Kong is King again!
King Kong buffs and fans of Peter Jackson's cinema alike are on pins and needles as they await the Wednesday release of the latest retelling of the giant gorilla epic. And why not, it's been a while since the King last went on a rampage in New York and the cityscape sure has changed since then!
Let's step back in time to 1933, when King Kong first roared to life courtesy Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Shoedsack, Edgar Wallace, Ruth Rose, not to mention the special-effects genius Willis O'Brien.
The movie left audiences gasping in wonderment and Kong became the undisputed heavyweight champion of monsters his era.
Kong then had an extended sabbatical and it was only in 1976 that Dino de Laurentis tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to rekindle Kong-mania. Laurentis had monkeyed around with the original concept and timeline, which left moviegoers unimpressed.
The creator of 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, Peter Jackson however is a true-blue fan of the Kong original and doesn't ape the 1976 version. After all, if it hadn't been for the King, Jackson would never have got into making movies.
“The day after I saw 'Kong' for the first time, I got out my parents' stop-motion camera,” quipped Jackson, adding “…I made myself a clay brontosaurus and a big gorilla and started filming frame-by-frame animation.”
And though his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy was a smash hit Jackson remained an ardent devotee of Kong, finally succeeding in making it after ten years of trying.
Jackson's King Kong, has the same characters and the same Depression-era setting. Naomi Watts plays the down on her luck vaudeville star Ann Darrow, who goes to Skull Island, somewhere near Sumatra, with documentary maker Carl Denham (Jack Black). filmmaker (Jack Black). Ann's romantic interest is a successful New York City playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody).
They encounter a ferocious giant gorilla called Kong, who rules over a jungle full of prehistoric animals. Denham doesn't waste any time in swinging Kong along to America where he intends to exhibit the hulking ape as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'. Naturally, Kong has other plans including going on a wrecking spree across Manhattan.
Where it is different from the original is in Jackson's approach. According to preview reports, Jackson has made wonderful use of computer-generated images and other technical wizardry blended with a more Kong-eye's perspective to craft a technically slick film that also tugs at the heart.
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