Bigger fans of the movie, assuming there are any, will want to seek out the deluxe 5-disc Premium Edition box set from Mainland China. The discs in that package are said to be coded in the PAL video format and will require compatible equipment to operate.

Video: I'll assume that the first disc of the Limited Edition is identical to the standard single-disc release. The movie has some wonderfully colorful and vibrant photography, which the DVD barely does justice. The picture is presented in its theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement, but is obviously sourced from a PAL-to-NTSC conversion. The image frequently becomes smeary during motion due to problems with blended frames. The digital compression quality is also rather poor, with a lot of blatant compression noise and shimmer in fine object details.

On the plus side, the colors are nicely reproduced, and the picture is fairly sharp in scenes without CGI, though some minor edge enhancement artifacts are present. Many scenes with CGI have been softened in an attempt to blend the effects better with the live action footage (it doesn't really work). In the end, this is a very disappointing transfer for what should have been a real eye candy spectacle.

Audio: The movie's original Mandarin language soundtrack is available in Dolby Digital-EX and DTS-ES Matrix options. Both are extremely loud and bassy, especially the DTS track. My wife stormed into the room on no less than five occasions to complain about the noise, until I turned my master volume down to approximately half of its normal default, which made the dialogue a lot harder to hear. Bass junkies may rave about the extended dynamic range, but I felt that the track wasn't well balanced.

I'm not sure why the studio bothered with the EX and ES encoding other than for marketing purposes. Not only does the movie not have much surround activity from the center rear channel, it has hardly any surround activity at all. I only noticed my surround speakers in use during two scenes. To be fair, both of those instances were extremely directional (one involved a sound swirling from speaker to speaker around the entire soundstage), but for the most part the rear channels are completely dead.

A Cantonese dub in Dolby Digital-EX has also been included. Optional subtitles are provided in either English or Traditional Chinese. The English subtitles are written in an ugly white font and appear half-in and half-out of the 2.35:1 movie image. The English translation is a little stiff in places but mostly coherent without significant grammatical problems, except for a couple of scenes near the end that are very confusingly written.

Extras: As mentioned above, the Limited Edition is packaged with some postcards and a costume sketch booklet. Disc 1 has no bonus features. The supplements are all found on Disc 2, and they're pretty underwhelming.

We start with Trailers and TV Commercials. There are two trailers in non-anamorphic letterbox and 4 TV spots. Optional English or Chinese subtitles are available for all.

The 10-minute Behind the Scenes featurette comes straight from the movie's Electronic Press Kit and is pure fluff.

10 Unforgettable Scenes is just about the most worthless special feature I've ever seen on a DVD. It is literally just 10 supposedly memorable scenes from the movie presented independently. That's it.

I wasn't expecting much from the Star Interviews section, but this is surprisingly the most substantive feature on the DVD. Eight interviews with the cast and crew are provided, each about 10 minutes long. Together they comprise a reasonably thorough look at the making of the film. Notable is just how arrogant Chen Kaige sounds when talking about the movie's story and themes.

Wrapping things up are several Photo Galleries for poster art, lobby stills, behind-the-scenes photos, and design sketches.

No ROM supplements have been included.

Final Thoughts: ...As eye candy it's worth a rental, but certainly not a purchase, especially considering the poor quality of the DVD.