'Shanghai Noon' kicks on video

In this story: 'Shanghai Noon' Jurassic DVD tip Rocky DVD tip RELATED STORIES, SITES

(Buena Vista VHS priced for rental, DVD $29.98, rated PG-13) 2000. Directed by Tom Dey; starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, Brandon Merrill, Roger Yuan, Xander Berkeley and Walton Goggins.

Jackie Chan continues to find new ways to incorporate his blend of humor and martial arts into cinematic story lines with the amusingly anachronistic Western comedy "Shanghai Noon."

	NEW VIDEO RELEASES
Releasing October 10: "Jurassic Park - Collector's Edition" "The Lost World - Collector's Edition" "Truman" "Love and Basketball" "Shanghai Noon" "Brady Bunch Variety Hour Vol. 1 (1977)

Chan fans will not be disappointed with Chan's use of the Old West backdrop, as he loads the picture with his usual massive dose of innovative lightning-fast fight sequences. Those not as familiar with Chan may also be mildly delighted by his broad humor, this time bouncing off handsome, high-voiced co-star Owen Wilson.

The thin premise that allows Chan to show off his stunts while aboard steam locomotives and in saloons, jails and brothels, finds Chan's royal-servant character traveling to Nevada to rescue his country's kidnapped princess. It's the standard-issue fish-out-of-water scenario that not only poses Chan trying to adapt to pistol-spinning showdowns and Western slang, but also to the peace pipes of an Indian tribe that wants to pair him with one of their own princesses.

Although Chan also includes the now required outtakes during the closing credits, gratefully there are fewer than usual and no wince-inducing outtakes of stunts gone bad.

Two more movies best suited to showcase the advantages of the DVD format have been released: "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (Universal, $26.98 each).

Both deliver the bone-rattling thuds and spine-chilling roars of the T-Rex dinosaurs in tremendous digital six-channel sound.

The video is sharp, though not always as vivid as one might expect.

Like most of Spielberg's films on DVD, these two offer no audio commentaries and only modest on-screen menus. The DVD version of "Jurassic Park" offers mostly the same supplemental material that was created for the special laserdisc edition of the movie released in the mid-1990s.

Nonetheless, the nearly one-hour documentaries that accompany the movies are among the best in that category, each featuring extensive and fascinating anecdotes by Spielberg and many other cast and crew members about the process and their experiences making the movies.

Although produced in 1997, the documentary on the making of "The Lost World" has never been released until now. Viewers will sit with Spielberg in planning sessions, stand next to him as he approves models and special effects, and get a Spielbergian-eye view through his own camcorder as he scouts locations in Hawaii. A desire by Spielberg to re-create the vibration he saw in his car mirror caused by the vibrations of rock music on his radio had sound effects people scrambling for days trying to figure out how to generate concentric circles in a cup on a dashboard to simulate the thump of the steps of the T-rex. (A guitar string was strung from the ground to under the dashboard and plucked by a man under the dash.)

For those who felt that the final 20-minute segment of the "The Lost World" was like a different film tacked on to the end of the first 100 minutes, it's revealed here that the script and storyboards initially called for a much more thematically consistent ending involving a dramatic sequence with a flying pterodactyl. That was before Spielberg decided to substitute a humorous segment he had been contemplating since production of the original movie.

"The Lost World" documentary also details how the gripping sequence with the cracking glass in the trailer hanging over a cliff was created.

Both DVDs also present teaser movie trailers for "Jurassic Park III" that reveal almost nothing about the new production, as well as Internet links to a site for the third cinematic installment in the series.

The new DVD version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (Fox, $29.98) is a double-DVD version of the double-laserdisc set released five years ago with innovative new on-screen menus. All the same fun extras are here, including alternate and deleted scenes and musical numbers, an audio commentary track by Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn, a comprehensive documentary on the evolution of the project from stage to screen, and three optional audience-participation prompt and viewing elements that allow home viewers to share and emulate the experience at midnight showings in art house movie theaters that have been going on for a quarter of a century.

New to this DVD are two recent programs shown on the VH1 cable network, a pop-up video version of the Meatloaf music video "Hot Patootie," and a "Behind the Music" program that provides recent lengthy and entertaining reflections by the cast members.

(c) 2000, Scott Hettrick. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

'The Lost World:' Been there, done that
May 24, 1997

'The Lost World' official site
"Rocky Horror Picture Show' official site
'Shanghai Noon' official site

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.