Hollywood has proven many times that they have the uncanny knack to bastard-ize whatever original IP from the orient they can get their grubby paws on. One of the latest, and by far the worst, is Dragonball.
This live action adaptation of the iconic manga has apparently been in production for a while. Not only they decided to cast western actors in the place of the original, easternly characters (Justin Chatwin, the f*cking annoying emo son of Tom Cruise from War of the Worlds, as Son Goku), the producers saw fit to make it so that all the characters are almost unrecognizable from their hand drawn counterparts.
Point in case: in the early volumes of the dragonball saga, Goku will transform into a giant ape when he sees the full moon. In the movie, the giant ape has turned into a ogre from a dungeons and dragons game -
If the image above has not scare you away, point your browser here for the trailer. I have tonnes of respect for Chow Yun Fatt, but what in Pete's name is brother Fatt doing in this movie!?
Next up! Akira will be the next victim. Already there are news of the story being set in New York instead of New Tokyo, Tetsuo's name has been changed to Travis and god knows what other heretical "fixes" have they introduce to the movie.
The prevalent mentality of hollywood producers is that they know best how to make an already successful IP "better". While it is fair to say that for an adaptation certain changes has to be made to make it relevant to audiences today, that's not an excuse to arrogantly force those changes simply because you think you know better; As the old adage goes: if it ain't broken, don't fix it.
I shudder to imagine which property they are going to butcher next.
