The Official Goku/Justin Chatwin Thread

[Cartman Blues]

Chatwin does at least one barrel roll in these.

 

[Godman]

“For me, he’s not Asian, American or Canadian. Goku is an archetype and he lives in all of us. It’s a pretty big resposibility playing Goku since he’s such an iconic character.”


http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/10/movies/3426539&sec=movies

It's an ASIAN franchise ADAPTED by America, trust it to be america to steel yet another thing fromn another country, twist up and add their own western flare to it. They did it to the Natives, mexicans, blacks, Arabs, and now DRAGONBALL LOL...it's what they do. The sly FOX.

 

[Kaizer104]

That's right, it's an asian franchise about a monkey-tailed alien who is adopted by an old man and grows up to be the universe's most powerful fighting force. How dare America, a melting pot of multiple origins, westernize a series which already is full western-based concepts as well as eastern ones with plenty of lifes' lessons to be learned even from a different perspective. They should be ashamed for stealing the culture of the Japanese; it's like they held Akira Toriyama at gunpoint and forced him to hand over every last piece of property involved with Dragonball so they could ruin it with their evil ambitions of money-making.

 

[huzzah]

That's right, it's an asian franchise about a monkey-tailed alien who is adopted by an old man and grows up to be the universe's most powerful fighting force. How dare America, a melting pot of multiple origins, westernize a series which already is full western-based concepts as well as eastern ones with plenty of lifes' lessons to be learned even from a different perspective. They should be ashamed for stealing the culture of the Japanese; it's like they held Akira Toriyama at gunpoint and forced him to hand over every last piece of property involved with Dragonball so they could ruin it with their evil ambitions of money-making.

But you give over your prized work for adaptation and they hand you back a t*rd. How is that fair?

I suppose you could argue replacing Aragorn with a Sumurai warrior then market Lord Of The Rings to the Japanese as being fair...but that didn't happen and hasn't stopped LOTR from being a world wide success.

So the question is, were some of these changes really necessary?

 

[Kaizer104]

But you give over your prized work for adaptation and they hand you back a t*rd. How is that fair?

I suppose you could argue replacing Aragorn with a Sumurai warrior then market Lord Of The Rings to the Japanese as being fair...but that didn't happen and hasn't stopped LOTR from being a world wide success.

So the question is, were some of these changes really necessary?

My question to you is, "were some of these changes really westernization?" as he suggests.

A movie being crappy isn't the fault of Westernization, it's the fault of FOX's rushed production. To say that there's such a large change between the English and Japanese versions that it's crappy simply because American media was producing it is nonsense.

That is what I'm pointing out as the flaw of his logic. I'm not arguing over the quality of the movie.

 

[huzzah]

Well they westernised shenlong. In fact it could be argued shenlong doesn't exist in this film because I dont recall his name being mentioned. Could be wrong though.

References to Journey to the West have gone.

Does Goku, sorry Chatwin, use his power pole? I haven't seen this in the reviews so far.

The high school setting is American.

Now serve all of this back to a Japanese audience they must be thinking was any of this really necessary.

 

[Cell Therapy]

edit

 

[Cell Therapy]

Well they westernised shenlong. In fact it could be argued shenlong doesn't exist in this film because I dont recall his name being mentioned. Could be wrong though.

References to Journey to the West have gone.

Does Goku, sorry Chatwin, use his power pole? I haven't seen this in the reviews so far.

The high school setting is American.

Now serve all of this back to a Japanese audience they must be thinking was any of this really necessary.

So Japanese kids don't go to school?

 

[Robdixxo]

So Japanese kids don't go to school?

Japanese schools are tons different from ours.

 

[DorkyFresh]

the problem with Westernizing Dragon Ball, not DBZ, is that DB's world is heavily inspired by Asian culture and it seems that DB isn't as popular in the west as DBZ is. Goku basically grew up in what was Dragon World's version of China. even the Tournament is Eastern inspired. now i'm not saying that they had to put ONLY western culture in the movie, but there's no getting around that DB is VERY Asian.

with that in mind, Eastern inspired movies, even when made by Hollywood, normally don't do as well in the box office as Western inspired movies....which is very understandable. however, sacrificing the Eastern influence of DB for the sake of trying to attract a Western audience that probably wouldn't really care to watch a movie like this ANYWAY is just bad judgment. as we can see, it turns out that Fox is making almost NO attempt at marketing this towards Americans....so from the very start they should've treated this as a foreign or international project and write the script in a way that appeals to people of all nations and appears universal.

instead they chose to appeal to where the money is at (America) not realizing that this movie (especially with the kind of "quality" this movie has) wouldn't appeal to us anyway...so they backpedal and try to market it towards Asia being stuck with a VERY Western movie by Asian standards.

the Westernization of movies isn't always a bad thing. it worked for the Magnificent Seven and the Last Samurai. however, in the case of DB, i think the amount of Westernization should've been much more limited.

 

[Robdixxo]

I think they coulda' done justice to it if the right filmmakers got behind it. With the backing of a Peter Jackson or the Wakowskis this film could have been brilliant. It wouldn't even be that hard to adapt. It's basically just a simple item collection story, with crazy characters meeting up and fighting along the way. There's no long, intricate history like LOTR, and its more down to earth than let's say Neverending Story or Hellboy 2.

Hellboy 2 had a budget of $85 mil and look at the special effects and creatures in that. Forbidden Kingdom was made with $55 mil and it's more DB-ish with it's setting and mix of comedy and action than DBE. It's just amazing that with DB's fanbase they couldn't have done at least as good a job as those two movies. LOL.

If The Last Airbender ends up being good, it's too bad they couldn't have hold off 'til that. It stars kids, takes place in an Asian-inspired setting and mixes martial arts with comedy, romance, and drama. A DB could have ridden off it's success. If it was indeed good, that is.

 

[Godman]

Japanese schools are tons different from ours.

Crouching Tiger was an EXTREMELY successful movie so why can't they keep the cultural difference in the movie which would actually put more of an authentic quality on it. That culture has it's own rich flare as does america and not EVERYHTING franchise based needs to be American all the time. It's time to start sticking to the original take of these movies. That was a prob I had in Batman Begins. I liked Liam Neesan but I would have rathered Batman fight the middle eastern character in the comics which would have broadened the horizons.

Dragon Ball could have been so beautiful but i guarantee you this movie will fail just because of that aspect of cultural rapage.

 

[MoPlaYa]

It's an ASIAN franchise ADAPTED by America, trust it to be america to steel yet another thing fromn another country, twist up and add their own western flare to it. They did it to the Natives, mexicans, blacks, Arabs, and now DRAGONBALL LOL...it's what they do. The sly FOX.

I believe Fox bought the rights..They didnt steal them...I think Japan needs to do thier own DB movie.

 

[CrashNburn]

Well they westernised shenlong. In fact it could be argued shenlong doesn't exist in this film because I dont recall his name being mentioned. Could be wrong though.

References to Journey to the West have gone.

Does Goku, sorry Chatwin, use his power pole? I haven't seen this in the reviews so far.

The high school setting is American.

Now serve all of this back to a Japanese audience they must be thinking was any of this really necessary.

how do you "westernize" a dragon? by making him small and not calling his name?! i dont get it. please explain.

 

[Orb]

how do you "westernize" a dragon? by making him small and not calling his name?! i dont get it. please explain.

Porbably talking about his horns on his head. Oh and they do mention his name.

 

[TheVileOne]

DorkyFresh. The flaw in your argument is that Asia LOVES Western movies and Western movie stars.

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are practically the emperors of Japan.

 

[Orb]

DorkyFresh. The flaw in your argument is that Asia LOVES Western movies and Western movie stars.

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are practically the emperors of Japan.

I Sense the Dark Side in you!

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

how do you "westernize" a dragon? by making him small and not calling his name?! i dont get it. please explain.

European dragons are much different than Asian dragons. They are fatter with big wings and long arms and feet.

Asian dragons have long snake lake bodies, no wings and short legs.

I have no idea what the one in the movie looks like.

 

[DorkyFresh]

DorkyFresh. The flaw in your argument is that Asia LOVES Western movies and Western movie stars.

true, but those are cases that it's a Western franchise or a Western idea. DB, however, is a very Asian franchise and idea that Fox Westernized with the idea of attracting more Americans.

 

[TheVileOne]

I don't think the movie has a dragon.

Fox doesn't like stuff like that. Giant robots. Dragons. Devourers of worlds.

 

[TheVileOne]

true, but those are cases that it's a Western franchise or a Western idea. DB, however, is a very Asian franchise and idea that Fox Westernized with the idea of attracting more Americans.

They ate up The Last Samurai more than America did. And the very idea of The Last Samurai is something they should find sort of offensive.

 

[Ryo Jin]

It has Shenron alright, just very short lived and totally lame.

 

[DorkyFresh]

They ate up The Last Samurai more than America did. And the very idea of The Last Samurai is something they should find sort of offensive.

Dances with Wolves in Japan? why would that be offensive? regardless...the Last Samurai isn't an Asian franchise that was Westernized in order to appeal to Americans. it was an American production about Asian culture.

 

[TheVileOne]

A white guy saving Japan and being the last samurai.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

A white guy saving Japan and being the last samurai.

Also the samurai being the good guys.