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King Kong
Universal Pictures


7.0

based on 39 reviews
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based on 958 votes
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FILM:

GAMES:

Peter Jackson's King Kong (Xbox 360)

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images

Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler, Lobo Chan, and Thomas Kretschmann

Director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) helms the dramatic adventure King Kong, bringing his sweeping cinematic vision to the iconic story of the gigantic ape captured in the wild and brought to civilization where he meets his tragic fate. (Universal Studios)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure \| Drama \| Fantasy \| Sci-fi \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Jackson Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Jackson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 28, 2006 Theatrical: December 14, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	187 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	New Zealand / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

What a movie! This is how the medium seduced us originally.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

One of the wonders of the holiday season.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Here is the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping movie epic we've been waiting for all year.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Break out the popcorn and prepare to be blown away. King Kong is the most pulse- pounding and heart-stirring romantic adventure since "Titanic."

100

Empire Dan Jolin

Unlike its newly trim director, Kong does boast some flab around the middle but by the final reel there’s little doubt that what could have been Jackson’s folly is a triumph, the kind of romantic action spectacle that makes the big screen silver and provides box-office gold. Puts the prime in primate.

100

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The rapport between Ms. Watts and Mr. Serkis is extraordinary, even though it is mediated by fur, latex, optical illusions and complicated effects. Mr. Serkis, who also played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, is redefining screen acting for the digital age, while Ms. Watts incarnates the glamour and emotional directness of classical Hollywood.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A magnificent entertainment. It is like the flowering of all the possibilities in the original classic film.

100

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

But overall, Jackson goes for the magic by sidestepping every error of judgment and failure of imagination that brought the ponderous 1976 remake thudding to Earth before Kong ever did. He delivers three solid hours of breathless, enchanting entertainment.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Not only does it recapture -- and enhance -- the subtle emotional core that has made the film so beloved for the past three-quarters of a century, it delivers the most eye-boggling, hair-raising movie thrill ride since 1993's "Jurassic Park."

100

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Jackson's big monkey picture show is certainly the best popular entertainment of the year. The film is a wondrous blend of then and now: It honors its mythic predecessor of 1933 while using sophisticated movie technology to seamlessly manipulate the fantastic.

Newsweek Devin Gordon

A surprisingly tender, even heartbreaking, film. Like the original, it's a tragic tale of beauty and the beast.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Here is a movie that celebrates the heyday of adventure cinema even as it embraces technology's bleeding edge. And I'm willing to forgive a lot when giant gorillas and tyrannosaurs are involved. Must be the art snob in me.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

After a start heavy on exposition, the film strings one action setpiece after another, each realized with the breathless excitement of an adventure pulp cover. It's as if Jackson set out to bring to life every fantasy of the last moment before earth gave way to space as the site of the final frontier.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

King Kong is an homage not just to the original but to the history of movies themselves.

Slate David Edelstein

A spectacular three-hankie tragic love story--sometimes dumb and often clunky and always pretty cornball, but just about irresistible.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Almost too much of a good thing, Peter Jackson's remake of the film that made him want to make movies is a super-sized version of a yarn that was big to begin with, a stupendous adventure that maximizes, and sometimes oversells, its dazzling wares.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The gorilla is great, the girl terrific, sets are out of this world, creatures icky as hell, and the director clearly does not believe in the word "enough."

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A sweet-natured romantic fable, albeit one that packs in carnivorous cockroaches, rampaging brontosaurs, and the ever-Freudian Empire State Building among its requisite emotional baggage. And, too, it's a corker of an action/monster movie.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The best of the trio of human performers is Naomi Watts. She also has the most difficult job - not only is the role physical, but it requires her to play off something that isn't there.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The new Kong is just different enough to be terrific screen company. His relationship with his leading lady, played with heart and panache by Naomi Watts, doesn't feel like an old story retold. It feels like a brand new story.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Jackson is a visionary filmmaker who is not only a technical wizard but also a master storyteller. With Jackson at the helm, you would expect dazzling special effects and epic action sequences, but what is most surprising is how heartfelt the romance feels.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The $200 million result is an irresistibly entertaining, if grandiose, saga of doomed love and directorial hubris.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Kong is brilliant in many, many places. But it overwhelms its own best qualities with its sheer, punishing size. It is, literally, too much of a good thing.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The scenes between Kong and Ann are much more than a goof: They're the soul of the movie.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

When it comes to what's great about King Kong, it's not the harum-scarum. It's the girl.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Jackson is far more interested in the relationship between the girl and the ape than he is in the power of special effects for their own sake. As big as King Kong is, its sense of intimacy is what really sticks with you. This is an epic Big Little Book of a picture.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

It clocks in at over three hours, but Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic is gripping. The film rethinks the characters, turning the original's stark Jungian fantasy into a soulless but skillful set of kinetic and emotional effects.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

King Kong makes clear that Jackson has no contemporary peer when it comes to outsized, transporting fantasies that enchant in an era when special effects have become white noise.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It's not so much a remake as it is a loving re-creation of the 1933 original on extra-strength steroids, with a side order of Botox. You've seen it all before but most assuredly never like this.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

I say this as someone for whom the very idea of a Kong remake is sacrilege, Jackson's straitened conception yields up a pretty damn good popcorn movie.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Like Kong himself, it's imposing, sometimes endearing, and very rough around the edges.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The verdict? King Kong may be a great movie event in a "Jaws/Titanic" sense of blockbuster impact and cultural talking point, but it is not a great movie.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

King Kong isn't terrible, but it's something that none of Jackson's previous movies ever was -- it's enervating.

The New Yorker David Denby

This Kong is high-powered entertainment, but Jackson pushes too hard and loses momentum over the more than three hours of the movie. The story was always a goofy fable--that was its charm--and a well-told fable knows when to stop.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

For King Kong is an accountant's movie at heart. Given the excessive length and bombastic F/X, there's too much action and precious little poetry.

Time Richard Schickel

Our response to the ape's doom, once touched by authentic tragedy, is now marked by relief that this wretchedly excessive movie is finally over.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Jackson is merely indulging himself here, too, doing a thing not because he should but because he can. And maybe that's a good reason but not good enough. The girl still cries, the ape still dies and all you're left with is a ringing in your ears.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

King Kong, a labor of love that's visually stunning and moving in its best moments, is also bloated, shallow, clunky, full of illogical scenes and at least an hour too long.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

On its own terms, the film is overlong, repetitive and lacks impact. Even if this were the first gorilla-in-love movie ever made, audiences would come away vaguely dissatisfied, suspecting there was an intriguing idea buried somewhere in here, but it didn't quite come off.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 958 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Shane B. gave it an8:
This is my review of King Kong. Pretty much, it's about Ann Darrow, a woman who, after losing her job in 1933, is offered to be in a movie by a rebellious filmmaker, named Carl Denham, who trying to make a movie. They go on a ship and end up at skull island, where Ann is sacrificed to the ape Kong. Now the only reason i wanted to see this movie was because it was directed by Peter Jackson. So, all in all, it was one of the best movies of 2005. the acting was okay, the action was spectacular. Yet the special effects was mixed. Some effects were awesome, like Kong. Yet others were no good at all. So this is a good film to see. I give Kong 2005 an 8/10.

Nick A. gave it a9:
I’ll start by saying the Peter Jackson’s 'King Kong' is one of the greatest movie epics to hit the screen in recent and distant memory. Its larger-than-life story is woven impeccably with the mythic legend of the film’s title character and the modern century’s absolute best in visual technology to create a movie that invigorates the mind and the heart, while also feeding the eyes a mighty dose of wondrous images. Thanks in part to a handsomely larger budget (a then-record-breaking $207 million), Peter Jackson has revitalized Cooper’s 1933 classic in a way that no other remake has ever done; he’s simply pasted the bigger and the better on top of Hollywood’s most treasured tale, while reminding us of its ageless delights. Jackson’s 'Kong' includes a renovated screenplay – which is done by Jackson and two of his 'LOTR' collaborators, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens – that elaborates on the known characters and offers us a few new ones as well (including the Venture’s gruff cook named Lumpy, played by Andy Serkis – who also performs as Kong). However, as big and hugely conceived (at a lengthy 188 min.) as this movie was, it glided from sequence to sequence fluidly and quickly, while managing to evenly weigh action and sentiment. In fact, 'Kong'’s in-film transitions are as clear and clean as its succulent special effects, which rank among the best ever seen on film. One nervous question mark concerning 'King Kong' was the casting of Jack Black to play the eccentric and obsessive film director, Carl Denham, who’s lust for fame and wealth doom his crew, the soon-to-be ravaged New York City, and the most magnificent beast to have ever been conjured. For me, Black came out a revelation – a previously unveiled gem of the screen. He delivers a performance that is as stirring as it is enthusiastic and further adds to the film’s likability. Along with Black, Jackson’s all-star cast (which also includes Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jamie Bell, and Colin Hanks, to name a few) compliments his vision spotlessly and provides viewers with a refreshing, authentic feel. Everything about Peter Jackson’s 'King Kong' is alluring. The extravagant sets (especially the recreation of Great-Depression-era New York) are meticulously constructed and virtually unrecognizable as being false, and they offer amazement as to how Jackson and his team pulled them off. Equally astonishing is the music, composed by James Newton Howard (whose multitude of Oscar-nominated works include 'The Fugitive', 'My Best Friend’s Wedding', and, most recently, 'The Village'), which is gorgeous and tragic, making it perfect for the story’s famed conclusion. Easily the year’s most monstrously entertaining motion picture, 'King Kong' is also one of the best; and, seeing how it was undertaken by the brilliant Peter Jackson, it comes as no surprise.

Franco N. gave it a3:
Like the big ape himself, this movie was bloated and flabby. They could have at least cut 45 minutes out of it.

Balzac gave it a6:
Like the Big Ape himself, this movie is bloated with too much flab. Kong himself looks like Mighty Joe Young. They made him too small. The scene where Kong wipes the jungle floor with 3 T-Rexes is overkill an not believable. But hey, it's a picture about a giant ape and his blond girlfriend.

Greg A. gave it a9:
Just watched this on DVD last night and thought it was fantastic - only wished I had seen it on the big screen. Previous to that I was a bit wary of this film due to the length of it, but I was wrong, I didn't feel it was drawn out at all - you may question the slow bits with Naomi and Kong but without it the purpose to the movie would be lost. It is a couple years old now, but if you haven't seen it and want to see some great special effects coupled with a solid storyline I highly recommend it.

Austin M. gave it a10:
Kong's one the greatest movies ever, excellent special effects, I love every action scene in this movie. After those three hours, it felt like the movie was short, I know most people saw it's long, but I didn't, I wanted at least another half hour.

Mark D gave it a9:
I see views and ratings vary wildly for this movie. Some criticisms are just; it was a teeny bit too long and some of the action scenes were poorly done and unnecessary. I get the impression, though, that some people are carping and nit picking while choosing to ignore (or perhaps just not getting) the emotional and moral core at the heart of this movie. The key is in the very last line - and it's heartbreaking. If you don't get it I'm not going to explain it to you but to sum it up, this movie is both exciting and beautiful. This movie is Hollywood at it's very best.

King Kong Universal Pictures

King Kong
Universal Pictures