Bola de Dragón: comienza la magia

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)

For those who whine about it being bad, just watch them other live action and tell me if you still think it's bad....it's dragon ball, its supposed to be comedy action packed with a bit of kinky adult stuff....

Mr. Brento wonders if this movie was produced by the same who produced the Dragonball Z TV series. Of course not.

This is a Hong Kong real action movie based on the first episodes of the Japanese original cartoon (which was also based on a comic book series). And I really don't know if it was produced under the license of the Dragonball creators...

However, the story of the monkey-boy with special powers is an ancient tale known all over Asia (in Japan, the name of the boy in the tale is Songoku; in China, it is Sunwukong; in Korea it is Sonogong; etc) and the story in Dragonball has much to do with that tale.

By the way, as I said, this movie is based on the first episodes of the Dragonball series (which was followed by Dragonball Z, although I think the US version had a different airing order). And all the scenes related to sexuality were also contained in the original cartoon series (without so much overacting and so much insistence on it!), but because of your comments I may suppose they were completely removed in the American dubbing.

Anyway, I agree with you about the overacting in the film and about how poor this adaptation of the original cartoon is. But maybe because of that nobody can forget it after watching it...

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.

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.