Taoism Drunkard

Customer Reviews:

BUY THIS DVD TODAY!!!!!.......2006-12-09

Now first of all the picture quality is very good. Not remastered but the print was not damaged at all, just some scratches and speckling. The subtitles are actually ALL readable. After seeing the first person's review I was expecting not to be able to follow the story at all but I literally was able to read all of the subtitles except for the occasional word that was cut off by the sides. But since the movie is close to being perfectly letterboxed that issue only happens about 9 or 10 times.

Now the movie is a super wierd taoist flick that was a series of 3 movies that Yuen Woo Ping did. This movie was actually directed by Yuen Cheung-Yan. I haven't seen 'Miracle Fighters' but I can say this movie is not quite as good as 'Shaolin Drunkard'. The action is actually better but the story drags a lot more than 'Shaolin Drunkard'. Yuen Chat-Yor once again plays the young Taoist master and lives with his Grandma in their trap filled house. The Old Devil(Yuen Shun Yi) is on the loose and Chat-Yor is going to become the head priest and take down Old Devil. Yuen Cheung-Yan again plays the Taoist Drunkard who has got all kinds of tricks up hsi sleeve. So basically the story does struggle quite a bit but manages to remain fun and clever throughout the movie. The final battle with Old Devil definitely tops it off well. Don't expect great kung fu, just great weirdness. And of course beware of the Watermelon monster or whatever that thing is.

Do not buy this DVD .. .......2004-11-07

Rather spend your money on a different version of this film. The film itself is great, provided that you enjoy the type of humor which is showcased .. but seriously how could you not love the watermelon monster (aka the banana monster).
But the product is very flawed. My first complaint is the subtitles. I would have preferred the movie to be dubbed, as that is in the spirit of such old kung-fu movies to have them move their lips without the correct words coming out. But I can deal with subtitles, or at least properly executed subtitles, which these arent.
First of, there is the lack of black background for the white subtitles so they become completely unreadable every time there is a white or other light color in the scene. Secondly, at times you have to be a very fast reader to be able to get everything, since the subtitles have a tendency to disappear very quickly. Third, not everything in this movie is subtitled, so at times people are talking without subtitles. Fourth, the english used for the subtitles arent exactly what you could call perfect english, as there's many times where flawed english is showcased.
Now if all the problems with the subtitles wasnt enough, the sound is enough out of sync to irritate the hell out of you (or at least me). A good kung-fu fight isn't the same if you cant here the hits and kicks, which you can't on this DVD. In the kung-fu fights the sound of a hit is first heard directly after one of the people have been hit, and that tendency continues all through the movie.
Throw in the lack of bonus material (as the only bonus material is trailers) and there is absolutely nothing to appease me.

My verdict is that this DVD shouldnt be bought, and people who really want this movie (which I did) should rather look for other releases of this movie, since the movie it self is definately worth seeing.

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