New King Kong remake being made

[Kegg]

^
The short answer is it's bloated. With the Lord of the Rings films, Jackson and his screenwriters proved very able at condensing narratives - there are single scenes in those films, even at Extended Version length, that comprise entire chapters of the novel.

King Kong was done in reverse, with a film almost twice the length of the original and with terse scenes in the first movie padded out to several in the new film.

That and the pathos doesn't really work. The film oversells King Kong's tragic nature, I think the more ambivalent attitude (it's kind of sad but he's also really scary) of the original film's aged better. In the original film King Kong's casual murder of the 'wrong' girl is presented pretty darkly, and in the new film King Kong tossing women about is played for laughs while all of the indignities foisted on the animal are seen tragically.

It's not a terrible film, but after seeing it once I was basically done with it.

And I'd still prefer stop motion, but I really don't care if it's 3D, 2D, claymation or whatever - just so long as it's an alright movie. May not bother with it if the reviews are less than kind.

 

[BlobVanDam]

^
The short answer is it's bloated. With the Lord of the Rings films, Jackson and his screenwriters proved very able at condensing narratives - there are single scenes in those films, even at Extended Version length, that comprise entire chapters of the novel.

King Kong was done in reverse, with a film almost twice the length of the original and with terse scenes in the first movie padded out to several in the new film.

This was one of the big problems for me too. Everything was overblown. It was like "So the original had a fight with a tyrannosaurus? Oh yeah, well we'll have a fight with TWO tyrannosauruses, IN MID AIR!". "So the original has a dying brontosaurus? We'll give you an entire pack of them!". It was like it was trying to one-up the original just because they could.

And the overly forced epic cinematography just made it seem fake and lifeless. The big sweeping camera shots worked for the scale of Lord of the Rings, but it didn't work here for me.

Also, Fay Wray is much hotter than Naomi Watts.

 

[Warped9]

^
The short answer is it's bloated. With the Lord of the Rings films, Jackson and his screenwriters proved very able at condensing narratives - there are single scenes in those films, even at Extended Version length, that comprise entire chapters of the novel.

King Kong was done in reverse, with a film almost twice the length of the original and with terse scenes in the first movie padded out to several in the new film.

That and the pathos doesn't really work. The film oversells King Kong's tragic nature, I think the more ambivalent attitude (it's kind of sad but he's also really scary) of the original film's aged better. In the original film King Kong's casual murder of the 'wrong' girl is presented pretty darkly, and in the new film King Kong tossing women about is played for laughs while all of the indignities foisted on the animal are seen tragically.

It's not a terrible film, but after seeing it once I was basically done with it.

And I'd still prefer stop motion, but I really don't care if it's 3D, 2D, claymation or whatever - just so long as it's an alright movie. May not bother with it if the reviews are less than kind.

I've heard/read all these reasons and I'm still not convinced. Mind you I preferred the dvd version over the theatrical which had some footage put back in, but because of some smart editing the film actually felt better paced than what I saw in the theatre. End result is I quite like the film and I don't feel it's at all bloated.

In regard to the pathos angle I think Jackson's version works better in that regard than the '33 original. The original was basically Ann Darrow wanting to get the hell away from Kong, and Kong himself was basically a scary monster. There wasn't much pathos to it except perhaps at the very end, and not much of it at that. In Jackson's version we actually see some empathy and sympathy from Ann Darrow which was totally absent from the original.

 

[Kegg]

I've heard/read all these reasons and I'm still not convinced.

Convinced of what? You claimed to not understand why people weren't keen on Jackson's film. I provided a run down of my issues, in what I hope was an understandable manner. Was it not clear enough?

The original was basically Ann Darrow wanting to get the hell away from Kong, and Kong himself was basically a scary monster. There wasn't much pathos to it except perhaps at the very end, and not much of it at that.

Yeah, that works better. Poor King Kong, a plaything of a world that resents him. The beast's love for beauty need not be so damn mutual.

 

[Warped9]

I've heard/read all these reasons and I'm still not convinced.

Convinced of what? You claimed to not understand why people weren't keen on Jackson's film. I provided a run down of my issues, in what I hope was an understandable manner. Was it not clear enough?

That's not what I meant. I clearly get what everyone says, but it doesn't gel with what I got out of the film. You can intellectually understand what people are telling you even if you don't personally get it simply because you don't agree.

I like the '33 original, but in many ways it feels like a bare bones film. Kong in the original was just a scary monster with little if any reason to feel anything for him. Jackson gave Kong character and a sense that there was more to him...in my opinion. And I don't think Ann Darrow loved Kong, but she did recognize the tragedy of his situation, something that just isn't in the original.

To each his own.

 

[Gojira]

I love the King Kong story and have the 33, 76 and 05 versions on DVD. Jackson's version is alright it just needs to be trimmed down.

But this new version sounds promising. I look forward to it.

 

[Christopher]

When I saw Jackson's version, I kept thinking that not only the whole film, but just about every individual scene would be stronger if it were about 20 percent shorter.

 

[Anbaric Amber]

When I saw Jackson's version, I kept thinking that not only the whole film, but just about every individual scene would be stronger if it were about 20 percent shorter.

It's like the fight with the bugs. It just goes on and one and I'm like, okay, bugs, I get it. Now let's move on. I could've done without that whole bit. It didn't move the story on at all.

J.

 

[Broccoli]

Yeah, there's a lot of different animation styles, no reason that CG animation need be like PJ's.

But by the same token, there's no reason that all animation has to be 3D. As I said, the best way to make the look as distinct from other versions as possible and to capture the Disneyesque fairy-tale flavor they're reportedly going for is with traditional 2D animation, an art form that's still just as valid as it ever was, and far too little utilized in feature films these days.

Very true. Sadly, though, it doesn't sell as well to general movie goers anymore. Even Disney is selective now with 2D releases, it seems (even after reopening the 2D studios).

Not to say it can't be done. Surely, King Kong is a known-enough property to draw audiences in regardless of animation style.

 

[Tiberius]

Not to say it can't be done. Surely, King Kong is a known-enough property to draw audiences in regardless of animation style.

Which is wqhy everyone knows about the animated TV series...

 

[Christopher]

^That was actually the first of two animated series based on King Kong, the other being Kong: The Animated Series in 2000. And apparently there's already been an animated musical film version of the story, The Mighty Kong from 1998, starring the voices of Dudley Moore and Jodi Benson!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Any talk of the 70s King Kong brings to mind this SNL sketch: With Aykroyd as Snyder and Belushi as De Laurentiis

Tom Snyder: Hello, everybody, welcome to the "Tomorrow" show. Well, he did it. Peanut butter in the White House. What the heck we'll be eating in four years from now, I don't know. Anyway, tonight we'll be eating bananas.. hey, bananas and peanut butter make good sandwiches, because our guest tonight is the producer of "King Kong" - Mr. Dino De Laurentiis.

Dino De Laurentiis: [ directly to camera ] Hey, everybody.. listen.. go see my "Kong".. you gonna love it.

Tom Snyder: Mr. De Laurentiis, a few members of the Hollywood press have said that with all the money you spent on "King Kong", you could have made twnety good movies instead. Some reporters have called you everything from a "toy commercial maker" to a ruthless "monkey pimp". How, sir, do you answer these charges?

Dino De Laurentiis: Okay.. I want to tell you something.. when the Jaws die, nobody cry.. when my Kong die, everybody cry. Everybody love my Kong.. kids, women, intellectuals, all love my Kong.

Tom Snyder: Sir, let me ask you this: How much money did you spend on the ape model itself?

Dino De Laurentiis: Hey.. we don't talk about money.. money I don't care too much, I spend any kind of money to make my Kong the best Kong, it's art.. okay, we talk about art. Like the face of the ape, the make-up people they bring me one face. I say no, it looks too much like "Planet of the Apes".. the next face they bring me, it looks too much like a man. They bring me another face.. looks too much like the actor Brock Peters.

Tom Snyder: Mr. De Laurentiis, why make another "King Kong"? The first version, which I never saw.. [ laughs ] ..was apparently a wonderful piece of cinema.

Dino De Laurentiis: Don't talk to me about the old Kong. I'm gonna tell you something about the old Kong. They'd call him in to start shooting at six inthe morning.. he'd come in drunk. He'd say, we shoot at eight o'clock tonight. What you gonna say to a star that big.. like Sinatra. Sinatra wants to shoot at eight, you shoot at eight... just like the old Kong. Night people.. the old Kong, he was a drunk.. party ape. I tell you something.. not many people know this, but the old Kong was going out with Jean Harlow at the time. No wonder he couldn't get up in the morning. Party ape. He used to make long-distance phone calls all over the world and charge it to the movie. Not my kong.. he didn't make no calls.. everybody else on the set making calls, charging it to the movie. You want to talk about money, you know how much I lost from long-distance phone calls? $500.

Tom Snyder: Sir, the advertising for your movie, the billboards and so on, depict King Kong crushing jet planes in his hands, but, sir, there is not one jet plane in the movie. In fact, at the end the ape battles three helicopters, no jet planes, and even then you used the shot of him swatting one of the 'copters twice. Isn't that kind of a hype?

Dino De Laurentiis: Hype? you want to talk about hype? Did you see "A Star Is Born"? You know who wanted to be Fay Wray in my movie? Barbra Streisand. Her producer, Jon Peters, I tell him hey, two monsters in a movie is enough. [ laughs ] He says to me his movie "A STar Is Born" is gonna make a lot more money than my Kong, you know what I say to him, I say, "Maybe so.. your monkey can sing." [ laughs ] You like? They're the only two jokes I ever told in my life.

Tom Snyder: Alright, sir. We've been talking with..

Dino De Laurentiis: [ interrupting ] Nobody cry when the Jaws die.. they put the tank in the mouth.. they shoot it - he explode - he blow up, nobody cry. When my Kong is on top of the World Trade Center..

Tom Snyder: Fighting helicopters, not jets.

Dino De Laurentiis: When he fall down, everybody cry! Intellectuals cry, little kids cry, women cry, everybody cry. But when Jaws die, nobody cry.

Tom Snyder: Thank you, sir.

Dino De Laurentiis: You gonna see "Kong II", "Kong III", "Kong IV". I spent ten million dollars on the Kong itself. You think I'm not gonna use the Kong again? Gonna be "Hong Kong Kong", martial arts movie, like Bruce Lee, "Kong Fu". Okay, we gonna do a sitcom..

Tom Snyder: Good night, everybody.

[ fade out while Dino rambles on ]

Dino De Laurentiis: Norman Lear.. gonna produce it, "Kong, Kong, Who's There?"...

 

[Mach5]

I didn't exactly hate PJ's Kong, but I have no intention of seeing it, ever again.

I'd be willing to see a re-cut 90-120 minute version, though.

 

[Christopher]

Wasn't there actually a sequel to the DeLaurentiis film that was called King Kong Lives and had Linda Hamilton in it? I remember seeing a Starlog article with a picture of Hamilton and her male lead next to a life-size animatronic Kong lying on the ground.

 

[Kegg]

Wasn't there actually a sequel to the DeLaurentiis film that was called King Kong Lives and had Linda Hamilton in it? I remember seeing a Starlog article with a picture of Hamilton and her male lead next to a life-size animatronic Kong lying on the ground.

There was. I saw a bit of that on TV once.

Of the three Kong origin story films, then, Jackson's is the only one to not have a sequel (the original flick having Son of Kong).

King Kong also fought Godzilla, and I hear there's a new American Godzilla on the way...

 

[Mach5]

Wasn't there actually a sequel to the DeLaurentiis film that was called King Kong Lives and had Linda Hamilton in it? I remember seeing a Starlog article with a picture of Hamilton and her male lead next to a life-size animatronic Kong lying on the ground.

I used to love that movie when I was a kid.

 

[Mike Farley]

Kong got a girlfriend!