Xin qi long zhu

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.

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

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.

For those who whine about it being bad, just watch them other live action and tell me if you still think it's bad....it's dragon ball, its supposed to be comedy action packed with a bit of kinky adult stuff....

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.