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Rating:  -
Okay, the film is not absolutely terrible. The basic story is intact, and there's lots of color and action. Great. But owning it on DVD, repeat viewings for me are going to be few and far between.
First, there's a lot of character development and backdrop that goes nowhere. The movie takes forever to get going, but you're thinking there must be a reason for all this character introduction. Well, there isn't really. It goes nowhere and is completely superfluous. Beyond that, Anne's affection for the ape is nonsensical. I think maybe its a veiled attempt to project some late 20th-century environmental/animal protection sensibilities into an era where they make no sense, or perhaps the writers didn't even realize they were doing it. The 1930s probably had much the same exploitive attitudes as the Victorian era. The movie also had a darker more foreboding atmosphere than the original, which eventually seemed pointless and gave way to the cartoony NY scenes at the end. Maybe it was also related to the weak and undeveloped morality-play aspect of the film. In the middle of all this, Jack Black sticks out like a sore thumb. I think he was meant to pull off the reassuring confidence of the original Denham character, since he's certainly not a dramatic character, but he falls short and just seems comical where its inappropriate.
And CG in general is really tired and is a big turnoff to me. I almost loathe it. In this particular movie some CG was okay, and a lot was borderline to just plain bad, which was surprising. I find older movies that predate CG to be more enjoyable to watch often times, not because the effects are more believable (although in a sense they are because you know you're still seeing a real "thing" on screen), but because they had to be more creative and work within limitations and were also more constrained to simpler "within-the-realm-of-possibilities" type scenes. Now instead you get some fat nerd on a workstation somewhere going berserk with the unlimited use of models and crashing and explosions and noise and digitally-created indistinct "crap" flying everywhere in some scenes. Gimme O'Brian, Harryhausen, and even Lucas' 70s puppets any day. I hate watching a CG action scene where you can't keep track of what's going on because its just tons of flip-flopping stuff flying and crashing everywhere action. To be asked to believe the absurd aerial acrobatics the characters are routinely flung through like rag dolls, escaping unscathed, begs incredulity. A more recent example is the disorienting urban fight scene in Transformers, an otherwise superior movie. Get real. Note to Hollywood: less is more. Concentrate on story and characters (and have a point to each), use limited effects to enhance -- not bowl over. But given that those of non-discriminating tastes eat this stuff up, I don't expect any changes any time soon.
Rating:  -
What good are spectacular effects if you're asleep by the time they arrive?
Ridiculously poor editing makes this a third longer than it should be. So many long pans over lavish sets as if to say, look at all the effort we went to, instead of trying to tell the story and move it along. Major continuity issues surface at various points to add to the mess.
Some stunning visual moments, but in the end I didn't care as I was bored stiff an hour in and realizing more than two were left. Some really B-movie moments, too. Cheesy script and not one exceptional performance add up to snoresville in my book, even if the ape came off the screen and sat beside me. He'd start snoozin' too, I bet.
Rating: -
For the first 45 minutes to an hour my wife and I were really pleased with this film. It was engaging; it started to develop the story and the characters, and promised to be really entertaining. In fact, it reminded me of how effectively movie makers of the 1930's and 40's could tell a story and engage you in the telling of it. Then, the main characters reached the island of Skull Mountain and the special effects began to run amok in the film much like King Kong ran amok in New York city.
Once the special effects were introduced, they violently (very violently, in fact) wrenched away control of the story from the director and began an almost non-stop convulsion, a flood, an avalanche, a torrent of mindless computer-generated effects. Kong stomping dinosaurs. Dinosaurs stomping men. Men stomping giant insects. Kong contemplating the sunset. It was as if the XF crew became addicted and lost control of the sequences, and could no longer discern when special effects were helpful and required to move the story along or when they were thoughtlessly trampling on it. Overdone? Holy cow!
At one point the graphics people push the story so far out of the way they decided, for whatever bizarre reason, that it would be really good to show King Kong ice skating in Central Park! They were wrong.
I was lured to this film because I was familiar with the story, and because this 2005 re-telling won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. In fact, many of the visual effects are stunning -- but only when they are not ridiculously over done, and that is not often enough.
My assessment is that when the film is good, it is very, very good. But when it is bad, it is horrid. Unfortunately the good part lasts less than half way through.
Rating: -
For the amazing special effects, which is Peter Jackson's forte, I give it an A+. For the long, silent, emotive looks from Naomi Watts, I give it a B-. But for the ridiculous last line of Jack Black (as well as his bad acting), I give it an F. Average that together, and you get a solid C grade. The creepy giant insect scene make your skin crawl for days.
Rating:  -
King Kong is a well put together movie (both the movie itself and the 3-Disc Deluxe Edtion DVD). State of the art special effects, great characters, action, drama, comedy, and Peter Jackson's directing. Easily his best movie since 'Dead Alive' (a.k.a. 'Braindead'). Jackson stayed true to the 1933 original that he loved so much by remaking the movie with today's technology. He even used some of the same lines and action sequences from the original (albeit with a little flare). While some may see this as laziness, I see it as Jackson's homage to the one movie that inspired him to be a filmmaker.
Some reviewers have had a problem with the casting. I couldn't disagree more. Firstly, Naomi Watts is one of the greatest actresses of all time. I enjoy anything and everything she does. She can say so much with her face, which is important in this movie as her part (Ann Darrow) is light on dialogue. Her character is extremely important because she has the most interaction with Kong (our title character) and we learn a lot of what is happening with Kong through her. Although the filmmakers did such a fantastic job with the special effects and motion capture that Kong himself is also very good at expressing his feelings (sans any dialogue,of course), a lot of which is due the multi-talented Andy Serkis. Jack Black is fantastic (he's the character you love to hate in this movie) and Adrian Brody is good as always.
I have to mention that so far this may be one of the best DVDs in terms of special features that I have seen so far. It's not the only one that has hours of behind the scenes material, but it is the only one that I have been able to watch all of those hours without actually getting bored (many thanks go to Jack Black for this). The cast and crew really had a great time shooting this movie and it shows. And as a bonus all of the special feature footage is shot in widscreen so you don't have to adjust the ratio on your TV.
So, if you like monster movies: watch this movie. If you like Peter Jackson: watch this movie. If you like Naomi Watts (if anybody doesn't I want to talk to you): watch this movie. If you like crazy action, including giant apes, dinosaurs, giant insects and slugs, etc.: watch this movie. I would like to personally thank Peter Jackson for making this movie. I will enjoy it always.
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