Fairly faithfull reproduction of the classic 30s stop-motion monster movie. A bit long at 3 hours, but it doesn't suffer for it, I never actually got bored enough to walk out for a smoke, which happens a lot in movies longer than about an hour and a half. Pretty good acting standard throughout, especially from Watts and Brody, albiet with a few cheesy lines from Jack Black (to be expected, to be honest).

More of a focus on the character of Kong than the original, but CGI is capable of much more than budget stop-motion, and there are several key scenes I remember from the original, such as the T-Rex jaw snap in the dino fight, and the wall/sacrifice. The signiture Kong/Empire State/Biplane thing is done well also. I actually got to empathise with Kong as a character, and it's rare for me to feel anything for a CGI character (other than loathing in the case of Jar-Jar).

CGI interaction with the Watts was a little off, and the CGI version of Watts was also a bit obvious, and this drops King Kong from a perfect score, but it doesn't detract too much from an otherwise stunning movie.

MONKEY SMASH!


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