PLOT: A 1930s movie crew sails to a mysterious island, home to a legendary giant ape. After deadly adventures, the ape is captured, taken to Broadway and exhibited like a freak before escaping and running amok.
Whatever else Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong may be, it can't be accused of being a cynical exercise.
At $200 million, it is in fact the world's priciest fan letter. Dripping with clout and money after Lord Of The Rings, Jackson has done what he said he would do with the 1933 movie that supposedly inspired his career.
He's taken the Willis O'Brien classic and retold it with sledgehammering 21st century FX, while retaining the original plot, locale and period, and tossing in inside jokes for film geeks and Kong fans.
It's set in 1930s New York? You digitally build a spectacular 1930s New York from ground up, using old aerial photos and original blueprints.
The big ape needs personality? You've got "motion capture" CG actor Andy Serkis (LOTR's Gollum). And you fly him to Rwanda to commune with gorillas by way of making his Kong the most realistic screen ape ever.
And then there's Skull Island, home to T-Rexes, raptors, brontos, reptile bat-things, and an incredible array of man-eating insectia. It's clear to see where the money went here, as this is the movie's payoff, more so than Kong's last stand on the Empire State building.
The original Kong fought one T-Rex? This one fights three, in a seven-minute battle royal. Jackson's Wetta Workshops crew let their imaginations melt down, creating an experience that would frighten the dead.
On the downside, the three-hour movie takes forever (actually 45 minutes) to show us the big ape. We meet down-on-her luck vaudeville hoofer Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), who catches the eye of unscrupulous producer Carl Denham (toned-down funnyman Jack Black, who still gets laughs). With the police and investors on his heels, Denham's cast and crew, including Ann and scriptwriter boyfriend Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), head off to mysterious Skull Island in search of a fabled giant ape. It's a long ride, and there's a subplot for every seaman, it seems. But eventually we hit paydirt on Skull Island.
The effects aside, Kong's home is scarily rendered in the style of classic Kong illustrator Gustav Dore. Ann gets served up by natives as a sacrifice to Kong, who -- after whipping her around in a manner no human could survive -- sees something special in her.
She does a desperate (and surreal) Vaudeville dance routine that makes the ape laugh. The emotional shift from terrified ragdoll to friend-of-Kong comes unconvincingly fast for Ann. Later, on the run in New York, Ann and Kong frolic on a frozen pond in Central Park. Again a little much. Her comfort in his paw, even in the iconic scene atop the Empire State, oversells their relationship.
In the end, an homage is all this is. But given the size, scope and volume herein, that's plenty. It's all about Kong, and this movie goes ape delivering him.
BOTTOM LINE: The world's priciest fan letter. Peter Jackson's $200-mil homage takes the '30s Kong and pumps it up with FX -- from wicked Skull Island dinos, insects and beasties, to a living, breathing '30s New York, to Kong himself, another "motion capture" acting job by Andy Serkis (Lord Of The Rings' Gollum). It's too long and the "romance" between Kong and Ann is too cute, but these are minor quibbles amid a fantastic experience.
(This film is rated PG)
