DVD cover

The Legend of Drunken Master (US version of Drunken Master II)

Manufacturer: Dimension

Price: $25

Sound: Dolby 5.1

Format: widescreen

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English (captions)

Extras: interview with Jackie Chan and short trailers for the Dimension releases of "Shanghai Noon", "Project A", "Supercop", "Supercop 2", "Twin Dragons", "Operation Condor", "Operation Condor 2", "Crime Story", "The Legend", "Twin Warriors", "The Enforcer" and "Fist of Legend"

There are a couple of bad things right off the bat with this disc, starting with the horribly generic cover art and followed by Dimension's usual bare-bones menus. And, yes, the soundtrack has been changed. The new one works for the most part (except for a cheesy rock instrumental over the end credits), but I still missed the original track. The dubbing is good, most of the voices fit the characters well, except for Ho Sung Pak's slightly Scottish-sounding accent, and Jackie seems a bit out of place (via his own dubbing) with his broken English -- and some of the jokes definitely lose something in the translation. Also, the "retarded" ending has been deleted.

However, the picture and sound on here are great. I watched my old Tai Seng VHS beforehand and there was no comparison. The colors are rich and the print is pretty pristine. The new 5.1 mix brings the fights to life with thumping bass. While I don't normally endorse dubbed versions of HK movies, this one makes a nice alternative to trying to find a copy of a decent Chinese version -- if you can get it for cheap. With the lack of features and high price, this one's a rental only, unless you can snag it on sale.

Rating: **

For those that don't believe me on how generic the cover art is, check it out compared to the Rumble in the Bronx DVD and tell me that they're not at least a little bit alike. Jackie has the same shirt on and even the poses are similar.

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