2010-05-11, 03:48 PM
DrRusty Wrote:Turning Anime into live-action doesn't really work.... Just look at the DBZ movie
I'll say this again.
Almost every western adaptation of an anime or manga to this date has been at helm by someone who honestly give two damns to see the project succeed and do truly well, with the sole exception of Speed Racer.
Dragonball Evolution was a crappy martial artists flick that the director knew was going to fail, and thought "GEE, HOW DO I GET THIS TO SELL?" A lightbulb went off in his head when he realized he could attract publicity by slapping on a big name title and tossing in names from that title into his crappy movie. The movie only had very few elements of anything Dragonball at all; aside from names of characters, a title, and slightly basing things off the King Piccolo arc (Yeah, not really). Everything else was shoved aside, and "Westernized" into typical "stock characters"- with personalities being changed entirely, and them changing up the themes and spirit found in the original work in favor of this rubbish story about an angsty, weak protagonist with a bullying problem who has to overcome being an emo and save the world. That's most of why it was a flop.
[video=youtube;ejqZaXTvyL4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejqZaXTvyL4[/video]
Even this low-budget Dragonball movie from the early 90's was far better an adaptation than Dragonball Evolution in that it was at least somewhat faithful to the original work.
That's a pretty moot example in the way you're trying to use it, but yes: turning anime to live-action almost never works because of its idiosyncrasies.
One thing these directors have to look out for is how to handle the work and bring it to reality without making it feel campy (especially in translating over character designs) and treatment of the plot. Higurashi's live-action struck me as a passable, but not really that great movie from what I've heard. It seems like it degenerates into a pretty standard fare horror, and loses the same feel that the original work has. The translation from a cute slice-of-life-esque show into a pretty intensive thriller/horror was something nice that the original has; but if it played out in reality, it wouldn't quite have the same effect and might come out as a bit campy and has to tone the work down a bit into something pretty dumbed down- which I'm betting probably happened in the movie. Higurashi also did away with all of the character designs, and everyone all seems fairly generic. Part of this is because it's awkward to see the original character designs and over-the-top kind of scenes played out in real life.
Going back to the idea Dragonball, I'd like for you guys to think how the hell you can take someone seriously with giant spiked hair like that. You'd have to make at least some adjustments so that it's realistic.
Regardless, I feel that a good anime adaptation isn't impossible. A live action Dragonball could have actually played out quite nicely if they figured how to translate over the original storyline into a well-paced, condensed form that concludes nicely and could lead into a sequel; if the movie had good enough budget and actors; and a director with good vision. With today's technology, I'm sure it'd be possible to make something that doesn't look like an awkward Power Rangers episode, and yet maintains the still cartoony, whimsical feel of Dragonball.
From what I hear, Death Note's live actions are pretty nice- though CGI Ryuk seems to really feel awkwardly placed. With a better budget, this could have gone onward and became something great.