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In the latest footage from Dragonball Evolution, there's a first look at a monstrous new enemy. Feast your eyes on the fury, along with production details, plot summary, and additional footage. Spoilers ahead!
Greetings Shenron — or at least the giant dragon that I assume is Shenron, who comes out to play when the seven dragonballs are collected on Earth. I believe the legend goes that when Shenron is summoned, the summoner gets one wish. On the plus side, this footage looks about a thousand times better than all the previous clips we've seen. Which puts it at about Scooby-Doo live action remake territory.
And here's the new French trailer for the film, which makes it sound smoky and sophisticated:
In addition to the footage we've got details from the set from Dragonball, straight out of the film's press book.
First off, Director of Photography Robert McLachlan explains how he created a special type of film for this movie,
which helped provide the heavily color-saturated look he was after. The color saturation adds to the intensity of the film’s solar eclipse, which in the story signals a potentially cataclysmic event. “We wanted our eclipse to be much more surreal [than a typical solar eclipse], with weird, intense, reddish colors,” says McLachlan.
But that's not all. The mystical dragon balls weren't really "real" after all, in fact Velasco Shaw, one of the top FX staff on crew explained that just about all of these balls were, for the most part, fake.
Also inside the press book as quite an interesting scoop on things actor Chow Yun-Fat wanted to do to change make his character more like Roshi, since he couldn't look like him 100%:
One of the many ideas the actor proposed for the character was donning gray-tinted contact lenses, hinting at the onset of cataracts. “I thought the lenses would add to the realism and relatability of Roshi,” says Chow, who also regularly practiced Tai Chi and mediation before and during the shoot.
The press book also includes a much more detailed plot summary:
Goku’s quest – with nothing less than the fate of our world at stake – begins innocently enough in the backyard of his grandfather’s home, where Gohan is training the young man in some exotic martial arts moves. It is Goku’s 18th birthday, and Gohan’s gift to his grandson is a Dragonball, a small, round ball whose surface is smooth and pearl-like, but with a milky translucence that gives it depth. Four stars float inside the ball. There are only six others like it in the world, and it is said the seven Dragonballs together will grant the holder one perfect wish.Connected to the legend of the Dragonballs is Goku’s own mysterious past – he never knew his parents – as well as the coming solar eclipse, which superstitions mark as a sign of a coming apocalypse. Gohan promises to reveal all to Goku at the special birthday dinner Gohan is preparing for his grandson.
But Goku skips out on Gohan’s feast, to attend a party hosted by Chi Chi, a fellow student to whom Goku is drawn. As the two teens get to know one another, a tragedy at home is triggered by the arrival of a dark force – propelling Goku, Roshi, Bulma, Yamcha and Chi Chi into a race to collect all seven Dragonballs. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Goku will face the deadliest enemies on Earth, master a powerful force called Ki, which marshals the energy of the universe – and learn the truth of his incredible past…and of a potentially unthinkable future....
One of the first steps in Goku’s journey is to seek out Roshi, an elderly Master who completes Goku’s training, helps him unlock the secret of his past – and joins him in a quest to save the world. Roshi is unlike any Eastern Master you’ve seen before; he has an eye for the ladies and favors Hawaiian shirts....
The burgeoning relationship between Chi Chi and Goku comes from, in part, them being kindred spirits. “Chi Chi is drawn to Goku’s secret ability to fight,” says Chung. “She feels there’s something really special about Goku, and she’s able to bring that out in him.”
Another beautiful young woman joining Goku in his quest is Bulma, a scientist described in the manga as the “smartest girl in the world.” The film retains the manga character’s confidence, intensity and intelligence – and the fact that she knows exactly what she wants. And what Bulma wants is the Dragonball stolen from her father’s company. Wielding a laser-guided, high-tech magnum pistol and a Dragonball-tracker, Bulma will do anything to retrieve the five-starred Dragonball, which she thinks will supply an unlimited source of energy – and immense financial rewards.
In their search for the Dragonballs, Goku, Roshi and Bulma face their adversary, Lord Piccolo... Working with Piccolo is Mai, an exotic beauty tainted by malevolence. Her weapons of choice are throwing knives known as shiruken.
Send an email to Meredith, the author of this post, at meredith@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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