasn’t feeling it as much with Emmy Rossum and Joon Park though. Some of the lovey-dovey stuff seemed very comic, like in the anime/manga, but also quite forced. This is obviously just my personal preference but that sums up how I felt about their character’s relationship.
DBMB: Without giving any (more) spoilers, are there any surprises that us fans don’t know about yet?
LR: Oh yes, there are definitely a few surprises. Without saying to much, there are a few characters people did not expect to see who make small appearances. Also, there are clear references to the original manga/anime only the fans will pick up.
Overall, the film isn’t exactly a masterpiece and is flawed but the majority of fans that didn’t want to see the manga replicated in live-action will be more than happy. There will more than likely be a sequel because although all the loose ends are put together at the end of the film there are loads of hints that the story will obviously continue. The Dragonball saga of movies is just beginning and to be quite honest, I can’t wait to see the next one!
Thanks again to lovely_raindrops-1 for taking the time to chat with us.