The Hamilton Advertiser recently previewed the Dragonball movie, and despite all the negativity around the movie at the moment, they seem to be fairly optimistic about it.

Contrary to popular belief that Dragonball Z and everything that goes with it isn’t an important too anime is quite frankly rubbish.

Without it there would be no Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Full Metal Alchemist or Naruto. And it could be said that without it there may have been no Matrix or various other anime-influenced Hollywood blockbusters.

The Dragonball franchise was an enormous factor in popularising anime in the west and is now set to get its own movie, aptly named Dragonball.

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Goku’s actual origin is almost identical to Superman’s. Both are sent to Earth in a space pod as babies, both of their home planets are about to explode at this time and both have incredible, god-like powers. But other than that, both couldn’t be further apart.

Justin Chatwin stars as Goku and if anything is to be right about this movie, he’ll have to play him as Sean Schemmel played him in the animated series- funny, hungry, absent minded and underdog hero.

James Wong (Final Destination, The One, The X-Files) heads up the project as Director James Marsters, formerly of Buffy fame as Spike, is playing Piccolo and Chow Yun-Fat is playing Master Roshi, Goku’s teacher.

While the initial reception from fans has been one of dismay and disgust, if done right, Dragonball could well be the long awaited breath of fresh air the franchise is waiting for.

Read the full article here. Thanks to craigdbfan for informing me.

Also, as a reminder, James Marsters will be appearing at “The Rift” in London tomorrow. SFX may ask him your questions then.

Chow Yun-Fat’s dialect coach Gregory Charles talks about his work with Chow in the movie.

My work involved working with Chow Yun-Fat to help him get his pronunciation as clear and intelligible as possible. We did most of the ground work in Hong Kong and in Durango before filming began which was fortunate, because during filming, there was little time or energy left to do any extra work revision. During filming, my work required me to listen very carefully with my headphones to everything he said, making sure he did not drop any words and helping him to improve his pronunciation when necessary.

Mr. Chow is no slacker. By the time we began filming, his pronunciation was excellent dialog, not perfect but excellent none-the-less. Even so, work on my location was not easy. It required intense concentration to listen to every syllable of his dialog, note the areas that needed improvement, analyse areas which were within his immediate grasp or absolutely needed improvement and use the most efficient method possible to communicate the needed changes to him, all within seconds of completion of each shot. It was challenging and tiring but we did a pretty good job.

Mr. Chow’s work ethics are admirable. His dedication to his work is truly remarkable.

Within hours of confirmation of his role in the movie, he began examining and developing his character, and he spent considerable time working on his dialog. From confirmation of his role until weeks into filming, he barely slept as he considered all of the options for his character, an experience I shared last year when preparing for “They’re Playing Our Song.” He worked so hard and slept so little that he became ill just a couple of weeks into filming. But even sickness barely slowed him down. He rested for two days and went straight back to work, getting daily antibiotic injections until he was fully recovered, and regular vitamin supplement injections until filming was complete.

[Read more]

At least we know James Marsters isn’t the only one giving 110%.

Dragonball Movie Blog reader Spikesgurl posted part of the Q&A with James Marsters at Grand Slam. He talks about Piccolo, and some trouble with the producers. Needless to say, he’s still pumped for the role.

Ariel Shaw (300, Final Destination) is the visual effects supervisor.

A little over a month ago, I compared each James Wong film to give you a better idea of what movie style to expect. Then, I compared the fighting styles of different movies that James Wong, Stephen Chow, and 87Eleven (stunts) were involved in.

Today I will be doing comparisons of the cast. The purpose of this is to see their acting range, to give you a better idea of how well they can act as their respective character.

Justin Chatwin (Goku)
Although having “Super Babies: Baby Geniuses 2” on your resume isn’t something to brag about, Justin has also starred in some pretty good roles. In “War of the Worlds,” he played an annoying but realistic teenager, in “The Invisible” he played a teen who was killed and forced to walk around the world trying to convince people he was still alive, and in “The Chumscrubber” he played a foul-mouthed bully, a role which Ebert and Roeper called a “strong performance.” Take a look at a sample of his work in the television series “Lost.”

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Jamie Chung (Chi-Chi) posted 3 new set photos on her myspace page. We won’t post all of them because we’ve gotten into trouble with posting unofficial pictures before, but you can certainly check them out on her myspace if you have an account.

While this isn’t movie related, I thought it was a nice story. Movieland writes that 20th Century Fox donated to several charitable causes in Durango.

Thanks to Judith, for giving us the data of this note on the production of Dragon ball.

En el Siglo of Durango appeared this note which stated that the production of Dragonball donated several things for welfare …

Support Dragonball

The year began with very well for Liyame Foundation, which already received wide support in kind very important for the production of the film Dragon Ball that was filmed in Durango.

Thanks to the intervention of some brokers, which was part of utility, costumes, scenery and beyond donated to the foundation. Of course, we had the approval of the 20th Century Fox, which has distinguished itself by contributing to social causes.

As a result hundreds of Duranguense were intercepted tons of beams used in the shooting, which served to end homes of Durango. The utility equipment such as chairs, office supplies, desks, etc., was to equip the workshops, located on Avenue polytechnic, in addition to its administrative offices.

The big goal is to have a school farm, where people with disabilities have a decent place to live when they are in distress. And plan to schedule a monthly cultural event to enrich the spirit of its members.

Dragonball was recently discussed on a Mexican TV show. It’s all in Spanish, but we’ve got a translation below.

Translation after the jump.

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