Kung Fu Hustle Region 1 News (1 Viewer)

[PaulaJ]

From davisdvd.com:
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the worldwide smash Kung Fu Hustle on August 9th. Available in separate anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen editions, each with Cantonese and English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, extras will include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes & bloopers, the "Making Kung Fu Hustle" TV special, and an interview with Stephen Chow by Ric Meyers. Retail is $28.95. A UMD version also will be available, minus the extras, at the same price point.


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Wonder who's doing the commentary. I imagine a Region 3 special edition will be released eventually too -- the current R3 doesn't have any extras at all.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

You know, if you're open minded enough to see Kung Fu Hustle in R1, just go the whole way and watch it in Widescreen, OK? That Full Screen edition is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. What's UMD?

 

[BrianB]

UMD is the disc format for the Sony PSP handheld. A lot of movie companies are releasing films on the format.

 

[Andrew Radke]

So this DVD is going to be dubbed in English?? I went to see this in the theater a couple of months ago, only to be bombarded with endless subtitles. My eyesight is rather limited so it was extremely disappointing to have to 'read' the movie, which ultimately veered my attention away from the movie itself.

Perhaps I'll give this one a rent. It's just disappointing that they couldn't have used English dub in the theatrical release. That's $10 I'll never see again.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Sony usually releases Chinese films with English dubs included.

Personally, I'm glad that the subtitled version was released wide -- I can't stand dubbing. I find it much more distracting. (I completely understand that those with eyesight issues will feel differently, and with good reason.) At least the DVD will offer the choice.

 

[TomWoodward]

We've added the artwork here

 

[ThomasTreasure]

The commentary is likely to be Stephen Chow. An interview at premiere.com (I can't post links yet, but do a search on google for "Q&A: Stephen Chow") mentions that he can speak english, and in fact did his own english dubbing for Kung Fu Hustle.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Much appreciated.

As for Dub/Sub, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but I'm also glad it was released with subtitles instead of dubbing. It'd be interesting, though, to see what would happen if both versions were released and ran simultaneously. Which would more folks buy tickets for?

As previously stated, thankfully the DVD provides a choice.

 

[PaulaJ]

Chow speaks English quite well – I’ve heard him speak it in several interviews. In fact, he’s fluent enough that he can even crack jokes in English. He usually has a translator on hand, though, in case someone uses a word or phrase he’s not familiar with.

I hate dubbing so I am very thankful KFH was not dubbed for theatrical release in the U.S. I especially wouldn’t want a Stephen Chow movie to be dubbed! Obviously as a non-Cantonese speaker I lose out on all his puns and slang and allusions, but dubbing would also ruin his unique timing and rhythm, which anyone can enjoy.

Chow himself doesn’t like dubbing and has stated he prefers his movies to be shown in Cantonese – or in the case of KFH, Cantonese and Mandarin, since a number of characters speak Mandarin, not Cantonese.

I’m glad the DVD includes a dub for people who prefer that, but, like Shaolin Soccer, I’m convinced KFH would work better in its original language.

I think they’re dubbing it for European release, though. I had a good giggle watching the German trailer, with its German dubbed dialogue and Beethoven’s Ninth music track.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Don't judge us all just because the Germans, French and Italians dub all foreign movies. Us Scandinavians hardly ever dub, unless it is a kid's movie, and even then often both versions are shown theatrically .

 

[PaulaJ]

>I have the R3 DVD of this, it has separate Cantonese and Mandarin soundtracks. I can't tell which language each characters speaks, but I assume some of them would be dubbed on either soundtrack, right ? Cantonese seems to be the original, it is in DD and dts.

Kung Fu Hustle's original Cantonese language track (which is as you say both DD and DTS on the R3 DVD) is actually a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin -- I think approximately 35 percent of the dialogue is in Mandarin.

The Mandarin soundtrack, however, is all Mandarin, except for a few words of English spoken by Donut, the noodle and congee man. Chow did not do the Mandarin language dubbing for his character, although he does speak it somewhat. If you want to hear him speaking Mandarin, watch Shaolin Soccer. All his dialogue with Vicky Zhao is in Mandarin.

>Don't judge us all just because the Germans, French and Italians dub all foreign movies.

Sorry! I never meant to.

>Us Scandinavians hardly ever dub, unless it is a kid's movie, and even then often both versions are shown theatrically .

We've pretty much given up dubbing in the U.S., too. I can't remember the last time a dubbed movie was released here, not counting Japanese anime, like (sadly) Miyazaki's films. (Satoshi Kon's anime have been released here undubbed, fortunately.) I'm assuming this is because they figure kids will want to see these movies, esp. Miyazaki's, and they will have problems reading subtitles. At least Disney has the decency to include the original Japanese soundtrack on the Miyazaki DVDs -- though they had to be prodded by the fans to do so.

By the way, the U.S. version of KFH is a bit nipped and tucked. A few of the more bloody shots were either removed or digitally altered from the original Hong Kong version released on that Region 3 DVD. (Mainland China also got the less-bloody version.) If anyone's interested, I can dig up the list of changes.

 

[Adam Portrais]

I'm glad it was or I would have been pissed. Isn't it funny how the PSP uses a "Univercail Media Disk" and yet it only works on a PSP. Tack up another one for Sony.

 

[Mathew B]

I wouldn't mind seeing them, please.

 

[Ian_H]

Mathew B said:


For me it would have been disappointing to see it dubbed. Actually if it was dubbed I wouldn't have seen it all. I hope my eyesight doesn't get any worse than it already is or I might have to start learning cantonese and mandarin. Just like "foolscreen" releases I avoid dubbing at all costs.

--Ian

 

[Richard Kim]

Chow's Shaolin Soccer has the original language track as well.

 

[Ian_H]

Oh yeah I forgot that one. I was pretty sure there was at least one more that Mira-Axe got right.


--Ian

 

[Daniel Windsor]

I'll be sticking with that

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Daniel --

What's included in that set? What region? English subtitles?

Inquiring minds need to know!

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I bet Ric Meyers is doing the commentary track. Hasn't he done several for Tai Seng?

 

[Ian_H]

Aaron,


Here is a link to some details about that release:

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID....qx/details.htm

HKflix.com can't sell it anymore to US addresses but you can read about it.

--Ian