First up on our trip through extra features land is a full length commentary track in Cantonese with English subtitles from Stephen Chow who is joined by Lam Tze Chung (who played Bone), Tin Kai Man (the 'Axe Gang Advisor), and Chan Kwok Kwun (who played Brother Sum). Chow does the bulk of the talking, which makes sense seeing as this film was more or less his baby but the other three members have got some interesting things to add from time to time normally when their characters are on screen. The track is pretty much scene specific though it does wander off on tangents periodically. There's a nice sense of camaraderie between the participants that makes this one fun. Chow goes into some background on how some Triad activity gave him some ideas for the film and its characters and he also talks about many of the characters' motivations. Oddly enough, he talks about how the audience applauded during the 'red underpants' scene when the movie opened in Hong Kong, but he also details some of the sets and locations that were made for the film and he supplies some fun anecdotes about the people that worked with him during the shoot. There isn't a lot of detail on post production and the commentary doesn't really get too technical but it's a fun listen for fans and it is a worthwhile extra feature.

Up next is Behind The Scenes Of Kung Fu Hustle which is a made for TV special that was shown in Hong Kong around the time of the film's theatrical release. This documentary on the making of the film runs just over forty minutes. It's presented in Cantonese with English subtitles and it features not only a wealth of behind the scenes and on location footage of the film being made but also plenty of interviews with most of the people who appear on camera and a few who worked behind the scenes. Chow, clad in a slick British racing cap, talks about how he wanted his film to be about those times in life where it's hard to do the right thing, which pretty much sums up where his character was coming from in the film. Tsang Kan Cheong, who co-wrote the film with Chow, talks about how chaotic it could get on set sometimes with so much going on, and Chow discusses how it was to work with some less experienced actors during the making of the film and how it made it a different movie making experience for him. This documentary is spiced up with some interesting little trivia bits here and there that play out like a multiple choice questionnaire for the viewer that add a bit of fun to the proceedings. The segments on the fight choreography and the CGI scenes are quite interesting from a technical perspective and the bits on how the score was composed are also pretty keen. All in all, this is a very comprehensive look at the making of the film that plays out like much more than your average 'talking head' promo piece. It actually informs you about the making of the movie, rather than just trying to sell you on it.

Following the documentary are two Deleted Scenes. The first one is called Pig Sty Community Meeting and it is extended version of the scene where the members of the slum discuss the merits of being a kung fu master with Landlord and Landlady and it runs just shy of two minutes. The second deleted scene is called Meeting Brother Sum and it is an extended version of the scene where Chow gets inducted into the Axe Gang. He's given his pick of girls and introduced to a few gang members, but when he's asked to choose a lady, all he can see is the girl from his past. This scene is also just shy of two minutes in length. The quality of these two scenes isn't on par with the video quality of the feature itself and it looks like it might have been taken from a work print source, but it's all perfectly watchable and English subtitles are supplied.

Moving right along we find a feature called Ric Meyers Interviews Stephen Chow in which the writer for Asian Cult Cinema magazine spends a half an hour on camera with Chow discussing his career. Chow gives some details on his rise to fame in Hong Kong as well as the influence that some older Shaw Brothers martial arts films had on Kung Fu Hustle. This is a pretty interesting interview and although it's conducted in English, which isn't Chow's native tongue, the language barrier doesn't pose too much of a problem (the one or two times that it does there's an interpreter on hand to sort things out). Meyer's mentions how happy he was that Chow didn't use a hip hop soundtrack on the film, Chow counters that with the fact that he did try that, he just wasn't happy with the results, which leads into an interesting discussion on the tone of the film. Chow comes across as very amicable in the film, very gracious to be talking about his work with Meyers for the audience, and this interview is an excellent companion piece to the commentary and documentary supplied on this disc as it covers some ground that those two segments did not.

After that we're treated to a series of Outtakes And Bloopers. Clocking at a little less than five minutes in length, these are mostly just flubs that happened on set while the camera is rolling. They're mildly amusing and worth watching once but there isn't anything all that important contained herein. Still, it's nice to see them and this material is further proof of Chow's good natured sense of humor.

Rounding out the extra features are a decent sized Poster Gallery, a wealth of trailers and promotional spots for Kung Fu Hustle and a batch of trailers for other Sony DVD releases.

The highest grossing Hong Kong film of all time (at least in its native land) comes to Region One DVD in grand style thanks to Sony. The movie looks great and sounds great and the extra features are plentiful and more importantly they're quite interesting and a lot of fun. Stephen Chow may not be for all tastes and some of the humor will probably be lost on North American audiences but there's enough to love about Kung Fu Hustle to slap this one with the ol' Recommended stamp. If it hadn't been for the completely unnecessary cuts to the film, it would have ranked even higher.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.