Yeah like most adapted movies there will probably be a big climatic battle or disaster scene near the end.
But that's not what the movie is about, it's a mystery film based on an adventure game starring a Pikachu who is very specifically not a strong fighter and uses his intellect.
But you can't do that with Dragonball. Dragonball needs lots and lots of lots of fighting scenes and spectacle and big battles.
Thing is, I'm not entirely convinced that the setting of these hypothetical DBZ movies would be any harder pill to swallow than what you have in a typical cosmic superhero movie. On a purely conceptual level, Saiyan Saga is basically Man of Steel with more martial arts and mysticism (and a bit of an underdog dynamic) and less dour navel gazing bullcrap.
It also helps that the cookier elements of DBZ's Earth (like animal people and living dinosaurs) take a backseat in the Z part of the saga, to the point where they can downplay or straight up ignore some of them. The space stuff of DBZ is not hard to sell really, it's not too different from cosmic superhero stuff. The only things I can think of that presents any real difficulty are the afterlife segments that would have to be in a Saiyan Saga movie.
As far as the focus on action and spectacle goes, I don't think that superdudes beating the crap out of each other in big epic battles limits Dragon Ball's audience reach. It's a big part of the IP's appeal. If over the top action was a turn off to mainstream audiences, then every blockbuster under the sun wouldn't have a whole third act reserved for CG shit crashing into other CG shit.
Also another thing about Pokemon is that if it proves to be a success it is looking to be, you can bet that the follow ups will go whole hog into Pokemon trainer stuff and the like. This is them taking it easy in the beginning.
Lemme try and elaborate as best as I can.
Take someone like Goku, he's a manchild who is dumb as a rock most of the time, really likes to fight and has little to no social awareness.
His character is inherently very cartoony, there's nothing sarcastic or ironic about him, he doesn't make jokes or remarks or quips. That's just how he is partly to be funny and partly to be somewhat relateable to an incredibly young audience.
And I just really don't think that kinda stuff can really translate well into a live action format because the inherent exaggerated cartoony mannerisms of a manga/anime is part of how all of the above becomes endearing and not outright embarrassing to watch. Even the MCU movies as campy as they can be are still wrapped with a thin layer of irony and half the cast turn into witty wise crackers. One thing a lot of people fail to appreciate is how Dragonball effectively swerves from "look at these goofballs" to tense "holy shit there's no way they can beat this guy". I know it all sounds vague but I can't imagine them pulling off the contrast between the Ginyu Tokusentai being hyped up as these dark brutal warriors and then coming down being these goofy flamboyant dancing posers and then oh shit they actually ARE these dark brutal warriors as the big lumbering dumbass proceeds to snap a child's neck while his partners watch in genuine fear that they're about to be killed. I think that's too much to ask from a 2-3 hour movie that's also trying to fit within the limitations of live-action actors.
These are very convincing points actually. While the gag manga roots are very muted in Z, they are still very much there and would present a challenge to any adaptation.
Perhaps my belief in feasibility is simply overly emboldened by seeing positive reception towards a concept that was pretty much laughed off on paper by everyone here, including myself.
Whatever the case though, I'm sure we'll see for ourselves sooner or later. If someone snorted enough cocaine to greenlight that weirdo Sonic movie with Gangsta Paradise trailer music (to be fair Detective Pikachu is conceptually similar except it works somehow) and if someone else resolved to pull off fucking One Piece on a Netflix budget, then they WILL come for Dragon Ball sooner or later.
