Ashes Of Time Redux: HK DVD by Sony (Limited Deluxe Gift Edition)

Yes, this will be my first review of a DVD. And I'm only doing this because the edition we talk about is a collectors' item. The DVD itself contains nothing special, therefore I won't go into detail here. It's simply the movie and the bonus features we all know from other international releases. Common stuff! The physical bonus products we get are definitely more interesting: Beautiful packaging, a 3-frame film cell and an A4-size 36-page photo booklet.

PACKAGING
The DVD and the film cell are housed in a thick cardboard box. I suppose there is also little magnet in it to ensure that the box stays closed when you want it to. Although it's certainly not that special, it's the nicest packaging of AOTR I have seen yet.

PHOTO BOOKLET
The thing I was looking forward to the most was the photobook. Unfortunately, it's not as good as expected. Being A4-sized, it's rather large. Big plus! BUT: The paper used is clearly not the best for a photobook. Black always looks like dark grey... Can be pretty annoying, as it makes contrast suffer on many pictures. I would have also liked to see some pictures I had never seen before... Well yes, there are some, but not too many. The booklet itself is parted into the 4 seasons, just like the movie. There are also some excerpts from the movie, but I can't read Chinese so I don't know what they mean. And a note for Western people: Remember that you have to read the book from behind! Otherwise you'll start with the last picture.
So all in all it's a welcomed bonus feature whose quality could have been better.

FILM CELL
Film cells are nice bonus features... Well, this one has only 3 frames, but nevertheless, it's a nice addition to the set. As you can see from the picture below, the frames are even anamorphic. The 3 frames I got aren't the best but it certainly could have been worse.

CONCLUSION
Although every single part of this set could have certainly been a bit more exciting, this set isn't bad at all. It's actually a welcomed edition and an interesting alternative to the international bare-bone releases of this movie. But why can't this contain a BluRay disc...