gabegarwick

Word is that both of these films will now be direct to video in the US.

Zu Warriors release news...

Accidental Spy release news...


I was looking forward to Accidental Spy on the big screen too....

UAIOE

While i wanted to see "The Accidental Spy" in the theaters...this just gives me one better reason to just buy the current DVD and watch it that way.

As for why Zu Warriors being Direct to video...i can understand why.....

Orginally posted by Mister Gil on AsianDVDguide forum:

This review is based off a recent test screening that I recently attended for Zu Warriors (Disney's version of Legend of Zu). I must say that the experiance took a bit out of me, so it took me a while before I can finally write something. Anyway, I have got a lot to say so let me start.

Before anything though, I want to thank Vanian from www.loveandbullets.com for giving me the info on where the test screening was being held. Thanks man.

Now here I go:

First off, I want to say that without a doubt, this was the single worst experience that I have ever had watching a movie EVER! This means anytime and anywhere (my house, a movie theater, a friends house, airplane, etc.) that I have ever seen a movie, this was the absolute worst. Why? Well, for two big reasons:

1) The actual movie
2) The audience

Now, Legend of Zu was never that good of a movie to begin with, but Disney naturally worked their magic and have done the worst to this (and when I mean worse, I mean that this is their worst act ever). They have somehow managed to take a bad movie and make it worse. I am now totally convinced that they are only buying HK action movies to simply exploit it. Now it is not like I have never knew it before, but now to everyone else, there should be no doubt about it.

Looking back at when Disney released Iron Monkey in Cantonese, it started to become very obvious then. For me at that time, it was too much of a big coincidence that it came after Crouching Tiger. Crouching Tiger was a martial arts picture that was in a foreign language and that became a very successful film (critics and box office alike) here in the US. Then out of the blue, Disney's next release is a martial arts picture that is in a foreign language and just also happens to have Yuen Wo Ping's involvement (who worked on Crouching Tiger also). Notice that the new version that Disney released has a new score that sounds a little TOO MUCH like Crouching Tiger's. Well, with all of this in mind, people thought that maybe Disney was slowly catering to the fans and that maybe they would start releasing these movies in it's original language.

However at the recent test screening for Legend of Zu (or how Disney calls it, Zu Warriors), this to me proved that Disney only released Iron Monkey to cash in on the sudden success and interest of Crouching Tiger. You see ladies and gentlemen, at the screening, Legend of Zu was dubbed in English. I can honestly say that this surprised me a bit (because of the Iron Monkey deal and some reports about the fate of Shaolin Soccer). Naturally though, the English dubbing was bad. But this time, Disney went a step further.

Well, Disney decided that it was best to add a little flavor to this dub by giving EVER single character in the movie accents. But not just any accents. Disney thought it was best to give every single dubbed voice an ASIAN accent. This was done with so little taste that it disgusts me because it almost sounded like it was a parody. Hell, some of the accents were so thick that sometimes I couldn't make out what they were saying. Guys, this was bad. Really bad. It continues to get worse bad when I tell you about the cuts.

Just for those that don't know, the running time for the original version of Legend of Zu was 104 mins. This version started at 7:40pm and the credits started rolling at 8:55pm. The credits finished 5 mins later.

THAT'S 80 MINS INCLUDING THE CREDITS!! THAT'S A TOTAL OF 24 MINS OF FOOTAGE THAT WAS DELETED!

A lot of editing was done to this movie and a lot of things were different. Besides the names of the characters being changed, they also switched the narrative around. In this version, Zhang Zi Yi's character is the narrator and the movie revolves around her now. In fact the last shot of this movie (that is, before the credits) is with her (!).

What really made all of this worse was the audience though (which was the big reason why this whole experienced soured me very much). In general, THEY HATED IT! You can feel that the audience HATED this movie. In a way though, I can't blame them. You see for the most part, the audience was excited about attending the test screening. When one of the suits announced that the screening was going to begin the crowd applauded and it gave a warm feeling that they wanted to be entertained. However, since the version that was screened was so bad, that warm feeling went into a 180 degree change FAST! It was embarrassing to say the least.

First of all, there were walk outs. In a FREE test screening there were walk outs! Second, people were laughing at the movie (mostly because of the dubbing and the special effects). Third (and this was the worst), people began saying racist comments. I don't need to say any of them here, but if you are familiar with what ignorant people can be like about Asian's then you have a pretty good idea about what was said. I will honestly be very surprised if this movie is released in the theaters now. The reaction (frome one of the most diverse crowds I have ever attended with watching a movie) was unanimous. THEY HATED IT!

I can keep going on and on (and trust me I can go on and on) but I wanted to let you guys know about what was done to this movie and how this version was received. After the screening I was bothered very much by it (mostly due to the racist things that were said and how little Disney respects the HK film industry) and it took me a couple of days to finally write something because I felt drained a bit.

Matt Stevens

#1. Thank God these piles of sh*t won't go theatrical.

#2. Shame on Miramax for releasing the EDITED versions on DVD!! It is absolutely stupid beyond belief to do that.

khieng

Even though I hate Di$ney for their treatment to Asian films, I'm sorry to say that it was a wise decision they didn't proceed with a theatrical release of Zu Warriors. No offense to those who actually liked the film, but I think that 24 minutes cut out of the movie isn't enough.

eXcentris

Trigger

Legend of Zu is back on stock at DDDHouse for 10 bucks now that the release has been cancelled. How much did you pay for it again Gabe?

gabegarwick

Rub it in why don't you? I think with shipping it was $31...
But it's the special edition. Nice tri-fold with a slipcover, pretty artwork all around... still a poopy movie though. Beautiful visuals and nothing more... oh well.
Cheers,
Gabe

Trigger

Furious

31 US for the trifold bootleg? Ouch! About 10 CDN is what it sells for in the bootleg infested shops here.

gabegarwick

You mean I payed that much, and it's not even legit? Argh! <sigh>
Well, if that's the worst purchase I ever make, I'll be very happy I guess...

Trigger

You haven't put it in your DVD player have you? You know the bootleg Legend of Zu has a virus on it don't you? It causes all your DVDs to get premature DVD Rot.

Slumbering Fist

No surprise really.

I didnt have much interest in either, but Legend of Zu's fate was sealed for me, when I saw the preview before Brotherhood of the Wolf. It looked pretty bad, and the audience was snickering like crazy- and thats an audience wanting to see Brotherhood of the Wolf, one would think, the perfect target for promoting Zu!

As far as Accidental Spy, all accounts I've heard are pretty lukewarm, and Jackie has too many (more major) US features on the way, Tuxedo, Highbinders, Shanghia Knights, for them to flood theaters with more Jackie product.

axolotls return

The un-altered Accidental Spy with the International OST is a solid movie. Not the best or worst Jackie, but a solid entertainer. The dts soundtrack is very very pleasant on the HK DVD.

The un-altered Legend of Zu... well the audio and visuals are spectacular.