Peter Jackson's King Kong

New in the theatres: Peter Jackson’s KING KONG. Sure it has been over hyped, but Jackson almost pulls it off. Two small points hamper the film, but Naomi Watts has bounced back from the damage THE RING 2 has done to her reputation and Kong himself is pretty cool to watch in action.

Only when large groups of real people have to interact with the CGI, like in the dinosaur stampede, are we reminded that the state of the art hasn’t evolved that far past Ray Harryhausen’s split-screen. But Jackson’s KING KONG is more that a Special Effects Popcorn Munching Blockbuster, because you can almost buy the bestial relationship between Watts and the ape (far more than you might buy the relationship between Watts and Adrien Brody character).

That being said, let’s nitpick. Jackson should have taken a couple of years off after THE LORD OF THE RINGS I, II, III because KING KONG’S Skull Island looked like it might have been made from some leftover sketches of Middle Earth. Enough with the green and gray already!

The other problem is Jack Black. Great comedian, but that is his undoing. Whenever he delivers a serious line he uses the same overwrought emoting he employs when introducing a song from Tenacious D. It is the same problem I have when watching Bill Murray in THE RAZOR’S EDGE. The drama gets short changed because I keep waiting for the punch line that will never come.

But that is a small bump in KING KONG’S road, and the pace scoots along so you hardly notice you just spent almost three hours in the theatre. Much to the chagrin of my seven year-old, KING KONG may be a little too intense for younger children (and the first 45 minutes will not interest them at all). You have been warned.