Dragon Chronicles (1994)
Tai Seng Video Marketing
Cast: Brigitte Lin Ching Hsa, Cheung Man, Gong Li
Extras: Trailers
Rating:

Recently Tai Seng Marketing released “The Dragon Chronicles” as an import disc from Hong Kong here in the US. It is an epic fantasy action film that takes you into the spiritual world of kung fu, where three sisters fight for ultimate power and domination.

The DVD features a widescreen presentation of “The Dragon Chronicles” in the movie’s original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio. There appear to be some registration problems with the source print, as the image jitters slightly on the outside in select scenes. The transfer also seems to come from a video source, as some chroma noise and color bleeding is evident in the transfer, as well as some signs of pixelation.

The DVD contains the movie’s Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital. They are rather well produced with some good surround effects and unobtrusive ambient surround information throughout. The tracks“ bass extension is natural and fills the lower end of the sonic spectrum without being overemphasized. The high end is always clear without distracting harshness. Unfortunately subtitles have been burned into the film and are not optional. Since Chinese and English subtitles have to share screen space, the letters are very small and given the little room available, appear and disappear very rapidly, which makes it hard sometimes to keep up with what is going on onscreen.

”The Dragon Chronicles’ is a fun movie with some nice wire-fu elements and a good romantic story with plenty of emotions and human elements. The photography is beautiful and very atmospheric showcasing exquisitely what makes Hong Kong fantasy movies so very special and unique.