A Chinese Odyssey Parts 1 and 2 (1995) Blu-ray (Shout Select)

[MifuneFan]

Shout! Factory will be release A Chinese Odyssey Part 1 (Pandora's Box) and Part 2 (Cinderella) (1995) on Blu-ray tentatively in February!

https://shoutfactory.com/collections...ssey-parts-1-2

https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Odyss.../dp/B0DNKKWCZG

Bonus Features for Blu-ray

DISC ONE: A CHINESE ODYSSEY PART 1 – PANDORA’S BOX (1995)

• Audio: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW "The King Of Cantonese Comedy" – Interview With Gary Bettinson, Editor Of The Book The Cinema Of Stephen Chow
• NEW "An Odyssey Of Ambition" – Interview With Hong Kong Academic And Filmmaker Gilbert Po
• NEW Audio Commentary With Frank Djeng Of The New York Asian Film Festival
• Interview With Director Jeffrey Lau
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

DISC TWO: A CHINESE ODYSSEY PART 2 – CINDERELLA (1995)

• Audio: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW “Vision For An Odyssey” – An Interview With Cinematographer Ray Wong
• NEW "A Cult Film Crusade" – An Interview With James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks
• NEW Audio Commentary With Frank Djeng Of The New York Asian Film Festival
• Interview With Director Jeffrey Lau
• Image Gallery

Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) stars in this comedic and action-packed two-part adaptation of Journey to the West, a classic 16th century Chinese novel. Directed by Jeffrey Lau (Out of the Dark), this two-disc set includes both feature films together in the North America for the first time: A Chinese Odyssey Part 1: Pandora's Box A Monkey King is reincarnated in the unhuman form as Joker, a highwayman oblivious to his original identity and the fact that 500 years earlier, he and his master, the Longevity Monk, were punished and made to stay human. A Chinese Odyssey Part 2: Cinderella The convoluted continuation of the adventures of the time-traveling, now-human Monkey King, who attempts to fulfill his divine destiny.

[fred25_Ca]

Holy crap, that's awesome!!! Been dying for anyone to release Chow's vast filmography over here and shout! Overly expensive site exclusive was not it for me. These thought are wonderful movies, really glad this is NOT a site exclusive.
I'm still hoping for some sets like they did for Sonny Chiba and Jackie Chan. Chow would be perfect for those.

Great great news!

[GenPion]

These are two of my favorite films. I used to have the Hong Kong Blu-ray edition and ended up selling it at one point when I needed to raise some funds. I always hoped for an English friendly U.S. release.

The Hong Kong edition has terrible quality subtitles, some of the worst quality subtitles I have seen for my import purchases, so I look forward to the new subtitles on the North America release.

[fred25_Ca]

Hopefully this is the start of an avalanche of Chow releases over here!

[Fausti1969]

Have the HK Blu-ray but would gladly upgrade for decent extras and better subtitles.

[DukeTogo84]

Very nice news to wake up to. Figured these were coming and hopefully more Stephen Chow in the future. We need a US release of The Royal Tramp films.

[FoxMachine]

These are Dragon Dynasty movies, so if Shout can get these, then they could potentially get stuff like God of Cookery too! That's probably my favorite Chow movie, and it's in desperate need of new subs and a full release somewhere.

[MifuneFan]

Now up at SF with a great list of extras.

Bonus Features for Blu-ray

DISC ONE: A CHINESE ODYSSEY PART 1 – PANDORA’S BOX (1995)

• Audio: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW "The King Of Cantonese Comedy" – Interview With Gary Bettinson, Editor Of The Book The Cinema Of Stephen Chow
• NEW "An Odyssey Of Ambition" – Interview With Hong Kong Academic And Filmmaker Gilbert Po
• NEW Audio Commentary With Frank Djeng Of The New York Asian Film Festival
• Interview With Director Jeffrey Lau
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

DISC TWO: A CHINESE ODYSSEY PART 2 – CINDERELLA (1995)

• Audio: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW “Vision For An Odyssey” – An Interview With Cinematographer Ray Wong
• NEW "A Cult Film Crusade" – An Interview With James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic At easternKicks
• NEW Audio Commentary With Frank Djeng Of The New York Asian Film Festival
• Interview With Director Jeffrey Lau
• Image Gallery

[benricci]

Super excited about this one. Been waiting so long for a release featuring decent English subtitles. This looks stacked!

[Scottie]

Janus used to have the rights to A Chinese Odyssey 2002. I'm curious if that is still the case. If so, maybe a 2025 Criterion release to coincidence with these releases?

[Shogun MacArthur]

So awesome to have Stephen Chow movies rolling out. Could we please get a God of Gamblers collection too?

[hazelwu]

Great for Shout's second set of Chow's titles.

[MifuneFan]

Looks like Chinese Odyssey 2002 is with Kino

https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/113867

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Looks like Chinese Odyssey 2002 is with Kino

https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/113867

Kino released it on DVD, but it's actually been up on the Criterion Channel with the Janus logo at the start for a few years. Same with The Eagle Shooting Heroes (both are Wong Kar Wai-produced, Jeff Lau-directed comedies). So I'm thinking Jet Tone/Block 2 made a deal with Janus when they did The World of Wong Kar Wai box set.

I haven't seen Chinese Odyssey 2002 (the version on Criterion Channel has Tony Leung dubbed in Mandarin so I turned it off), but as far as I know it doesn't have much to do with A Chinese Odyssey Parts 1 & 2, but there was a Part 3 released in 2016.

[fred25_Ca]

Imo, the only other Chinese Odyssey that matters is Chow's own Journey to the West from 2013. I wouldn't say no to that one. I had zero expectations, since I had been so disappointed by Chow's CJ7 and on top of that he doesn't even play in Journey. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised and ended up loving it. I wonder who owns that one nowadays? I saw it on Netflix nearly a decade ago.

[FoxMachine]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Imo, the only other Chinese Odyssey that matters is Chow's own Journey to the West from 2013. I wouldn't say no to that one. I had zero expectations, since I had been so disappointed by Chow's CJ7 and on top of that he doesn't even play in Journey. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised and ended up loving it. I wonder who owns that one nowadays? I saw it on Netflix nearly a decade ago.

I have it! It's got some nice moments for sure. Look into "Demons Stirke Back", the official sequel. Chow is involved, supposedly as both writer and producer, but it's an awful movie. The entire cast is replaced (save for one, but that's only a cameo) and it's just very very unfunny compared to Journey to the West or stuff like The Mermaid (which i have a real soft spot for, even if that is no Kung Fu Hustle)

[AnimalCMan]

Watched these for the first time yesterday and have to admit, I was kind of disappointed. I didn’t find either to be bad, but I’d been hearing about these for years as some of Chow’s best. They’re also highly rated on IMDb and Letterboxd. However, my feelings after watching them was they were just okay.

I am not overly familiar with Journey to the West, though from what I read this is a very loose adaptation, still I found both films to be a little hard to follow at times. I was able to follow them enough to still get a basic understanding of the plot, but it just felt kinda messy to me, certainly not up to the level of Chow’s best films. Nor did I find these as funny as his best.

Maybe I need to give them another watch? Just curious what those here who have seen these think of them.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by AnimalCMan

Watched these for the first time yesterday and have to admit, I was kind of disappointed. I didn’t find either to be bad, but I’d been hearing about these for years as some of Chow’s best. They’re also highly rated on IMDb and Letterboxd. However, my feelings after watching them was they were just okay.

I am not overly familiar with Journey to the West, though from what I read this is a very loose adaptation, still I found both films to be a little hard to follow at times. I was able to follow them enough to still get a basic understanding of the plot, but it just felt kinda messy to me, certainly not up to the level of Chow’s best films. Nor did I find these as funny as his best.

Maybe I need to give them another watch? Just curious what those here who have seen these think of them.

I watched them 20 years ago during a 30 or so Stephen Chow marathon and they were some of the highlights for me. It's been too long but I do remember the ending being very good. I'm pretty excited to revisit them!

[CrimsonLegionVMCXIX]

I'm looking forward to watching these. I enjoy the Journey to the West/Sun Wukong story. I loved Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and own the blu-ray. I even liked all three Monkey King films, and Wu Kong: Immortal Demon Slayer with Eddie Peng. Sometimes, I'll even watch those Chinese Streaming movies with Wukong in them, although they vary wildly in quality.

I remember my first introduction to the whole Wukong story was a game called Monkey Magic for PS1. Loved that game.

In any case, I just bought these movies and looking for the right time to watch them, and I will do so watching them one after the other.

[eledoremassis02]

How do the English subtitles compare to the HK bluray?