Hollywood. Leave Anime Alone.

[Advent_Winter]

I'm really getting sick of all the live action "anime adapted" hollywood films that have come out over the past few years. The worst of it all was Dragonball, which I can't BELIEVE it's getting a sequel. Just recently, I went to go see The Last Airbender, which some of you may know is the live action adaptation of Avatar:The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shamylan (don't care about the spelling) and the movie was B-A-D, BAD. *sigh* Hollywood should just leave anime out of their idea bucket, because personally? The results never turn out okay. :/

[Erranty]

You have my vote. I never wanna see Keanu Reeves play Spike in Cowboy Bebop, and I never wanna see a Ghost in the Shell Live action without Mary McGlynn voicing Motoko.

[_Tri-edge_]

Oh, how the cruel hands of hollywood cripple our beloved anime. Why, it's positively criminal. :p However, some anime do have great potential of becoming live action movies. There are just several factors that effect weither or not the movie will be a pass or fail. Of course, not everything from the anime would be carried on into the movie, and there would be some changes and switch arounds to the story, characters, plot elements, etc. but then you have people getting pissed at that because of those few things being tampered with. In all honesty, people who expect to see a true to life detailed anime adaption hollywood movie where everything in the movie is the same as the anime, are lost causes, because a movie of that nature will never see the light of reality.

Another factor would be who's working on the project, such as directors, actors, producers, and such. Let's take Dragonball for example. Not a single actor, aside from Chow Yung Fat, was well known in that movie. The looks were way off key, and the acting and special effects were so kindergarden, that a small child would have better luck taking on the project and actually make over the original budget that it took to make the movie. Furthermore, the plot was complete sh*t. How could you go from an alien lifeform crash landing on earth, to a high school kid who just randomly obtains magical powers, and it's never explained how he got them? In retrospect, the only thing that was done right in this movie, was the naming of the characters, and that was probably the only thing Akira Toriyama was managing during production, since he was one of the producers for the movie. The only anime inspired movie I can think of that has actually shown some good results, is Transformers.

[AuraTwilight]

Last Airbender isn't anime. Shut the hell up.

[S1lentOp]

Last Airbender isn't anime. Shut the hell up.

This.

Anyone who actually saw that movie deserves to have wasted their money. Between it being a live-action film of Avatar and the fact that it was directed by MNS should have immediately told you it would be terrible. If you didn't see it opening night then you have absolutely no excuse.

[AuraTwilight]

Yea, the M. Night thing is really the big indicator, here. Hell, people, they played hard rock/heavy metal in the goddamn commercials. You're f*cking retards if you thought this would be good.


Last Airbender the cartoon sucks anyway.

[Red Frost]

Last Airbender isn't anime. Shut the hell up.

A: It's anime influenced enough to the point where it could get thrown into the Anime subforum (and actually HAS been) and not be moved to "Off-Topic Chat". (oh, and I don't care what it's classified as, I just enjoy it)

B: This is a discussion about anime-to-movie adaptations and solely not about the Last Airbender (DBZ was mentioned in the first post).

C: The Naruto manga (not anime) is discussed 3 threads down... as well as a number of other anime/manga influenced cartoons and graphic novels in this subforum of General.


I actually haven't seen either the Last Airbender movie or the Dragonball one, but after hearing how bad the DB one was, I'm a bit apprehensive about watching it. My sis told me that she heard in an interview with the guy who played Piccolo (I only know him as “Spike” from Angel/Buffy) said that originally he was going to be pink in the movie, and he actually complained that in the series Piccolo was supposed to be green. The actor had actually watched the series with his kids, so he actually knew about it, and he wasn’t extremely happy with how the movie turned out.

You sometimes have to change things just so you can fit it in a timeframe/appeal to other people. You’ll never get a movie that appeals to both newcomers to a series and diehard fans perfectly. The best you can do is appeal to as many as possible. There’s also an appeal that’ll only be present in animation, and live-action. And who the hell wants to see an exact remake of something? I mean, isn’t it fun to see how things develop differently when you know the general outline of the original?

I already really like Avatar: The Last Airbender, so even if I don’t like the movie, it won’t really change how I feel about the cartoon, so it’s not really a big deal for me. I mean the series already seems theatrical, what with the hour-long episodes and so forth. I can kind’ve understand how seeing something you love getting butchered suck, but it does bring more fans to the crowd. Sometimes the only people who **** are the really anal fans of a series, when the movie can be perfectly enjoyable if you aren’t a harsh critic. I remember hearing so much **** about how Juggernaut in X-men: the Last Stand. I went with a few of my uncles and I enjoyed it because I was a bit of an X-men fan (but not like a big one) and my uncles enjoyed it, even though they had grown up with the series and actually read the comics (I haven’t even SEEN an X-men comic). Just because a movie isn’t canon doesn’t mean it ruins what IS canon. The only problem I see with that is people mixing the fake stuff up during a discussion (or maybe trying to learn more about it).

I suppose another bad thing would be killing something with popularity. I’m not really excited to see Avatar, even though I keep hearing it’s “the greatest movie of all time” or whatever the hell. I was actually pissed off when people kept mixing it up with The Last Airbender and I couldn’t hold a conversation about it with them because neither of us could make sense of it. I was even used to calling The Last Air bender “Avatar”, but now I have to switch so people know what I mean if I ever bring it up (random gripe).

Oh yeah, I gotta ask… the Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel comment made me laugh, but is that actually true or anything? I’m not much of a movie-goer, and I don’t keep up with things that well. And wasn’t there already a Ghost in the Shell movie made in America? Or… maybe I’m thinking of "Ultraviolet" or whatever the hell. And whatever happened to that Blood: the Last Vampire live-action movie?

[S1lentOp]

A: It's anime influenced enough to the point where it could get thrown into the Anime subforum (and actually HAS been) and not be moved to "Off-Topic Chat". (oh, and I don't care what it's classified as, I just enjoy it)

Being influenced by something doesn't make it whatever it was that influenced it, no matter how similar it may be. Avatar is no more an anime than Totally Spies or Teen Titans were.

I actually haven't seen either the Last Airbender movie or the Dragonball one, but after hearing how bad the DB one was, I'm a bit apprehensive about watching it. My sis told me that she heard in an interview with the guy who played Piccolo (I only know him as “Spike” from Angel/Buffy) said that originally he was going to be pink in the movie, and he actually complained that in the series Piccolo was supposed to be green. The actor had actually watched the series with his kids, so he actually knew about it, and he wasn’t extremely happy with how the movie turned out.

You sometimes have to change things just so you can fit it in a timeframe/appeal to other people. You’ll never get a movie that appeals to both newcomers to a series and diehard fans perfectly. The best you can do is appeal to as many as possible. There’s also an appeal that’ll only be present in animation, and live-action. And who the hell wants to see an exact remake of something? I mean, isn’t it fun to see how things develop differently when you know the general outline of the original?

I already really like Avatar: The Last Airbender, so even if I don’t like the movie, it won’t really change how I feel about the cartoon, so it’s not really a big deal for me. I mean the series already seems theatrical, what with the hour-long episodes and so forth. I can kind’ve understand how seeing something you love getting butchered suck, but it does bring more fans to the crowd. Sometimes the only people who **** are the really anal fans of a series, when the movie can be perfectly enjoyable if you aren’t a harsh critic. I remember hearing so much **** about how Juggernaut in X-men: the Last Stand. I went with a few of my uncles and I enjoyed it because I was a bit of an X-men fan (but not like a big one) and my uncles enjoyed it, even though they had grown up with the series and actually read the comics (I haven’t even SEEN an X-men comic). Just because a movie isn’t canon doesn’t mean it ruins what IS canon. The only problem I see with that is people mixing the fake stuff up during a discussion (or maybe trying to learn more about it).

You really aren't comprehending just how terrible this film is. It has no redeeming qualities and fails even the lowest standards of every aspect of film making imaginable. Its aggregate review score on RottenTomatoes was an 8% approval and on Metacritic it was 20%. This film will forever be remembered, if at all, as an example of everything you shouldn't do when making and editing a movie. This review pretty much sums up what you need to know about this movie. Even if it were free, this movie wouldn't be worth watching for 15 minutes.

[Red Frost]

A: It's anime influenced enough to the point where it could get thrown into the Anime subforum (and actually HAS been) and not be moved to "Off-Topic Chat". (oh, and I don't care what it's classified as, I just enjoy it)

Being influenced by something doesn't make it whatever it was that influenced it, no matter how similar it may be. Avatar is no more an anime than Totally Spies or Teen Titans were.

I didn't say it WAS an anime, I was just saying it's harder to make a distinction that IT WASN'T an anime because it's so obviously influenced by it. Like how you mentioned Totally Spies (are they f*cking giving new ones now btw?) and Teen Titans. Not mad or anything, AT's fully entitled to loathe the show or whatever, as is everyone else.

Oh and my rant wasn't about the Airbender movie in general, just the fact that some people need to get over the little changes plots make when they get adapted to movies and so forth. From the sound of the review, it does sound pretty... awful... I'll still end up giving the movie a try though (probably when one of my young cousins buys the dvd or something). I actually wasn't super excited when the movie was announced, I was just thinking "Oh neat... hope it doesn't suck." I try not to listen to harsh critics too much, since most of them are paid to be assholes.

Gotta admit though... these guys are hilarious.
"When that foo' doesn't have a twist, he don't know what to do!"

[TheEnigma]

I would prefer if Hollywood would just leave my entire childhood alone.

[Kuukai]

Stfu about M Night Shamwow. Unbreakable was an amazing movie. He's been seriously losing his touch, though. The more movies he makes without Bruce Willis, the worse he gets...

There are good M Night Shyamalan movies and there are good adaptations of, well, comic books and manga at least. And there are also terrible adaptations of novels and scripts and wherever else "normal" film ideas come from. There's nothing inherently wrong with Hollywood adapting anime (or whatever), it's just Hollywood in general sucks 90% of the time. As they do it more they're more likely to finally get it right with something. There's nothing to lose, no one really remembers a bad movie. When was the last time you talked about the Mario movie? I know very little about the Cowboy Bebop movie, so I'm still enthusiastic about it, but once it comes out if people say it sucks it probably sucks. Very few Iron Man fans were booing Iron Man. A good movie is a good movie...

That said, even though M Night Shyamalan + adaptation wasn't a flawed premise, once they started white-ifying it I was probably out. That's why I was glad live action Eva died. It's not a weeaboo thing, it just doesn't make sense. It's just as dumb when they made the Nodame in Paris movie and all the actors were Japanese...

[marthwmaster]

That said, even though M Night Shyamalan + adaptation wasn't a flawed premise, once they started white-ifying it I was probably out. That's why I was glad live action Eva died. It's not a weeaboo thing, it just doesn't make sense. It's just as dumb when they made the Nodame in Paris movie and all the actors were Japanese...

This.

On the issue of Airbender, I could care less about whether the show it's based on had its geographic point of origin in Japan; that's not the point. Nor is the point whether the cast of the franchise is supposed to be predominantly Asian. But that they seem to have gone out of their way to make Katara and Sokka the only Caucasians in an otherwise Inuit tribe seems a little bit much.

[Akasu]

Something tells me Bleach and Naruto will be their next targets. With an international fan base as large as theirs, they're both bound to be placed on the big screen in live action. D:

As far as anime to live action sounds? I prefer watching Japanese live action movie adaptions of anime, like Death Note and Higurashi. I mean, doesn't that make sense?

The only anime inspired movie I can think of that has actually shown some good results, is Transformers.

Whoa....Pause. I could've sworn Transformers originated from America. :O

[Kuukai]

Transformers is an American cartoon based on Japanese toys. After its popularity there were some anime made, and the Brave Series (GaoGaiGar and the like) is essentially a spinoff, with designs from the same mecha designer.

Speed Racer was good, though.

In generally I agree Japanese adaptations are often better, but there's nothing preventing Hollywood from making an accurate movie without making everyone American. They've done it before. For Tora! Tora! Tora! They actually hired the guy who later made Battle Royale to film the Japan scenes...

[zaseo]

When Hollywood makes a anime based live action movie it almost always turns out to be an epic failure.

[AuraTwilight]

I don't know, Dragonball was in So Bad It's Good territory.

[MizuTakishima]

A: It's anime influenced enough to the point where it could get thrown into the Anime subforum (and actually HAS been) and not be moved to "Off-Topic Chat". (oh, and I don't care what it's classified as, I just enjoy it)

Being influenced by something doesn't make it whatever it was that influenced it, no matter how similar it may be. Avatar is no more an anime than Totally Spies or Teen Titans were.

This. SO MUCH THIS. Not to mention The Boondocks was created the same way Avatar was; (westerners gettin' Koreans to animate it for them) and you almost never see The Boondocks get called anime just 'cause it's not "asiany enough" :B

But anyway, I dunno; I kinda want them to leave anime/cartoons/video games alone, but the optimist within hopes that when my generation of anime/cartoon/game lovers starts directin' movies, it'll hopefully actually be decent because they were already fans of the original source material. (Then again, M. Night Shamallamadingdong was said to be a fan of the show 'cause his kids got him into it, so...)

I just. I just don't even know.

[zaseo]

This is what causes anime live action movies to be bad.

1. The plot have very little connection to the anime. This tends to lead a story that is nearly completely different.

2. The characters look nothing alike like their anime counterparts.

3. Horrid voice acting.

4. The wrong company sponsor things.

5. Bad directors who know not anything about the anime they're trying to make into a movie.

6. Lack of action.

There is more, but I'm leaving it at this for now.

[Akasu]

Umm, why would their be voice acting for a "live action" movie?

[Kuukai]

But anyway, I dunno; I kinda want them to leave anime/cartoons/video games alone, but the optimist within hopes that when my generation of anime/cartoon/game lovers starts directin' movies, it'll hopefully actually be decent because they were already fans of the original source material.

I think that would actually be the opposite. Have you met fans? Great people, don't want them writing for their favorite show. That was part of the problem with Eva, Tiffany Grant was spewing out bad idea after bad idea...