Review: New 'King Kong' offers must-see moviemaking

The final line from “King Kong” is simple, concise and filled with truth.

“King Kong” is one of the most woebegone love stories in movie history. Only the most cynical viewer will remain dry-eyed in the third act.

The original “King Kong” was released in 1933. It’s truly one of the handful of motion pictures that can be referred to as “classic.”

While ostensibly a “monster” movie, “King Kong” was really a fairy tale about the power of love.

The original “Kong” is also hailed as a landmark of special effects movies, a fact that is lost on the younger, more “modern” viewer who has grown up with “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park” and all other manner of digitally manipulated films. Viewed today, Willis O’Brien’s stop-motion visuals seem primitive. In 1933 they were cutting edge, state-of-the-art and groundbreaking.

In 1976 producer Dino De Laurentiis remade “King Kong” as a campy extravaganza. At the time, it was one of the most expensive films ever produced, with a budget of $25 million. The 1933 “Kong” – adjusted for inflation – cost about $10 million.

The new “King Kong” had a budget of just over $200 million.

But all of the money is on the screen. Director Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” raises the bar for special-effects-driven films while managing to keep the heart and soul of the tale intact. He’s set a new standard that can only be good for the filmmaking industry. Most movies featuring the kind of over-the-top effects as seen in “Kong” tend to lack a certain amount of soul. That’s far from the case here.

“Lord of the Rings” epics aside, Jackson finally gets to make his dream movie. After the success of his hobbit-laden trilogy, the director himself has become something of a 500-pound gorilla. Universal nixed his planned remake of “King Kong” in 1997, but after “Rings,” Jackson can do whatever he wants in the movie business.

His take on “Kong” is a loving tribute to the original and makes the De Laurentiis 1976 bombast a non-issue.

Jackson says when he saw the 1933 “King Kong,” he was inspired to become a filmmaker. He even made a home movie of it – with the help of his mother – when he was 12.

His decidedly higher-budget 2005 version has become an instant classic.

Jackson wisely decided to keep the film set in the original 1930s milieu and didn’t mess around with many of the details. He did manage to double the length of the first “King Kong,” but it’s a three-hour production that defies boredom.

Jack Black stars as Carl Denham – himself a maverick moviemaker – who, for the sake of his latest project, heads off to an uncharted land called Skull Island. His intention is to film his starlet, Ann Darrow – played to perfection by Naomi Watts – in tropical settings that will enhance the footage of wildlife he’s already got in the can but that the studio won’t touch.

What he finds on the island are things beyond his wildest dreams: primeval tribes, dinosaurs, oversized insects and well, you know, a giant gorilla.

In a scene that is frightening beyond “King Kong’s” PG-13 rating, the natives prepare a sacrifice – and, as the film lets us know, it’s not the first – of a young woman to the king.

But something else happens. The monster is struck by the pureness of the lady’s heart.

Jackson does a great job developing the beauty-and-beast relationship here that goes above and beyond the original.

Ann dances, struts and juggles for Kong, and while doing so, she comes to see the tenderness that abides in the giant. The original film posed the love affair as somewhat one-sided, but here Jackson conveys a sense of mutual affection. Naomi Watts is perfect in her role and – true to the fact that the original “King Kong” was just on the heels of the silent era – uses expressions more than words to show her feelings.

The scene in which Ann and Kong watch the sunrise is as touching as any love story captured on film. One forgets the fact that in reality a human woman and a gigantic ape could never have any hope of making a real connection. But theirs is an affair of the heart. And it’s a beautiful one. The story is a metaphor dealing with the trials and tribulations of pure, heartfelt love.

This version of “King Kong” is a cinematic wonder. It will satisfy the “chick flick” people with its tender love story while pleasing the action- and special-effects-hungry crowd.

Jackson has remade a masterpiece with respect and the conviction of not only a great filmmaker but a fan of great films.

It’s a must-see movie.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.