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Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins More at IMDbPro »Xin qi long zhu (original title)
| Index | 10 reviews in total |
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Enjoyable for Dragonball Enthusiasts, 22 February 2001
Author:
edbunny from Saskatoon, Canada
Live action take on the enormously popular Japanese cartoon series, Dragonball. Many of the original characters are present, including Gokou, Kame-sennin (Master Roshi), Yamu-cha, Bulma, and Oolong, although they are given different names. The story more or less follows the original introduction to the characters in the series (ie. meeting each other by chance while searching for the Dragon Balls/Pearls). Low budget (at least after spending so much on explosions), but enjoyable if you like cartoonish kung fu movies and Dragonball!
8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Ok ok before anyone dismisses this..., 6 March 2001
Author:
ronnienanney from USA
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
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Just a few points to add, 2 September 2005
Author:
mazochungo from Spain
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...
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
If you need a good laugh, then this is the movie for you., 20 March 2005
Author:
hamsterrick024 from United States
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.
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Wacky fantasy action movie, 10 April 2005
Author:
Sentinel-15 from Antwerp, Belgium
Live action movie based on Akira Toriyama's well-known Dragon Ball
manga and anime.
While it's overall appreciation by many doesn't seem anything to write
home about, I would like to note that, while some changes were
obviously made, it is actually very close to the spirit of the original
Dragon Ball manga as well as the original TV series, which itself often
got quite silly indeed.
Sure, things got a bit more serious in the DBZ follow-up series, but
most of the film's main characters are close to their manga origins,
and some of the events in the film are close to the original as well.
That said, this film will probably never win any movie awards, but it
is a lot of fun, and a curiosity for all the Dragon Ball fans out
there.
9 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Worst Dub ever, 23 August 2003
Author:
lordzedd-2 from United States
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)
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A steaming pile of crap, but I absolutely love it :), 23 December 2009
Author:
daves_train from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I just watched the unofficial Dragon Ball movie and I have to say that
it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Don't get me wrong it
sucks but I would watch it a thousand times over. I am not a Dragon
Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT but I think of this movie as a
way to introduce myself to the series and to point it out to my friend
how is a fan of it. I liked all the main supporting characters except
of Goku (Monkey boy? Is he going to be king of the pirates?) and that
girl whose village died and was brought back to life. I love these
types of movies because I can sit back and laugh.
By the way: Dancing Roshi = WIN!
1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Oh My God, 24 November 2007
Author:
nemesis47-1 from Drezdenko, Poland
Just an hour ago I finished watching this my friend. As a fans of Dragonball we think that this movie is so bad that is good. We will say one thing : without a six pack beers there is now way you can survive through this movie. This movie should be watched with a many Dragonball fans to laugh their ass off. The best character in the movie is the lord Horn, his makeup, his laugh, and behavior creates the unforgettable experience. What we liked in this movie, was the fact that the island of Turtle Man was the same as in cartoon version. We believe that the only character similar to the one in the cartoon is the Turtle Man. He is also a sex maniac and kind of idiot too.
5 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
For Kids??? Extremely Bad, But Made Me Laugh., 5 September 2001
Author:
winstonsmith_84 from Oceania
When you first sit down to watch this movie, keep in mind that you are
about
to see something you've probably never seen before. Keep in mind that this
is a movie where they obviously spent INSANE amounts of cash on explosions
and not enough on acting or anything else for that matter. The crazy thing
I noticed is that every character is completely over-portrayed, and it
seems
(most of the time anyhow) that the film had been 'sped-up' to make the
characters move faster! (I wonder if the Hong Kong version was dubbed
too?)
I understand the cartoon had this, but it doesn't work for live-action.
It
just looks odd... as if the camera crew decided to act because they
couldn't
afford real actors.
The English version is horribly dubbed, and the character's words do not
match the mouths at all. I would have preffered subtitles, but since this
is a kids movie, and since some kids cannot read well, I'll let it go. But
there is something extremely odd about this movie. It's supposedly a kids
movie, but there's a lot of material about SEX, RAPE, and STRIPPING which
isn't exactly for young Western audiences. (In the Orient, they have
different laws and sexuality in children's movies is much more accepted).
But parents be warned! There is a scene where two characters talk about
rape, multiple scenes where people say 'sex maniac' and a scene where this
insanely young japanese girl does a sexy dance for one of the 'sex maniacs'
and shows him her breasts! Who was this movie made for
anyway?
Oh, and the special effects are laughable. You can tell the spaceship-like
things that bomb the village are cardboard cutouts (or animation, I wasn't
sure) that look unconvincing, even to a kid. The makers of this movie left
out a lot of cool things from the cartoon, simply because they couldn't
budget the kind of money they'd need. I didn't like how the names of all
the characters were changed... it made me wonder if this movie was made by
the same people as Dragon Ball Z.
I don't really recommed this movie to anyone. Kids, adults, or Dragon Ball
Z fans. It's just a poor representation of the cartoon, and obviously, one
will be able to tell that this movie was rushed and no care whatsoever was
put into it. I won't even get into the camerawork... just wait until the
end credits at the still picture that sits there for 2 minutes... most of
the shots are not framed correctly AT ALL and the movie just seems made by
amateurs. Grainy film quality too.
Just all around horrible!!!!
1 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Really bad. Though picking on it with drunk friends might help, 29 May 2008
Author:
dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
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.
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