Iron Monkey Questions and Comments
 

I rented the US release of Iron Monkey and watched it last night. I also have the MegaStar DVD from Hong Kong. I was avoiding seeing it in the theater and buying the DVD because I had heard all these horror stories about it being all cut up and redubbed and given new sound with a rap/techno soundtrack. Nothing could be further from the truth. The transfer first of all was stunning. So clean and beautiful. Makes my MegaStar DVD look like crap and it's no slouch. I haven't seen the HKL DVD, but apart from being anamorphic and a cleaner print - I've heard it looks a bit yellow... of course the extras are with the HKL disc. Back to the US disc though - I felt the music to be fitting and good, I thought the voice acting for the Cantonese dub was pretty good and it sounded like the original to me... I haven't watched my MegaStar DVD in awhile, so I can't say. The subtitles are easy to read and make sense. Only a few things changed that i noticed. "Wonder Palm" became "Buddhist Palm" or something... and a few other's I can't think of now. I don't know about running time or if there were any cuts or not cuts or whatever, but if there were then they were needed. I really didn't miss anything watching this US version. It seemed to be better somehow and I don't know what they did or how they did it, but it totally revived the flick for me. I'm gonna buy the R1 DVD of it now. Anyone know what if anything was changed for this R1 release of Iron Monkey? One thing I can say is the english dub (which I listened to for a bit) is horrible and I much prefer the MegaStar english dub for comedic value. Anyone able to compare the HKL disc to the R1 disc?

I have not seen the R1 for the same reason you were hesitant to. I was afraid it was too cut, and slaughtered. Now you make me want to rent it.

The only version I have seen is the MegaStar. I recently got the HKL DVD, but am backlogged on my viewing (you can understand ;))...

I would like to here a comparison too. This might be another two-fer in my collection. I sold my MegaStar, when I got the HKL. It might be HKL & R1....

Awaiting responses.....

I have the HKL and I don't want to spend $4 to rent the R1. :)

I think there is about 2 min worth or stuff cut out. The only part i remember being cut was the part where Master Fox & Wong Kei-Ying are eating food together on the roof whoile having a short discussion.

I also know that there was some CGI used to touch up some special FX.


I agree that this movie wasnt heavily cut but the next couple of titles from the Mirahacks bozo's will have quite a bit of footage cut from them.

Shaolin Soccer - will have like 20 minutes cut from it. Current rumor is that it will be dubbed but may have a hip/hop score.

Legend of Zu - is dubbed only and has been (i think) by 20 minutes as well.

So i think my inital theory was correct, the only reason Iron Monkey got the treatment it did was because someone releated to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" worked on it.

It is the original Cantonese dub, just the music was changed. Unfortunately, the music loses the Wong Fei Hung theme and leaves a few scenes, that previously had music, silent

A number of the subtitles are completely different.... as in not even close to being direct translation. For example, when Miss Orchid and Dr. Yang are watching Fei Hung practice, she says something about him being his first student and Dr. Yang says she was the first. In the Disney version, this is replaced with some talk about Dr. Yang's father. Another example is that the four righteous and witty rules are replaced with completely new dialogue.

Here is a list of the cuts I made. Most of these are minor, but a few are quite amusing (like the roof scene) and a couple leave the cut feeling abrupt (like when Miss Orchid comes to tell them about Fei Hung).

*After Wong Kei Ying eats with Dr. Yang and Miss Orchid and takes his leave to try find Iron Monkey, they cut the part where Miss Orchid gives him some buns to take with him.

*When Wong Kei Ying and Cheif Fox are eating and talking on the roof, they cut the part where the pan is blown off and someone shouts "Who blocked the chimney?"

*When Wong Fei Hung is going to sell the pills after leaving Dr. Yang's clinic, they cut his little kung fu demonstration before he starts selling the pill.

*After Dr. Yang and Wong Fei Hung leave, after being warned by Chief Fox that they are being sought after: The part with the villagers and the rice was cut. We see them just as Miss Orchid comes to tell them about Fei Hung.

*This wasn't an actual cut from the film, but they cut out a bit of dialogue. After the final battle when Dr. Yang and Miss Orchid see each other, and Kei Ying and Fei Hung see each other - they cut out the dialogue of Chief Fox saying "Why no one cares about me?"

*When Wong Kei Ying starts to cry when saying goodbye to his son, they cut him wiping the tear like his son does.

*Some of the part where Fei Hung is getting whipped is cut.

*Some of the fights have been trimmed here and there. Supposedly, this was done by Yuen Woo Ping himself to "tighten up" the fights. He mentioned this in an interview on the official site for the film's re-release.


So, while this is far better than most Disney releases, I am a little diappointed. The cuts are minor enough that I could probably deal with them for the improved video quality. But, the music change and the subtitle changes (for the worse) really turned me off.

I have the MegaStar (love the English dub on this one.. pure cheese), HKL (hate the English dub on this one..)

Sooner or later I'll pick up the US one if I can find it on the cheap...

roseart: backlogged? I have about 20 sitting waiting for me

I gotta say, I didn't mind any of those changes... normally that sort of thing would've bothered me, but in this case I found the new cut to be really good. It had a good flow to it. I've seen the MegaStar version about 5 times and I've seen that cut of it about 8 times. I could tell that a few things were different but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly... This version is totally acceptable to me and I don't think any of the changes made take away anything from the film. I'm certainly glad I have the uncut version, but I think the US version is great and I'm gonna buy it. :) Thanks for the list though - I guess I remember reading that list at some point because it looked kinda familiar as I was reading it.

I have at least 100... I win. :)

Give me 40 of them and we'll call it even :lol:

rotfl

Damn, I only have about 15... Off to place another DDDHouse order. ;)

:) I'll give em to you if you watch em and tell me if I liked em or not.

LOL. Thanks for the review Trigger, sounds like I may have to rent this and check it out myself...

I can't beat Trigger's unwatched pile. I've only got 40+ unwatched. :) (maybe if some of us are allowed to combine our score and gang up on him....?) ;)

I've got a measly 2 to watch. I don't order enough and my CC's always maxed out :(
Can I touch you? :p :lol:

I recently got the HKL DVD and really liked the movie. Kind of a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Matrix quality to it. As far as I could tell, the transfer is great - a sharp picture with good clear sound. And (remembering it a few days after I watched it) the subtitles were good and readable with few if any horrible translations. Because of this I'm looking into getting other HKL releases.

Question of the day: "...and what do all three movies have in common?"

Yuen Woo-ping :D

I posted this before and will say it again. The new R1 version of Iron Monkey is hands down the best. I also own the megastar version, and the HKL version (this is probably my favorite flick). Yeah, there were some cuts but they were minimal. The score was re-done but if's still solid. The picutre quality is amazing, and the audio is by far the best. The fights sounded sweet. If you already have an older version of Iron Monkey check out the R1 version. For me it was like seeing the movie again for the first time. Plenty of bass and surround action.

Umm, :hscratch: ... I know kung fu? :eyebrow:;)

:) Funny, I would have said that differently I guess...
Probably like "I can see that CTHD and The Matrix both have Iron Monkey flavors..." (Iron Monkey was released six years before The Matrix)

Tuh-may-toe
Tuh-mah-toe
:D

Cheers,
Gabe

agreed - 'cept I saw CTHD and The Matrix first, hence my frame of reference. glad to know someone reads these things.