Big, Dumb Ape: Day #011 - King Kong (2005)
Viewed January 11, 2006
Since I will be writing a full-blown review of King Kong for theLogBook.com, I’m going to just state a few observations about Peter Jackson’s $200M remake.
- If Peter Jackson loves the original King Kong (1933) so much, why did he feel the need to change it’s fundamental theme and why does he portray Merian C. Cooper’s alter-ego as a jackass?
- Why do we spend so much time with minor characters who never actually get a character arc?
- Ice skating in Central Park. Why? Oh, dear lord, why?
- There is a reason vaudville is dead. It should have stayed that way.
- Naomi Watts is one beautiful lady, almost matches Fay Wray and successfully revives the “screaming damsel” persona.
- No one else even comes close to approaching the original cast, the big ape included.
- Am I the only one who expected Andy Serkis to start downing spinach and mumbling to himself?
- Colin Hanks has virtually no screen presence at all.
- If a camera angle or movement is fundamentally impossible in real life, don’t do it with CGI.
- Peter Jackson owes Steven Spielberg a piece of this film for stealing so much from Jurassic Park (1993) and James Cameron a smaller piece for nicking bits of Titanic (1997).
- Three hours, seven minutes?????????????
- At least it’s better than King Kong (1976). (But, then, what isn’t?)
My full review is now available here.