Dragon Ball is undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest anime and manga franchise ever made. Even those who aren't into the medium instantly recognize Akira Toriyama's "dragnum" opus, with multiple generations being exposed to Son Goku and his friends. This has led to all sorts of merchandise and adaptations, with the high-octane action of the series making it perfectly suited for video games. Unfortunately, one area where the series has eternally struggled is live-action.
Beyond the infamous American adaptation Dragonball: Evolution, there were also two Asian live-action productions that similarly failed to do the material justice. This all seemingly illustrates that it's impossible to adapt Dragon Ball into live-action, or at least it was then. The grandiose universe of the series requires a dedication to accuracy and budget as powerful as a Super Saiyan, and these combinations are incredibly hard to find.
All Live-Action Dragon Ball Movies So Far Have Been Cheaply Made
The bootleg Taiwanese and Korean Dragon Ball movies weren't officially licensed adaptations, and it shows. These films were incredibly low budget, likely owing to their respective national cinema industries being nothing compared to the production machine of Hollywood. Of course, they were more adaptations of the original Dragon Ball than its more outlandish sequel Dragon Ball Z, but the cheapness and inability to accurately bring the story to life was obvious.
Then there's the universally loathed Dragonball: Evolution, which, while made by 20th Century Fox, lacked much in way of Hollywood polish. Made on a mere $30 million budget, this simply wasn't enough to bring the world of Akira Toriyama's creation to life. Of course, the movie itself opted for a more mundane and grounded take on the material, but when it did veer into the fantastic, it looked pretty terrible. Even the characters themselves were fairly unrecognizable, with Goku looking nothing like what fans imagined.
It's important to note that it isn't just the attacks and fights that make Dragon Ball so fantastic: the world itself is full of monsters, aliens and even dinosaurs, so something more realistic will end up disappointing fans. However, there's still a chance to make something good in live-action with Dragon Ball, and the trail has been blazed by superhero movies.
Man of Steel Is the Best Dragon Ball Movie Ever
The epic fights and over-the-top action of Dragon Ball were finally brought to life in live-action, although it was ironically through the American superhero that fans usually dream of fighting Goku. The 2013 film Man of Steel was a much darker version of the Superman character, and the action was far beyond anything that the previous movies could have done. These fights featured blistering speed, inhuman strength, barrages of blows and inhuman destruction. It not only brought much of the action from the comic books to life but also demonstrated that the ki-powered action of Dragon Ball Z could work in some way in live-action.
Dragon Ball Z features the same elements in its battles, pitting post-human and non-human combatants in fights that make typical shonen series skirmishes look like arm-wrestling matches. Of course, Man of Steel had an actual blockbuster budget -- over six times that of Dragonball: Evolution. Something close to that would be needed for a Dragon Ball Z adaptation to look good and do the material justice.
Of course, with the stink of Evolution still strong in the air for studios and fans alike, that's not happening any time soon. Money is only part of the equation, with the tentative filmmaker needing to actually want to adapt the source material and not simply ground it in easy-to-make realism. Doing so might increase the budget even further, but practical effects could and should also be employed.
Likewise, even when Japanese filmmakers make their usually more faithful live-action anime adaptations, they rarely look good, with the special effects used to bring certain elements to life being far under the Hollywood standard. Thus, it seems that the likelihood of a good live-action Dragon Ball movie being made is a wish worthy of Shenron himself, but the right budget and director could pull it off.