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Has anyone else noticed there are an awful lot of remakes coming out lately? I suppose it's hard to miss. Here with yet another remake is the 2005 version of King Kong. Frankly I have absolutely no idea how many different versions of this movie are out now, but apparently someone thought we needed another one.

Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is a down-on-her-luck actress who's just been hired for a brand new picture filmed abroad...but the film maker, Carl Denham (Jack Black), has been a little less-than-truthful about their destination. Denham's goal is to film a one-of-a-kind movie far from the Hollywood sets, he thinks he'll get to shoot it in the long-abandoned ruins of a forgotten place known as Skull Island. He tricks the script writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), into staying on board too long so he's stuck coming along for the ride.

Disaster strikes as soon as they set foot on the strange island. The one thing Denham hadn't counted on was that the ruins wouldn't
be deserted. The natives kill one of the crew and abduct Darrow to sacrifice to a monstrous creature in the jungle on the other side of a massive wall they'd built.

Not sure what exactly they're after, Driscoll (who'd become quite smitten with Darrow by this point) and some choice brave souls from amongst the crew, follow the woman's screams and the huge swath of torn vegetation. They find...dinosaurs along the way. Creatures that should no longer exist but somehow have made it through the millennia, sheltered from the global changes that wiped out their kind throughout the rest of the world. When they finally reach Darrow's abductor they're faced with another dilemma. How do you take something away from a 30-foot gorilla that doesn't want to give it up? The gorilla has taken Darrow as a kind of pet and obviously gotten quite fond of her. Denham has the crazy idea that they can capture the gorilla and take it back to civilization with them.

On the whole, the film makers seem to be aiming for a more sympathetic view of one of the most notorious movie monsters...making him seem more like a real animal, which is nice...but also an animal willing to forge human relationships to fill the gap left by his departed kin. Let's face it, there's no way that critter is going to be compatible with any gorillas in today's world.

It was strange seeing Jack Black in a serious role since he's almost always in comedies (previously the most serious I saw him was in his role in School of Rock, which still isn't particularly serious) but I must say he did a fairly good job. Brody and Watts came in just ahead of him in well-done parts...however, no one completely convinced me here. Part of it could be the 1930s feel with the differing views on propriety and all that good stuff...and part of it could just be in the script or the acting talent.

The special effects, on the other hand, were awesome...there's an aerial battle near the end that I found particularly impressive, but all the way through are scenes designed to really wow people in the theatre or on a big-screen at home (for myself, I saw it on my 26" that's over ten years old so I missed the best effect of it, but I was still impressed). King Kong himself was done very well and had some pretty intricate facial expressions in some parts.

Overall this remake is worth the watching as it does have fairly good acting and some mind-blowing special effects that just weren't possible even a couple of years ago. The more sympathetic twist was interesting and gave a little more realism to the story which I personally liked pretty well. I'm not sure if I'd buy this movie, but I'd certainly be willing to watch it again.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Brown.
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