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Film
Now in theaters: 'King' of the box office
By STEVE PERSALL
Published December 15, 2005
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Film review |
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A mammoth success
Director Peter Jackson, a reverent fan of the original King Kong, has captured the feel of the 1933 classic in an amazing remake.
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Beauty killed the beast, but King Kong (PG-13) is primed to make a killing at box offices around the world. Peter Jackson's epic remake of the 1933 classic packed in crowds at midnight showings early Wednesday, the opening salvo of what's expected to be the biggest moneymaker of 2005.
And why not? King Kong is everything movie fans expect and more. Jackson nearly doubled the original film's running time to three hours and didn't waste a minute of film or digital technology. He also made the giant ape's relationship with aspiring actor Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) one of the best onscreen friendships this year, ducking the sexual and racial innuendo of previous versions with grace. King Kong is bigger and - dare we say it? - better than ever.
See it twice, initially for the superb computer-enhanced portrayal of Kong by Andy Serkis, who used similar motion-capture animation techniques to play Gollum in Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then soak in Jackson's eye-popping designs of Depression-era New York and Skull Island, where the big boy is captured. That is, if you aren't distracted either time by the relentless action, featuring dinosaurs, huge bugs and those pesky biplanes. Maybe three viewings, just to be sure.
King Kong received an A grade in Tuesday's Floridian. Read that review online at www.sptimes.com
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
[Last modified December 14, 2005, 11:41:06]
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