Matt Stevens

I keep reading conflicting posts. For every person that says the extended cut is properly subtitled, someone else says it is DUBtitled? What's the truth already?!

NestoJR

umm... if you're talking about the region 1 (US release) of Shaolin Soccer theres both versions. The original theatrical cut (no english dub... I dont' think...) and the edited US version (dubbed or original chinese track).

there is no extended version. the us version is severely edited, about 15 min at the least. Most likely things they thought the american audience wouldn't get, to quicken the pace of the movie and for some odd reason, the important opening scene. oh and they also changed the "Golden Leg" tatoo to english and the music in the film as well, or some of it.

I prefer the original version and I never listen to foreign movies dubbed. Imagine if you were in a movie and overseas they dubbed your voice.

Ian_H

It is extended from the original HK theatrical release. I have the original HK DVD from Universe and to get see the scenes like the Thriller dance number you have to hit the enter key when the soccer icon pops on the screen it isn't edited into the feature. As far as the dubtitling goes, it could be. The US version has a cantonese track and subtitles as well and it doesn't always match up. There was stuff in the subs that weren't in the English dub.

-Ian

Jay G.

The subtitles for the extended version of the film on the R1 is an odd mix of dubtitles, the original subtitles on the HK DVD, and some newly translated subtitles. The most obvious problem with it is that it doesn't translate the outtakes at all. However, while not an ideal subtitle track, overall it's not much worse than any other English subtitle track for this film. For a major studio release though it's very sloppy.

Matt Stevens

So how do the subtitles compare to the original Hong Kong release, which is now hard to find?

Jay G.

It's not hard to find, as long as you're looking outside the US. www.dddhouse.com has it, for one.

The subtitles on the HK DVD are mostly complete. The main thing they're lacking is translations of any signs, which the R1 subtitles do. Another problem is the woeful grammar on the HK DVD. Spelling errors and awkward sentences abound. Another problem with the HK DVD is that you have to manually prompt the DVD to play the extended scenes, which some find annoying.

One thing neither set of subtitles translates is that the first pro team Team Shaolin plays is called Team Tofu.