Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins

THE PLOT:

When beautiful Bulma searches for the mystical Dragon `BALLS'. She meets young Goku, who was chasing after the goons who kidnapped his Grandfather Gohan for his 4 star Dragonball. Joining forces Goku, Bulma, Yomcha and Oolong vow to collect the remaining Dragonballs and rescue Gohan from the forces of the evil King Horn.

THE OPINION:

This has got to be the WORST dubbing in the history of foreign films. Like they changed easily pronounced named like Goku and Bulma. Plus they changed the name of the Dragonballs to Dragonpearls. What the hell was that for? Did the American movie company the American people are that stupid to think of live Dragon Testicles? Aside from the bad dubbing, the original makers blew it big time on several key points. Like Goku's Grandfather Gohan was dead when he meets Bulma. Plus he was called `MONKEY BOY' because he had a tail. Plus for 1989 the creature effects could have been allot better, even for a Chinese film. I GIVE IT (4 STARS) ****

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE (+HITS)

+FLYING (The overall combat scenes were very good)

+ENERGY WEAPONS (They didn't forget the Kamahamaha wave)

+LOOK (The Dragonballs looked just like the cartoon)

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE (-MISSES)

-BAD DUB (The VO was just awful, Monkey Boy instead of Goku, and the Turtle Hermit instead of Master Rôshi)

-PLOT HOLES (Goku's Granpa Gohan was dead)

-NO TAIL (What happened to Goku's tail? It's not like a tail is a hard effect. They did it in the Wizard Of Oz)

and finally two words:

-DRAGON BALLS (When did Dragonball become a bad word? It's in the freakin' title for crying out loud)

Man, I have never laughed at any one single movie before than the way I laughed at this one. It was absolutely ridiculous. Was the movie bad, no doubt, but it had every person I showed it to nearly crying in laughter.

There are a lot of miscommunication here though. In the English, Dubbed version, there are numerous name changes. The real, original names are followed by the movie names:

Monkey Boy - Goku Sparkle - Father Gohan Seito (i'm sure thats the name) - Bulma Piggy - Oolong Mrs. Knowitall - Puar Lord Horn - Pilaf Mr. Westwood - Yamcha Turtle Man - Master Roshi I can't remember chi-chi's name, but it doesn't matter

Anyway, there is a good reason the names are translated so poorly. This is Japenese being translated into Chinese. Monkey Boy makes perfect sense. DB is based off of a Chinese legend of a Monkey-like boy named Goku after all. No one really wanted the names to be that dumb, but I'm sure there was a good reason for it.

The effects are hilariously awful. Strings are very visible. Grenades are no-more than rubber balls. Westwood's sword seems to be rubber (lol). The Velcro on Monkey Boy's and Sparkle's outfits are visible. When sparkle is shot out of the well, the body is a stationary doll of some sort. When Lord Horn's mouth moves, the face seems like it is falling off. When Lord Horn releases the spell on all of the citizens, they are all supposed to fall, but a whole group of people can be seen standing up, looking very confused.

The sound effects are also hilarious. It seems as though the production team was running out of money. Pac-Man noises can be heard everywhere.

Anyway, I can't really bash this movie. I love it. It is so bad that it can make me laugh, just by thinking of it. Every time I think about the bad animations and paper airplane attacks, I can't help but crack a smile.

I'll give it a 5 on a completely objective point of view. I would give it a 10 because I love it so much.

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins is a live-action film made in Taiwan that is basically an unauthorized adaptation of Dragon Ball.

In this movie, King Horn, an evil alien, leads an army to take the seven Dragon Pearls, causing destruction and even death where he and his minions go. In the mountans, a girl names Seetou is searching for a Dragon Pearl, and meets Monkey Boy, a young boy who lives with his grandfather, Sparkle. After his home is attacked, Monkey Boy and Seetou goes on a journey to stop King Horn, who seels the Dragon Pearls to conquer the universe.

Okay, I get a lot of people are hating this, but I am not one of them. In fact, I think this is a better adaptation than what Hollywood would make 18 years later with Dragonball Evolution. Here, the movie stays true to the anime, as it keeps some of the characters accurate, despite the name changes to avoid legal trouble with Toei, the company who made the Dragonball anime, and kept the absurd humor it is know for. It does have some things I do not like (like Yamcha, a desert bandit, being turned into a cowboy from the West named Westwood, and replacing Puar with a talking cockatoo named Miss Knowwhat, as well as the fact that the only version watchable is the Ultimate Edition, which basically adds cheesy CGI effects), but this is live action adaptation that is close, as the story is a good mix of action and cheesy comedy, an it's closer to the anime it is based on.

First of all leave your brain at the door for this low budget adaption of the original DragonBall animated series. The film is obviously a homage and isnt meant to be taken seriously. For those who would call the overacting (if you can call this acting) and insane gestures ludicrous, I remind you that these people are portraying cartoon characters and frequently (especially in the original DB cartoon) Japanese animation goes overboard with insane, silly nonsense. The story is basically pretty faithful, we have different heroes banding together to regain the Dragonballs and summon the Eternal Dragon. We meet various incarnations of Goku, Master Roshi (who is really quite faithful to his animated counterpart), Bulma, Yaumchau, and Oolong. The names are changed but this was probably because of copyrights. If youre a diehard DB fan and would like to see a live action effort then by all means here you go. I was surprised at the number of sexual innuendos and use of profanity tho. Of course Japanese cartoons are filled with such things as the standard is different. Not for young kids but the 12 and up set will be in hog heaven.

Ron Nanney

Live action version of Dragonball via Taiwan.

Evil lord comes to earth to get the seven magic dragon balls...er pearls which when brought together will cause a dragon to appear and grant your wish. Lots of action and bad comedy ensue.

What can I say that "the best way to watch this film is with lots of drunk but witty friends" doesn't? I don't know. This is a really bad but funny in the way that really bad movies can be. Come on this is one of the few martial arts films I've ever seen where you actually see the wires. Its a live action cartoon and not so far removed from what I've seen of the show that it makes me fearful for the big budget American version now filming.

If you have some drunk friends and feel like picking on a movie see this film. If you're going to see it sober (like me) avoid it.