King Kong

Three and a half hours... that's a long time to sit through a movie! Even for an adult. Now I do have a comment that I've made before and will make again - TODDLERS AND INFANTS DO NOT BELONG AT THE MOVIES! Especially not a movie with roaring apes and dinosaurs. I cannot believe that there was a two year old there and then an infant in a baby seat. If you really can't get a babysitter, plan it more in advance. The two year old was removed from the theater screaming because she was scared half to death. I question the thought-process of some grown-ups.

Now my husband is a huge King Kong fan, but he also believes that no one can do justice to Ann like Fay Wray. He loves the classic. However, he also finds Naomi Watts to be quiet adorable, so he felt this one might be able to top it. It didn't work for him. I'm open to anything with dinosaurs. So I was more than happy to go.

The basic premise is this: It's 1933 in NYC. A down-on-her-luck actress, Naomi Watts/Ann Darrow, finds her vaudeville act has been shut down without warning, so now she's starving and turns to petty theft in order to eat. However, a less than scrupulous director (Jack Black/Carl Denham) is pushing to film a movie at this never yet explored island - Skull Island - despite the fact that his funding is being pulled - he's got a day to hand over everything. Denham moves to get everyone onto to the ship he's hired, film the movie, and return to the U.S. with a hit before the people who are funding his movie can stop him. When his actress drops out, he needs to replace her (a size 4) in a hurry. He heads to a burlesque house and spies Ann standing in the distance. He feeds her, talks her into the project (which has been written by Adrian Brody/Jack Driscoll, a playright who she admires), and they head off, barely beating police.

Eventually, they wind up crashing into Skull Island where Ann's screaming seems to have ticked off some beast. Natives become restless, and steal Ann in order to offer her to King Kong. By now Jack is in love with her, so he sets off on a mission to resuce her. A number of other ship crew join him. Only dinosaurs roam the island and King Kong isn't about to let his new "girlfriend" out of his sight.

So the movie is action-packed. I don't think I've ever spent more time reminding myself to breathe. I will give Peter Jackson credit at the suspense in this movie. The problem is that during the whole ship voyage (which is incredibly long and really didn't need to be stretched out that far) you could tell it was green screen/computer work. It looked fake at times, so that started to ruin it. Another problem is the directors use of the speed up/slow down cinematography. Some scenes were slowed down to a crawl, almost dreamlike, and that effect grew tedious. Others may like it, I don't.

King Kong is well done. It's impossible not to fall for him, and by the end I really wanted to see him destroy the ever-whining Denham, whose character is a pain in the behind. I'm not going to say how it ends, most already know, but whether Denham gets a comeuppance (and he deserves one) is up to the viewer to find out.

Again, three and a half hours is a lot of movie to sit through. Half an hour was spent watching previews, the theater could have done everyone a favor and cut it to a 2 or 3 previews, instead we sat through EIGHT of them. Eight was absurd.

If you do go, and I recommend it because some of the "action" scenes have your stomach clenched and you do forget to breathe, plan to get up a few times. I highly suggest taking breaks during the first hour which is all the voyage to Skull Island. You won't miss anything of importance.