Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins

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Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (新七龍珠　神龍的傳說, Xīn qī lóng zhū Shén lóng de chuán shuō^?, or New Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong) is an unofficial Chinese live-action remake of the first Dragon Ball feature film The Legend of Shenlong (known as Curse of the Blood Rubies in the English version), done in 1989. The plot revolves around a rag-tag group of heroes, led by Goku or "Monkey Boy", trying to stop an evil king named King Horn from using the Dragon Pearls to rule the world.

In order to conquer mankind and rule the universe, King Horn sets out to find all seven of the Dragon Pearls. With two of the seven already in the evil king's possession, it's now up to the remaining five owners of the pearls -- Monkey Boy (Sparkle is the Owner, Monkey boy his adopted Grandson), Piggy, Westwood, Turtle Man and Seetoe -- to destroy King Horn and his two powerful warriors, Zebrata and Malila, before it's too late.

[edit] Notable changes between the original and the movie

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The characters were given different names:
- Son Goku: Monkey Boy
- Bulma: Seeto
- Grandpa Son Gohan: Sparkle
- King Gourmeth: King Horn
- Bongo: Zebrata
- Raven: Malilia
- Oolong: Piggy
- Yamucha: Westwood
- Pu-erh: Ms. Knowwhat/Snowhite
- Kame'sennin: Turtle Man
- Pansy: Jade
Contrary to popular belief, the villains are not Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu. Instead they are the villains from the first animated Dragonball movie: King Gourmeth, Raven, and Bongo, respectively.
The film takes place somewhere in Southeast Asia, most likely Thailand.
Zebrata has a resemblance to Full Metal Jacket (also known as either Sergeant Metallic or Major Metalitron), both wears sunglasses. He may have been inspired by the Terminator as he exploded in the end, implied to have been a robot.
Seeto changes clothes at the start of almost every scene.
According to Sparkle, Monkey Boy is a descendant of Sun Wukong, the hero from Journey to the West (the inspiration of Dragon Ball). Learning this, Piggy claims to be a descendant of Zhu Wuneng, who accompanied Sun Wukong on his journey. Through the course of the film they treat each other as "brothers".
The Kamehameha attack appears in this movie, dubbed as "Turtle Shot" (as in the Chinese dub of the anime).