A little more than a month ago, Twentieth Century Fox announced plans to finally create a live-action film adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s iconic manga series and subsequent anime, Dragonball. The plot that the film covers is currently somewhat vague, to my chagrin, though we do know that it will portray an adult Goku, and Piccolo will be the main villain.
The current release date is set at a tentative August 15, 2008, and James Wong, director of “Kung Fu Hustle” and “Shaolin Soccer,” will direct. Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise’s son in War of the Worlds) will play Goku, while James Marsters (Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will take the role of Piccolo. Other actors confirmed for the film include Jamie Chung as Chi-Chi, Joon Park as Yamcha, and Eriko Tamura as Pilaf’s minion Mai.
While I’ll admit to being excited about a remake of my favorite classic shonen series, let’s be serious. A Dragonball movie cannot, and will not, be anything notable when it comes to the list of great movies. With the intense difficulty of adapting spiky-haired martial artists with super powers to the live action scene, Fox will have to be incredibly lucky to even achieve something close to the reception received by Transformers. Good luck, James Wong. I eagerly await the live-action version of one of the most popular anime ever made.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
