Post #203744 by Tiki-bot on Mon, Dec 19, 2005 10:53 AM

I loved it, though it was so over the top it will take a while to digest. I hope to see it again over the holiday. It's a bit too long for its own good, but I didn't think the set-up was too drawn out. The whole sub-plot of the ship's first mate and the kid was weak and should've been jettisoned. I would have preferred if they had instead left in the shots where Ann gets past the army to approach Kong in NYC. She just sort of appears out of nowhere on a deserted street(and in the cheesiest shot of the film, imho). I suppose PJ needs something to put back into the inevitable 5 hour, 12 disk DVD set.

I loved all the in-jokes in the film, particularly the tacky Broadway dance number that apes (pun intended) the cheesy natives from the original movie. The orchestra is even playing the original Max Steiner score. It's also a nice bit of social commentary on the way "real" natives are versus the way they might be depicted by money-grubbing showbiz hucksters back in the "civilized" world. Also loved that they use Driscoll and Ann's "real" cheesy 1933 dialog onboard the ship as a rehearsal scene for the movie that Denham is shooting in the new version. Nice, too, that the final dino Kong fights is very much an homage to Willis O'Brian's '33 battle in its staging and detail (the head punches; the wrestler tumble; playing with the dead dino's jaw).