Is new Shaolin Soccer DVD in OAR? (1 Viewer)

[Nathan McMahan]

Bit off subject, but is this another insertless title? I picked mine up from Best Buy and it did not have an insert.

 

[Jon Martin]

Actually, I see American movies every day that should have been edited down. A lot of films released this year would have been much stronger with 5, 10, or even 20 minutes cut out of them.

In the case of SHAOLIN, it is the equivalent of say a Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler film. A light comedy. I could understand a Carrey or Sandler film being edited for overseas markets, having regional jokes edited out or changed, the pace tightened up, etc.

Dubbing though, I am always against (although I guess it isn't a problem for overseas markets).

Look at Miramax with CINEMA PARADISO. They edited it quite a bit for US release a decade ago where it did very well. When they finally released the director's cut, just about all critics stated they did the right thing in editing it down. So, sometimes Harvey Scissorhands does a good job.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Before this thread goes up in smoke, I should mention Miramax didn't actually edit Cinema Paradiso -- that was done by the Italian distributor.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

The music is different in the Dance Scene? Danm I was about to get the new R1..

 

[CraigF]

I watched both versions yesterday. The PQ and SQ is very good, shouldn't be (m)any complaints there. Though I don't speak Chinese, I'm pretty sure the English subtitles (Chinese "original" version) are that, not dubtitles.

I am not exactly sure what someone meant about choosing between two sets of "subtitles", but choose Chinese with English subs and you'll be fine, though I suspect it might be funnier if you understand Chinese...or maybe not!

Watching the U.S. cut second is weird, seems (is) a different movie, but still not bad, if that was the only version. There are so many things that are wrong though, right off the bat seeing English writing/carving everywhere etc. looks so DUMB when the movie is obviously taking place in a Chinese setting (not that this is a realistic movie or anything...).

Aaryn: I'd still get it, can't verify the music issue though, it's a good R1 presentation. Get the U.S. version though, only because it's lots cheaper.

 

[Simon Young]

I'm feeling let down by the R1 version. Sure, the picture quality is better than the R3 HK release which I own - as it fixes a few glaring framing problems - but the sound mix on the Chinese version is horrible. Really overblown and distorted - just listen to the end credit music. On top of that, the subtitles do, indeed, appear to be dubtitles. Just watch a scene in the US dubbed version, then the same scene in the Chinese subtitled version, and you'll find them identical. That is, of course, until you get to the scenes that have been cut out of the US version. In this case, it appears that Miramax have simply copied over the dodgy subtitles from the R3 HK release ("Look. There are full of planes in the sky.") to fill in the gaps. OK, there are a couple of spelling corrections ("Chirst" becomes "Christ"), but that's what they've done. Lazy. Couldn't they just get someone to properly translate it this time?

Also, I don't understand some of the music changes in the US theatrical version. Why replace the music in the bar? It was meant to sound like a bad cover of "California Dreaming" - couldn't they get the rights or something? As for "Kung-Fu Fighting" and "Celebrate Good Times", don't even get me started. They completely cheapen the entire film. Boo.

 

[CraigF]

Well, we sure differ on our opinions. By the sound being good, I meant generally, and considering. If you compare it with a big budget action movie, well of course it's not as good. Perfect...no. Some perspective perhaps? I think you're missing the point of the bad subtitles, in that's one of the things most people like, and most people complain when they're changed to "proper English".

 

[Cassy_w]

Huh? I certainly don't complain about proper subtitles. I don't know anyone, personally or online, who wants the old translations with all kinds of spelling disasters. Everyone I know wants new, properly translated subtitles, something we very rarely get. :frowning:

 

[CraigF]

Ummm, some people have complained that English subtitles in some versions are not the original "incorrect" ones. Not me, haven't (knowingly) seen those...I don't care even when they don't make sense, I get the general idea. Just goes to show, when it comes to fans (which I'm not, in the stricter sense), you can't please them all whatever you do.

 

[Simon Young]

By the sound being good, I meant generally, and considering. If you compare it with a big budget action movie, well of course it's not as good. Perfect...no. Some perspective perhaps?

If you've heard the soundtrack on the R3 HK release, you'll know how good the movie can sound. If you haven't, then I suppose you've no basis for comparison. There's no "considering" about it - just because it's a Chinese film, doesn't mean it automatically has average sound. I think the DTS track on the R3 version is pretty good, even compared to a lot of recent R1 discs. By comparison, the Chinese original version on the new R1 release sounds awful. I don't just mean the fidelity of the sound effects, of the way they have been mixed in 5.1 - I'm saying that the whole track is distorted somehow. Just listen to the end credit song - sounds blown out.

I think you're missing the point of the bad subtitles, in that's one of the things most people like, and most people complain when they're changed to "proper English".

What point is there to miss? It's not as if the subtitles are deliberately bad. Sure, I had a giggle at them on the R3 release, and I'm keeping it for that reason. However, it shouldn't be too much to ask for accurate subtitles, should it? I mean, dubtitles are bad enough (far a number of reasons, which I won't go into here), but it really sucks that, where a dub didn't exist to go by, Miramax simply stole the badly translated subs from the R3 release. So the subtitle track is either (a) Unintentionally amusing, or (b) Potentially Inaccurate. Plus, certain lines aren't subtitled at all, perhaps because they don't exist in the dubbed version, and Miramax didn't bother to fill them in with subs from the R3 for whatever reason. Add to this that the pre-credit gag-reel isn't subtitled at all (which it is on the R3), and it's a pretty shoddy effort, wouldn't you say?

You may say "Well, you can't please everyone" and "I think you're missing the point", but I think you're missing the point that Miramax SHOULD try to please everyone. They're asking for our money, passing off a rush job as a proper subtitle track. By definition, subtitles should be as accurate a translation of the spoken dialogue as possible. These, I'm afraid, are often nowhere near. I'll be keeping my R1 version, purely because it doesn't feature the annoying pop-up graphics and framing errors of the R3, but I was hoping for something better. Maybe I'll use DVD Studio Pro to put together the R1 video track, with the R3 soundtrack and subtitles (spelling errors corrected).

 

[Simon Young]

It's the extended version, with the dance scene and pre-credit gag-reel.