Stars: Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Colin Hanks, Kyle Chandler, Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis

Director: Peter Jackson

Summary: Despite his origins as a low-budget filmmaker with a taste for the unsavoury side of life, Peter Jackson has turned into an event filmmaker someone who can conjure up a movie on a scale unlike anything we've seen before. KING KONG is his sprawling, epic remake of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 movie of the same name, and it is as big as the gorilla that runs riot through Jackson's rendering of Depression-era New York. Keeping the simple yet effective plot intact a film crew travels to the mysterious Skull Island, picks up Kong, and brings him back to New York City Jackson expands on this basic premise by drawing on the jaw-dropping talents of his special effects team to satisfy his thirst for the grand spectacle. The movie posits Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, the starry-eyed blonde beauty whom Kong falls for; Jack Black as Carl Denham, a low-rent Orson Welles look-alike who drags the crew to the island to make his movie; and Adrian Brody as Jack Driscoll, a hack playwright who battles Kong both physically and for Darrow's heart. As the men struggle against Kong and the lumbering dinosaurs of Skull Island, Andy Serkis, who made the character of Gollum so believable in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, steps in to form the facial features of the mighty gorilla, lending a real emotional sucker-punch to the scenes between Darrow and Kong. But it's the final third of the movie where Jackson really delivers; his 1930s New York is stunning, and when Kong breaks free from his shackles and stampedes on a lovelorn trek through the city, then iconically climbs the Empire State Building with his sweetheart, it's impossible to not be swept away by the sheer beauty and sadness of the moment. While its three-hour length may prove daunting to some, the payoff in Jackson's KING KONG is ultimately worth it, proving once again that he is a director of breathtaking vision.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on April 14, 2006 11:18 AM

This is one blockbuster of a movie , and I cannot wait to see ( and it would be sacrilage if they did not ) if they bring out a 3 or 4 disc DVD
boxed set which would include all the previous King Kong movies
and a Weta Workshop figurine of the Big Fella in action . There is plenty of action in this version and Peter Jackson does not disappoint in the least . Plenty of monsters for Kong to battle especially when he saves Anne a few times. There is also a load of creepy crawlies and the ending is very sad .

Reviewed by: philreyn
Posted on April 27, 2006 11:53 AM

It took 72 years to make a version as good as the original, and this is it. True to the original 1930's version, the attention to detail is very impressive.
It's an hour in before we get to see Kong, but well worth it. Peter J brought Andy Serkis (Gollum) in to do all the facial expressions and movement, and he really adds character to Kong.
There is more action, more monsters, and even the natives are brutal. Add to this ground breaking special effects, and your in for three hours of real entertainment. 10/10 magic

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The extended version of Peter Jackson's King Kong adds 13 minutes to the running time--fortunately those 13 minutes include two dynamic action scenes and no material has been added to the movie's belaboured set-up, which tries to give depth to these quintessentially b-movie characters with a clumsy patchwork of melodrama and in-jokes. But once movie-maker Carl Denham (Jack Black, School of Rock) and his crew finally arrive at Skull Island, the movie kicks into gear with spectacular action, technical wizardry, and genuine feeling. Though Kong seems crafted to dazzle the eye on the giant screen, the overlong structure improves when you can take an intermission at will. At home, each scene can be approached on its own terms, be it the insanely choreographed battle between Kong and three T. Rexes or the subtle and multi-layered interplay between Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive) and Kong (played, through motion-capture technology, by Andy Serkis, who previously played the similarly animated Gollum in Jackson's Lord of the Rings). The addition of a rampaging ceratops and an underwater race with what the movie's crew dubbed a "piranhadon" not only add more eye candy, but provide some valuable moments of character development. But in the end, that's frosting on the cake; when the movie's weaknesses and strengths are weighed, the emotional power of the fantastical relationship between a woman and a giant ape is a real cinematic achievement. --Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Introduction To Peter Jackson, Post Production Diaries, Kongs New York 1933, The Natural History Of Skull Island
Subtitles:	Arabic, Icelandic
Year:	2005
Release Date:	April 10, 2006
Runtime:	179 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	824 245 6
Keywords:	Special, Action, King, Case, Two, Kong, General, Edition, Fiction, Science, Slip, Horror, Adventure, Discs, Sci, Fi
Genre:	Action/Adventure