In the new film, the central character is still Goku. Fans of the original Dragon Ball series will be familiar with the story of how Goku and Bulma met, how they met Yamcha the Desert Bandit and many more characters that make their appearances in the later Dragonball Z series. The film will stay relatively faithful to the series however a more "grown-up" approach will be taken to make sure that it is reasonably believable.

Cast

Goku - Justin Chatwin
Chi Chi - Jamie Chung
Yamcha - Joon Park
Bulma - Emmy Rossum
Piccolo - James Marsters
Roshi/Turtle Hermit - Chow Yun-Fat
Gohan (senior) - Randall Duk Kim
Mai - Eriko Tamura

Plot Summary

In the original story, Goku was a child who lived with his grandfather (Gohan) in the middle of nowhere. In the movie it seems that Goku is a high school student (18 years old) and although he does live with his grandfather, the similarities end from there on. After his grandfather's death at the hands of Piccolo, Goku sets off on a trail to find the Legendary Dragonballs to help him stop Piccolo. Now the Piccolo we see in the movie is not the same Piccolo as the one in Dragonball Z it is in fact his father. The Piccolo in Dragonball Z is actually the spawn of Lord Piccolo, an evil ruler in the original manga.

Along the way, Goku meets many acquaintances including Bulma, Yamcha and eventually Master Roshi (also known as the Turtle Hermit). No further information has been released as to the remainder of the plot but we have been told through interviews that it will include a world martial arts scene, plenty of flying and the legendary 'kamehameha wave'.

Speculation

In a recent interview Emmy Rossum, who plays Bulma, revealed that a large monster that appears in the Animé would also feature in the film. She goes on to explain that it is actually an 8ft humanoid shaped monster. One of the Androids? Perhaps Cell? Some even believe Raditz or Ozaruu, which would mean the end of the movie spilling over into Dragonball Z. If this happens you can be sure there will be a sequel.

All in all, people have mixed views on what the movie will be like. Many hardcore fans of the original (now primarily in their late 20's early 30's) will be worried that it messes up the story much in the same way Madonna covered up Don Mclean's American Pie. Kids now say "American Pie? Yeah that Madonna song it's great". Of course there is a young target audience for the movie which means that a lot of the original action, gore and especially humour will be cut out.

I personally was a big fan of Dragonball Z and didn't really get in to Dragon Ball until much later on but I still have my reservations about the film. On the other hand it could be a hit but I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. See you in the Cinemas!

Image Source

Goku - Justin Chatwin
Played Jeremy Creek in Smallville.

Piccolo - James masters
Played as spike in Buffy the vampire slayer.

Chichi - Jamie Chung
played in Veronica Mars

Sensing a theme here? It looks like Wong drafted the entire Teen Idol awards for '02. alright, alright, I'm being a little over the top here but I've got the right to be critical. this was my favorite anime of all time. Ok, so where are we? Ah, right. What about the effects? well not too surprising, the movie effects produced by Amalgamated Dynamics, Ollin Studios, Zoic Studios, and Imagin Engine will keep the Energy blasts and auras we all know and love. My only hope is that the graphics are more like "The Matrix" and less like this guy:

So what do we know about this already? Bulma will not have blue hair, We won't hear anything from our pals oolong, Puar, and the Turtle, and a good portion of the movie was filmed in a Mexican jeans factory... Look, I'm not going to condemn the movie right here and now. I'll give it a fair and balanced (like fox's fair and balanced) review when I go check it out in 2009.